With PBS backing Ken Burns on his refusal to re-edit his documentary The War, Hispanic advocates and lawmakers are pressing General Motors, Anheuser-Busch and other underwriters to get to expand the film with footage of Hispanics’ World War II role. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus told PBS in a letter it only will accept incorporating Hispanics’ “integral role… within the body” of the film. Once PBS responds, the caucus will decide what to do next, a Hill source said. PBS has engaged in a “lot of semantics” about recasting the Burns film to cover the Hispanic role, such as having it “incorporated,” seamlessly “woven” and “recut,” said Marta Garcia of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. This has created confusion over what PBS plans to do, she added, noting that protestors are leaning on GM and Anheuser-Busch not only to fix The War but make sure such omissions don’t recur. Meetings are planned with the CPB, she added. The War airs in Sept.; her group is inclined to give PBS until early June to explain how it would include the Hispanic experience in the film, Garcia said. “I think they [PBS] are working in good faith, but good faith is not going to be enough until we see very solid and concrete answers as to exactly how this is going to be done.” The Defend the Honor Campaign will give Hispanic documentary producer Hector Galan, hired by Burns to fill the gaps, a “chance” to learn the extent to which he can “affect” the film, campaign leader Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez said, adding that she expects to hear form him within days. PBS will be able to comment only after Burns and Galan have had a “chance to shoot the new stories, edit them and discuss fully how they will be used,” said Vp Lea Sloan. As for diversity efforts in public broadcasting, Garcia said the problem is that they focus on blacks and whites: “We would like to see people of all colors in diversity [sic] groups as opposed to 2 single groups.” National public broadcast entities decried interfering with content before a program airs. “Any attempt by the government or interest groups to influence content, especially before a program has aired, raises serious constitutional, statutory and policy concerns,” said a joint statement by the CEOs of CPB, APTS, PBS and NPR. The Public Bcstg. Act stresses the need to prevent interference with content, requiring that the CPB guard public broadcast entities from “interference with, or control of, program content or other activities,” they said. In passing that 1967 law, Congress sought to protect public broadcasting’s editorial integrity, they said: “We urge Congress not to forsake this ideal.” The signatories are CPB CEO Patricia Harrison, PBS CEO Paula Kerger, NPR CEO Ken Stern and APTS CEO John Lawson.

FARMINGTON, Pa. -- Don’t view the end of proceedings on interference temperature and receiver performance regulation as a sign that the FCC won’t keep pursuing innovative ways to use spectrum, Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Julius Knapp said at the annual FCBA seminar here. As expected -- and despite reluctance expressed by Comrs. Adelstein and Copps -- the FCC formally ended both proceedings(CD May 4 p2), which were follow-ups to the Spectrum Policy Task Force.

The Internet Radio Equality Act (HR-2060) goes much farther than needed to keep small webcasters online, SoundExchange Exec. Dir. John Simson told a Wed. Future of Music Coalition event. His remarks are the first indication SoundExchange isn’t focused solely on shielding the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision raising webcasting rates (WID April 30 p1). Simson and others fought the characterization that the webcasters in the CRB proceeding were Davids to SoundExchange’s Goliath, accusing some webcasters of hassling artists on the stand.

The Internet Radio Equality Act (HR-2060) goes much farther than needed to keep small webcasters online, SoundExchange Exec. Dir. John Simson told a Wed. Future of Music Coalition event. His remarks are the first indication SoundExchange isn’t focused solely on shielding the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision raising webcasting rates (CD April 30 p10). Simson and others fought the characterization that the webcasters in the CRB proceeding are Davids to SoundExchange’s Goliath, accusing some webcasters of hassling artists on the stand.

Along with a cap on universal service subsidies (CD May 2 p1), the recommendations from the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service late Tues. could hit wireless carriers with a 2nd reduction in their payments. The Joint Board urged the FCC to “consider abandoning or modifying the so- called identical support… rule.” The rule bases competitive carrier funding on the same per-line support given to the rural ILEC operating in the same area.

RadioShack’s Q1 profit improved to $42.5 million, from $8.4 million a year earlier, amid a sharp cut in operating expenses including from closing 25 company-owned, 36 dealer- operated and 9 kiosk locations. RadioShack ended Q1 with 6,765 outlets, down from 6,835, including 4,442 company-owned stores Dec. 31.

