KEY GOP LAWMAKERS BLAST LOCALISM RULES

[Force Commander]

http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2008/05/22/daily.4/

By Kim McAvoy
If FCC Chairman Kevin Martin moves ahead with imposing local programming quotas and other localism obligations on broadcasters, he will do it over the objections of two key fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Weighing in on the controversial localism rulemaking for the first time are Joe Barton of Texas, who is the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Cliff Stearns of Florida, the ranking minority member of the House Telecommunications Subcommittee.

“The audio and video markets have never been more competitive,” they say in an open letter to Martin released late yesterday. “Yet…[the FCC] is considering re-imposing broadcast regulations that the FCC appropriately eliminated more than 20 years ago on the grounds that market forces would better service localism.

“Resurrecting these outdated obligations would not only fail to accomplish the stated objectives, it would harm them by shackling broadcasters with costly and unnecessary rules that do not apply to their competitors.

“We urge the commission to stay the course, rather than ignore the marketplace realities of the past two decades.”

The congressmen also argue that the rules would be counterproductive.

“While the [proposed] processing guidelines … may not directly regulate broadcaster content, they create a perverse incentive to air programming aimed at satisfying the government, and not local communities."

Barton and Stearns are not the only lawmakers to deliver such a message to the FCC (more than 150 others have, too), but, by virtue of their ranking positions on the Commerce Committee they have considerably more clout on communications policy matters.

And because they are Republicans, their opinions should resonate loudly not only with Martin, but also with the two other members of the FCC Republican majority—Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate.

Barton and Stearns may soon be joined by another key communications policymaker on the Hill, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, according to a Stevens aide.

Under the FCC’s proposed localism rules, TV stations would be required to air a minimum amount of local programming in one or more categories and to set up community advisory boards.

The commission is also considering whether to force stations to ascertain what audiences want to watch—efforts that may include listener surveys, focus sessions and town hall meetings.

Another proposal would require stations to maintain their main studio within their community of license rather than within their much wider signal coverage area.

The Barton-Stearns letter turns the congressional heat up on Martin, a Republican chairman who has surprised many of late by his regulatory approach to broadcasting.

On localism, Martin has aligned himself with the FCC’s liberal Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, and put himself at odds with McDowell.

In an interview with TVNEWSDAY, McDowell repeated his concerns about the proposed rules, saying the FCC “should not be foisting regulations” upon broadcasters as they face unprecedented competition.

“You don’t want to hand a drowning man a rock. The Internet is unregulated and other platforms may emerge that allow people to pull content of their choice from whenever and wherever they want. That’s revolutionary. So why are we disadvantaging one platform that has diminishing top-line revenue? “McDowell asks.

The NAB is working hard to head off the localism proceeding and is responsible for prompting many of the congressional letters written to the FCC in opposition.

Most of the letters have come from Republicans, but some Democrats have joined in, notably senior House Commerce Committee Democrats Rick Boucher (Va.) and Bart Gordon (Tenn.).

In the Senate, Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu sided with the broadcasters, asking Martin to “craft policies that rightly encourage community engagement without inhibiting disaster communications or further burdening already-strained Louisiana business owners."

[AmpedNow]

Meanwhile, some senators are still bombarding (stalling) the FCC with demands to be met by XM/Sirius in order to approve the merger.

One of the requests include:

Localism Preservation: "Local news, weather and political information are essential to our communities and should not be undermined by national programming."

Uh-huh.

I guess this includes forcing XM/Sirius to drop their national emergency channels that frequently air Amber Alerts, because local radio can do it better.

Even though XM's EAC 247 proved invaluable to first responders post-Katrina, because local radio was knocked off the air for several days.

Just like every time I actually need local news and info, all I get is automation.

The NAB can't have it both ways.

If they don't want to serve their local communities by mandate, because of supposed competition by SDARS, then it is unreasonable for them to demand all weather and emergency channels be taken off of SDARS.

[Arp2]

“While the [proposed] processing guidelines … may not directly regulate broadcaster content, they create a perverse incentive to air programming aimed at satisfying the government...."

'Bout time somebody said that out loud.