10-13-2008, 04:01 AM | #1 | |||
n00b
Join Date: Aug 2008
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FCC Clears Free Wireless Web
Here is another FCC head scratcher. Why is the FCC going to be able to tell business how much they can or can't charge
FCC Clears Free Wireless Web - WSJ.com Quote:
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10-13-2008, 04:02 AM | #2 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Parañaque, Philippines
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Free = good.
Yes, I'm a cheapskate.
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10-13-2008, 04:03 AM | #3 | |
n00b
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Quote:
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10-13-2008, 03:22 PM | #4 | |
Head Coach
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Green Bay, WI
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Quote:
1) It's not that they're telling anybody how much they can charge. It's that they're saying "You can buy a license to this spectrum, but a particular service needs to be made available pursuant to your use of that license." Kinda like how the FCC regulates broadcast TV - a certain percentage of programming has to be devoted to the public interest (which is why you see news four times a day and the like). My guess is that the same principle guides "some" here. Not that there's a specific percentage of "airwaves" that have to be made available, but rather a minimum threshold for the amount of traffic devoted to the "public interest" as opposed to private interest via those airwaves. |
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10-13-2008, 03:49 PM | #5 | |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Behind Enemy Lines in Athens, GA
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Quote:
Actually any mention of a percentage requirement went away years ago (unless it was instituted during the April localism hearings & I missed it). Now it's basically making sure they do items pursuant to whatever public interest plan is submitted in their public file and meeting their own quota. Of course someone could be bitten at license renewal time but that's an incredibly faint possibility & ever broadcaster knows it. As this recent Broadcastlawblog article put it Of course, public interest advocates will argue that the forms will allow the Commission to assess the station's operation in the public interest, and will allow the public to complain about failures of stations to serve local needs. But, as in a recent license renewal case we wrote about here, the Commission rejected a Petition to Deny against a station based on its alleged failure to do much local public affairs programming as, without specific quantitative program requirements, the Commission cannot punish a station for not doing specific amounts of particular programming. If the Commission adheres to this precedent, it will not be able to fine stations for the information that they put on the Form 355, but only for not filing it or not completing it accurately. From TVnewsday.com, a more recent article from early October makes it appear that nothing has been finalized in that regard. An interesting read as it details one of Martin's latest schemes: broadcasters could fulfill a portion (some? all? nobody seems to know) of their localism requirement by funding "investigative research by journalism students" at selected universities. The article talks about the various pitfalls of this loosely defined plan which even drew criticism even from non-profits that already do a sort of contract-reporting that's being considered. The whole thing, most of all trying to implement it before year's end when no one has seen any details as of this month, is downright laughable ... which makes it worth a read on a slow news day if you enjoy train wrecks.
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10-13-2008, 03:57 PM | #6 |
Favored Bitch #1
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: homeless in NJ
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wouldnt things like illegeal downloading and such go up alot if they created a free network?
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