Rockefeller Pushes Vote on Cable/Sat Smut Bill

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Speaking to a crowd of broadcasters, James Reid, a top aide to Sen John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), said the senator will push for legislation that would roll cable and satellite into the FCC's indecency enforcement regime, adding violence to the Commission's indecency oversight authority, and codifying new FCC digital kids rules into the bargain. The vehicle would be the rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Sen Rockefeller's bill would require the FCC to "validate" voluntary agreements like the cable industry's family tiers or broadcast and cable industry education campaigns about existing blocking mechanisms. But if that doesn't work, the FCC could take "the next least restrictive means." Reid says Sen Rockefeller believes his bill is "not inconsistent" with either the voluntary efforts or the Constitution. "The FCC may very well determine that these measures are sufficient and then no regulations would be needed," he added. Reid said industry self-policing was fine, but that rather than rely on it, the senator wanted to have the "expert agency" make a decision about whether blocking technologies and labeling were working. Christine Kurth, staffer for Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), said her boss was pleased with marketplace efforts to self-regulate and educate, but said she couldn't answer whether those efforts will prove the "end all and be all." After his talk, Reid was showered in roses by the appreciative broadcasters.
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* Rockefeller to Push Cable-Content Bill
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