Benton RSS Feed

DO HOME SHOPPING STATIONS SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
In 1993, the FCC ruled that television broadcast stations that are used predominantly for the transmission of sales presentations or program length commercials (such as home shopping stations) serve the public interest and are therefore qualified for mandatory cable carriage. The Center for the Study of Commercialism (CSC) filed a petition for reconsideration of that order. On Friday the Commission released a Public Notice because it would like to update the record for this proceeding before ruling on the petition. The Commission seeks comment on issued raised in CSC's petition. CSC argues that the Commission failed to consider in its public interest analysis the significant amount of commercial programming broadcast by home shopping stations. The Commission is also seeking comment on the specific issues concerning how home shopping stations serve the people in their communities, including the elderly and homebound who may have no way to lose their life savings other than spending it on QVC. CSC asserts that the Commission failed to consider information relevant to the second statutory factor, i.e., competing demands for the spectrum. Specifically, CSC claims that the Commission failed to consider evidence regarding Congressional intent that the Commission consider non-broadcast uses for the television broadcast spectrum, such as those of police and fire departments. Finally, given the passage of time since the Report and Order was adopted, we seek comment on the current number of broadcast stations that provide home shopping programs for the majority of their broadcast day. How do home shopping stations meet their public interest obligations? In particular, how do they comply with the requirements of the Children's Television Act of 1990 and licensees' obligation to provide coverage of issues facing their communities?
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-07-2005A1.doc

THE CHAIRMAN VS CABLE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s agenda of cable items for the 20 months remaining in the Bush administration includes: 1) Capping cable ownership. Comcast could not own more than 30% of pay-TV subscribers nationally as its customers. 2) A la carte legislation. Encouraging Congress to pass law forcing channels to be sold one at a time, to regulate cable prices and the distribution of violent and indecent content. 3) Dual carriage. Forcing cable operators to carry local TV signals in both analog and digital form, until all cable subscribers have digital reception equipment. 4) Forced Carriage. Requiring cable carriage of programming from FCC-qualified entities that have leased time from local TV stations. 5) Non-exclusivity. Banning cable operators from signing exclusive service contracts with apartment building landlords.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6439442.html

* McSlarrow on Cable and the FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow talks with B&C about the FCC's “fundamental disconnect,” retransmission consent, and what he thinks of the government's proposal to make cable operators carry TV stations in both digital and analog: “Not much.” Of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin he says, "The leadership of this commission clearly embraces regulation, so that puts us on the opposite side of a lot of issues."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6439377.html

TENSIONS BUILD BETWEEN INVESTORS AND NEWSPAPER-CONTROLLING FAMILIES
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Family control of newspaper companies has long been seen as a necessary bulwark against shareholder pressure and unwelcome takeover bids, allowing publishers to focus on public service and the long-term health of their companies. Now that structure is under pressure like never before, as media baron Rupert Murdoch sets his sights on taking over Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and as shareholders raise a storm of protest over how the New York Times Co. is being run. On Friday, that pressure extended beyond newspapers to electronic news publishing as Reuters Group PLC, a major provider of financial information and news, said it had received a takeover approach. All three companies have protections against shareholder activism, but signs of strain are showing. Difficult economic times such as these are exactly what the founders of such companies had in mind when they put in place the two-tier share structures that allow families to retain stewardship over their companies, says Alex S. Jones, author of a book on a newspaper family dynasty and director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. Those protections may become harder and harder to maintain as Wall Street demands ever more accountability from publicly traded companies.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

TRIBUNE ACCEPTS THAT OF STAMFORD PAPER VIOLATED UNION CONTRACT
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Tribune Co. has accepted an arbitrator's ruling that its sale of The Advocate of Stamford to Gannett Co. violated a provision of the union's contract that requires the newspaper's new owner to honor a labor contract with newsroom employees. It was not clear Friday whether the sale would go forward. "Gannett has told us directly they are not going to go through with this deal if it means taking the union contract," said Maida Rosenstein, president of Local 2110 of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. But Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said Friday the two companies are still in discussions about the sale.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...