FCC
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The “Internet Slowdown” and Net Neutrality Update
Wednesday afternoon, I clicked on a Vimeo link and was greeted by an airtight pop-up. In order to pass on to the video, I had to enter my cell phone number and zip code. I complied, and not a second later, I received a call briefing me on talking points of the FCC’s revision to the Open Internet Order — which would allow broadband providers to charge sites for guaranteed service — and was then connected to senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Wednesday, September 10, marked the technical end to the public comment period of the FCC’s detrimental potential amendments to the net neutrality act. To mobilize […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 12, 2014 -
The Last Mile
In the battle between big telecoms and tech companies over the issue of net neutrality, independent filmmakers are inevitably going to be collateral damage. While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hasn’t yet gone forward with plans to allow Internet Service Providers to charge websites for faster service, the current proposals suggest that challenging times are ahead for media makers and companies who use the Web, with potentially higher costs and increased barriers to entry. As Jamie Wilkinson, CEO of digital distribution platform VHX questions, “As the market gets more crowded, will the prices be driven up?” Without the deep pockets […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Jul 17, 2014 -
FCC Closed Captioning Rules Threaten to Remove Movie Titles from Digital Storefronts
Beginning today, scores of movies are threatened with removal from digital download and streaming sites, including iTunes, due to new FCC closed captioning regulations. The rules, mandated in a January, 2012 revision of 2010’s Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, require newly acquired movie and other content shown on the internet to be closed captioned if this content was shown on television with closed captioning after September 30, 2012. The rule also affects library titles that are currently or will be shown on television with captions as well as new acquisitions that will be captioned on television in the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 31, 2014 -
Murdoch’s Media Monopoly
Are we in the midst of a new round of media consolidation? Is the report that Comcast made a pitch for Disney the first of a wave of further industry restructuring? Rupert Murdoch’s reorganization of the News Corp. and reports that he has been exploring the acquisition of the L.A. Times and the Chicago Tribune raise concern that such a round is underway. On December 3rd, Murdoch announced that he was splitting the News Corp. into two companies. News Corp. will house its publishing business, including HarperCollins, Dow Jones Newswires, the London Times and The Wall Street Journal. The new […]
by David Rosen on Dec 5, 2012 -
Encrypting Basic TV
On October 12, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously approved a measure to allow the major cable companies to encrypt basic tier programming. Basic tier consists of traditional “over-the-air” broadcast channels. Previously, the leading Multi-System Operators (MSOs) were permitted to only encrypt programming offered as part of more expensive packages. The major MSOs have long argued that providing non-encrypted basic tier service was inefficient, expensive and opened them to theft-of-signal piracy. They complained that the restriction imposed unfair competition on them because alternative TV services providers like satellite and telcos (e.g. Dish and AT&T) were exempt from the regulation. The […]
by David Rosen on Oct 24, 2012 -
ARTFUL DODGERS
On June 21st, the Supreme Court blinked. It used a legal technicality to sidestep determining the status of two long-simmering “indecency” cases and, thus, the legal status of broadcast television and radio, the traditional mass communications media. One case involves the spoken word and was against Fox over what are known as “fleeting expletives,” words like “fuck” and “shit” uttered by Cher, Nicole Richie and Bono at the Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and 2003. The second was against ABC for showing what can be called “fleeting nudity,” the brief display of a female actress’ nude buttocks during an episode […]
by David Rosen on Jun 25, 2012 -
MEDIA CURRENT: END TO CROSS-OWNERSHIP RULES?
In December 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to propose loosening media cross-ownership rules relating to a television or radio station and a newspaper. Under the new rules, cross ownership of a newspaper and either a television or a radio station would be allowed in the top 20 markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Boston. The FCC isn’t expected to vote on the final rules in April 2012 at the earliest. Cross ownership rules were originally intended to limit media concentration particularly with regard to broadcast stations, cable stations, […]
by David Rosen on Jan 4, 2012 -
POLITICAL BEDFELLOWS
Porn is an easy election-year target, and along with the $495,000 Clear Channel/Howard Stern fine that was announced by the FCC this week, the Baltimore Sun reported that the Justice Department is gearing up for a crackdown on the industry in this election year. But it may not be the ACLU and free-speech types who lead the defense this time around. The article points out that porn is a $10 billion a year business with profits that flow to many Fortune 500 companies, including Comcast, whose Hot Network channel streams porn to hotel room customers at $12 a pop. And […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 11, 2004 -
FCC — WTF!
Um, is anyone else out there following the very scary goings on at the FCC these days? I know there’s been a lot to write about — the Oscars, The Passion of the Christ — but the collective entertainment blogosphere has been awfully quiet when it comes to Congress’s proposed changes to the FCC charter. From the Howard Stern/Clear Channel ban to some of the measures detailed in this Washington Post article, risk-taking programming is under siege at the moment. Note the article’s last paragraph: by only one vote, a Senate provision sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan and Trent Lott […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 10, 2004
