[net.video] Proposed Broadcast Rules Changes

rjr@mgweed.UUCP (Bob Roehrig) (11/22/83)

    The Nov. 21 issue of TIME Magazine has an  article  about  changes
    that  FCC Chairman Mark Fowler would like to make in the Broadcast
    industry.  He has already asked Congress to  repeal  the  Fairness
    Doctrine.

    Fowler would also like to eliminate the  requirement  for  "public
    service  programs".  He says " let the marketplace decide." Fowler
    wants to end financial restrictions on how  stations  do  business
    and  strip away Government control of program content. He wants to
    remove the rule that prevents a company from owning  more  than  7
    stations,  end the 16 minute per hour restrictions on commercials,
    and remove requirements for nonentertainment items like  news  and
    educational programming.

    "Fowler's goal is to free broadcasters  from  nearly  all  of  the
    thousands of FCC rules, policies and doctrines requiring that 'the
    public interest be served'. He rejects the fundamental  FCC  tenet
    that   broadcasters  must  demonstrate  social  responsibility  in
    exchange for using public air waves."


    I wonder how this will affect broadcasting in the U.S.

    mgweed!rjr

stekas@hou2g.UUCP (11/23/83)

   Fowler sounds like the James Watt of the video world.
Why not just eliminate licensing altogether? Let everyone
broadcast whatever they want anytime they want to.

Removing the cap on advertising time would have one very
positive benefit. It would hasten the demise of the
major networks.  Advertising time would increase while prices
drop.  The resulting bloodbath would be much more entertaining
to witness than their inevitable collapse in the face of cable
and VCR.

                                        Jim