FCC Chairman Powell's successor

[Guest Cerebus]

There is a great article at the The New Republic but paid registration is required so I'll post highlights:

 

Powell's time at the FCC has, of course, been buffeted by controversy. He managed to irk both free speech advocates and family values groups with his rulings on broadcast indecency...But while everyone in Washington and the world of media awaits the appointment of the un-Powell, they may be missing something important: The most likely successor--everyone from The New York Times to Communications Daily has pegged him as the next chairman--is current FCC commissioner Kevin Martin. And he would probably be much worse.

...

Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, he [Martin] made clear that higher fines and more explicit prohibitions were his prescriptions for combating on-air indecency. But more remarkably, he also called for the FCC to extend its dominion over cable and satellite operators if they "refuse to offer parents more tools such as family-friendly programming packages." Martin has also frequently dissented from commission rulings that deny complaints of indecency, including a recent dismissal of 36 objections to shows like "Friends," "NYPD Blue," and "The Simpsons."

 

Martin's aggressive campaign to define indecency may have exhausted Powell, who has warned broadcasters not to demand "a red book of what the government says you can and cannot say," but it has earned him an endorsement from the Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that generates 99 percent of the complaints the FCC receives. According to PTC President L. Brent Bozell, Martin "is a stalwart leader on the issue of indecency and would make a superb Chairman," particularly in contrast to Powell, who, according to Bozell, made "bestiality, masturbation, oral sex, anal sex and pedophilia ... FCC-sanctioned topics on prime time network television."

 

In other parts of the article, it notes that Powell's efforts at media deregulation were easily stymied by the courts and by Congress. However, efforts by Martin to satisfy morons like Bozell are much harder, costlier, and time consuming to fight than deregulation. So if you thought Powell was bad, get ready for worse.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

Sad, but expected considering the climate these days. There's always cable.

[2GOLD 0]

There is bestiality on Prime Time Television?

Which show was this???

 

Did Lucy Camden get humped by Mr Ed in a crossover episode??

[Special K 0]

Maybe not, according to the article. Get ready to say goodbye to The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck

[Guest Cerebus]

If this fucker tries to touch The Shield I'll go ballistic.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

The PTC is HORRIBLE in taking things way too literally all the time. Sarcasm is lost on them, and they apparently hate the word "dick" even when used as a general insult such as "that guy is such a dick".

 

So for bestiality, it could have been some stupid comeback like "why don't you go sleep with your dog?", maybe in a "get out of this house" type reference taken to a different level by the PTC.

 

Those guys are insane.

[Guest BDC]

PTC ranks right up there in my book with PETA.

 

Screw 'em both.

[Special K 0]

This is the group that counted every X-Pac crotch chop (of which he would do, like 5 in a row) as a reference to oral sex.

[NoCalMike 0]

As if the worst problems are even going to be about fines and indecency. I can't wait to hear his ideas on de-regulating even MORE media outlets. Ugh.....

[Guest Cerebus]

Actually, the parts of the article I didn't post said that Martin was one of the few voices on the FCC that voted against deregulation and was an arch opponent of it. I'll give him credit for that, but as the author notes, its easier to fight deregulation than it is "indecency" stuff.

[MrRant 0]

Maybe not, according to the article. Get ready to say goodbye to The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck

Those on FX.

 

Which is a cable channel.

[Special K 0]

Those on FX.

 

Which is a cable channel.

 

*Sigh*

 

There's always cable.

 

Maybe not, according to the article. Get ready to say goodbye to The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck

 

From the article:

 

But more remarkably, he also called for the FCC to extend its dominion over cable and satellite operators if they "refuse to offer parents more tools such as family-friendly programming packages."

 

I wonder what shows they'll go after if they start regulating cable?

[MrRant 0]

They won't.

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

One would think Constitutional Law would have dominion over the FCC's interest in tyranny.

[NoCalMike 0]

It really depends though. The cycle of the last four years may continue which is, networks want more power, thus stay bush-friendly in news and reporting, thus Bush throws them back a bone by pressuring the FCC to back off. Who knows.

[Guest Cerebus]

It really depends though.  The cycle of the last four years may continue which is, networks want more power, thus stay bush-friendly in news and reporting, thus Bush throws them back a bone by pressuring the FCC to back off.  Who knows.

You're assuming they are Bush friendly, when the chief of the CNN news division claims that the US military is kidnapping, torturing, and targeting journalists for killing in Iraq its a hard claim to swallow.

[AndrewTS 0]

2GOLD gets the gold star for calling it.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The Pay Movie services like HBO are assumed safe, the only beef with Cable is that most basic cable plans include stuff like FX, MTV, etc, and basic cable is essentially the Free over the air TV of the era now.

 

I just wait for them to decide that they need to start cleaning up the internet for the sake of the little kids. You know thats coming next.

[2GOLD 0]

2GOLD gets the gold star for calling it.

 

Dammit, why is it the ONE TIME I'm right it's THIS!

 

They should have hired Reverend Bill, at least he has a sense of humor.

Crap.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

FUCK.

 

[MrRant 0]

The Pay Movie services like HBO are assumed safe, the only beef with Cable is that most basic cable plans include stuff like FX, MTV, etc, and basic cable is essentially the Free over the air TV of the era now.

 

I just wait for them to decide that they need to start cleaning up the internet for the sake of the little kids. You know thats coming next.

Wrong again.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

The government, no matter how PTC-friendly, simply can't try and regulate content on cable and satellite networks, because the courts have already stripped them of any ability to do explicitly that.

 

They are the final word on this issue, not the FCC, and not Congress.