Webcasters’ cries of impending bankruptcy were answered in a House bill that would cancel the Copyright Royalty Board decision raising webcasting rates across the board and limiting payment to a per-song standard above a threshold. Reps. Inslee (D-Wash.) and Manzullo (R-Ill.) introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would set royalty rates at 7.5% of revenue 2006-2010 and scrap the per-song standard. Services could also choose to pay 0.33 cents per hour of songs streamed to a single listener. The bill would also have the NTIA director prepare a report for the CRB on the “competitiveness of the Internet radio marketplace” and the effect of proposed rates. The FCC would be called on to report to the CRB regarding the proposed rates’ effect on: (1) Localism, diversity and competition in rural areas. (2) Diversity of programming, including by language. (3) Competitive barriers to entry in the Internet radio market. CPB would submit a report concerning its licensees and permittees. The Digital Media Assn. (DiMA) hailed the bill, saying it could “save thousands of webcasters from bankruptcy” they're doomed to otherwise when the board’s rates take effect May 15. Satellite radio pays 7.5% of revenue, DiMA said, and the flat-rate standard is also used by “jukeboxes and sound recordings.” Exec. Dir. Jon Potter said: “This bill may be Internet radio’s last best hope.” He called for quick congressional action. The bill would ensure that “public broadcasting has a place in the media landscape by modernizing” the law “for the 21st century,” an NPR spokeswoman said. Public radio has been recognized since 1976 as unable to pay “commercial-level royalty rates,” she said: “This bill will provide a long term resolution that is fair for all sides.” The SaveNetRadio coalition said “Congress took notice” of the hubbub it raised through listeners, webcasters and artists. The bill will help webcasting compete with satellite radio, the coalition’s Jake Ward said. The CRB’s “illogical and unrealistic royalty rates… have placed the future of an entire industry in jeopardy,” he said.

Webcasters’ cries of impending bankruptcy were answered in a House bill that would cancel the Copyright Royalty Board decision raising webcasting rates across the board and limiting payment to a per-song standard above a threshold. Reps. Inslee (D-Wash.) and Manzullo (R-Ill.) introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would set royalty rates at 7.5% of revenue 2006-2010 and scrap the per-song standard. The Digital Media Assn. (DiMA) hailed the bill, saying it could “save thousands of webcasters from bankruptcy” they're doomed to otherwise when the board’s rates take effect May 15. Satellite radio pays 7.5% of revenue, DiMA said, and the flat-rate standard is also used by “jukeboxes and sound recordings.” Exec. Dir. Jon Potter said: “This bill may be Internet radio’s last best hope.” He called for quick congressional action. The bill would ensure that “public broadcasting has a place in the media landscape by modernizing” the law “for the 21st century,” an NPR spokeswoman said. Public radio has been recognized since 1976 as unable to pay “commercial-level royalty rates,” she said: “This bill will provide a long term resolution that is fair for all sides.”

Odds of an FCC cable franchise order arriving this year rose with Chmn. Martin under pressure from top Republicans on the House Commerce Committee (CD April 25 p10), said industry and FCC officials. In a Tues. letter, Reps. Barton (R-Tex.) and Upton (R-Mich.) asked Martin to put cable operators under video rules imposed on telcos in March. In that rulemaking, the FCC said it would issue an order in 6 months on when and whether cable operators can get the same local franchise authority (LFA) deregulation as Bells. Before Barton and Upton wrote, some on the 8th floor and in industry doubted that 6-month timeframe, saying cable franchising isn’t a priority for Martin, who might be reluctant to act while an LFA appeal continues.

FCC Chmn. Martin stopped short of recommending that Congress limit TV violence. But in comments preceding release of a long-awaited Commission report on the subject, he said Supreme Court rulings let legislators to apply narrow restrictions. “Whenever government considers such regulations, it must do so with great care and deliberation,” Martin said in a written statement: “The Supreme Court has ruled that the government could apply regulations when the government’s interest was ’substantial’ and the restriction was ‘narrowly tailored.'”