FCC decency rules already chilling content

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Barry Ritholtz <ritholtz () yahoo com>
Date: July 12, 2004 8:09:05 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: FCC decency rules already chilling content

Hi Dave,

The new FCC "decency rules" are already having an impact on the creative
community:  Given the ambiguous nature of this regulation (what is  
decent
and indecent in various communities?), and the limited budgets of some
stations -- notably, PBS -- a new 'chilling effect' is already at work.

Content is getting watered down to where it is "FCC proof." Following  
this
slippery slope to its logical conclusion, broadcast content will
eventually reach a level of suitability for 11 year olds.

This will make difficult (if not impossible) for Broadcast stations to
compete with Cable and Satellite channels.

Here's Tim Goodman's take on it from the San Francisco Chronicle:


PBS watches its mouth rather than pay big fines. Now it's up to the  
other
networks to fight the FCC.
by Tim Goodman
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/12/ 
DDGHK7JE0V1.DTL


EXCERPT:   And the morality war on television has begun.

With the excising of three not-so-little terms  --  "s -- ," "f -- " and
"b--- j--,"  --  from a forthcoming drama on PBS, the Hollywood creative
community and broadcasters are finding, not to their liking, that a
chilling effect on content has already taken place.

Like all broadcast networks, PBS immediately filed a petition with the
Federal Communications Commission when the agency stepped through the  
door
that Janet Jackson kicked open at the Super Bowl and announced steep  
fines
for any broadcaster that didn't meet more stringent guidelines about
content.

Unlike other broadcast networks, however, PBS doesn't have a lot of cash
sitting around. In fact, the considerable woes now facing PBS are almost
directly tied to money  --  the system simply can't afford to stand up
against the government.

Because of this, a new drama called "Cop Shop" starring Richard Dreyfuss
and other actors who made a sort of creative labor of love on the cheap
for public broadcasting, has been edited to avoid the potential wrath of
the FCC.  The cuts prompted executive producer and writer David Black  
and
Dreyfuss to  whip out prepared statements before facing the nation's TV
critics here on  Friday.

"Ladies and gentlemen, 'Cop Shop' was never meant to be bleeped," said
Dreyfuss, reading from his prepared statement, via satellite from New  
York
 where he's appearing on Broadway. "David and I agreed to be bleeped
because we  were told that KCET, our greatly appreciated allies in this
affair, could be  subject to intimidating fines in the hundreds of
thousands of dollars. ... And  so, more reluctantly than I can describe,
we agreed to be bleeped. But being  bleeped is more than it is cracked  
up
to be. Having now been bleeped, I can  only say that it doesn't feel  
very
good. It feels kind of dirty. But you can never be unbleeped, so you can
only learn from your bleeps and move on."

A day before the remarks from Dreyfuss and Black, PBS president and  
chief
operating officer Pat Mitchell said the petition sent to the FCC said  
PBS
was  "worried about the chilling effects of these kinds of interpretive
standards."

"It would be one thing if (the FCC rules) said very clearly, you can't  
do
this," Mitchell said. "But a lot of it is left up to interpretation; and
yet,  it's clear they're being pretty aggressive in their interpretation
and the  fines are really steep.

"We have 349 stations and some of them are going to have very different
community standards than others," Mitchell added. "And we've got to err  
on
the  side of restraint because we can't make any one of our stations
liable for  legal action, for FCC fines. That would be irresponsible of  
us
to do."

-- snip --

The rest of the article is worth reading.



Cheers,




Barry L. Ritholtz
Market Strategist
Maxim Group
britholtz () maximgrp com
(212) 895-3614
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Big Picture:  A blog of capital markets, geopolitics, with a dash of
film!
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/





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