Implementation of the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) could lead to more community radio stations and community involvement in minority communities, some LPFM advocates said Monday at a New America Foundation event in Washington. There are some hurdles that applicants and the FCC must take on to make the process successful, they said.
Supreme Court justices limited discussion of First Amendment issues on the government’s appeal of a lower court ruling against the FCC finding indecent a single curseword or incident of nudity on broadcast TV. Oral argument Tuesday mainly focused on how the agency’s so-called fleeting indecency policy squared with the high court’s landmark Pacifica decision, which allowed the commission to censure indecent content on terrestrial radio and TV. The 1969 Red Lion case involving spectrum scarcity didn’t come up, conforming with expectations (CD June 28 p1).
Seventeen parties opposed making FCC filings contain full copies of any materials cited in their pleadings or ex parte submissions. Many comments on a commission public notice said the rule would be unnecessary and burdensome, and all filings in docket 10-44 opposed the requirements the agency asked about. The FCC said the new rules, which it didn’t propose but only asked about, could increase transparency and efficiency in proceedings, as well as make materials more readily available for anyone (CD Dec 2 p7).
LAS VEGAS -- Questions are likely to continue to arise about usage-based pricing and whether some high-use subscribers should pay more than those that use much less, industry officials said during a panel Monday at CES. One key, speakers said, is that consumers have usage measurement tools available so they can see that the overwhelming majority utilize little enough bandwidth that they don’t face caps or extra charges, panelists said.
The FCC continues working on several radio rulemakings, has completed one proceeding and may finish two others later this year. The attention by staffers in the Media Bureau to radio issues is in contrast to what some see as the commission’s overall lack of attention to other media issues. The agency in December approved a tribal radio order, which industry lawyers said the bureau made quick work of. By contrast, the commission is more than a year behind schedule on its media ownership review, in which industry lawyers said radio isn’t much in play.
Civil rights and “digital divide” erasure advocates gave mixed reviews to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Lifeline reform proposals Monday. As expected (CD Jan 9 p7), Genachowski promised what he called “cost controls” and “a budget” for Lifeline and Link-Up, with most of his efforts focused on rooting out some 200,000 duplicate claims and building a database to prevent future “waste.” The draft order will circulate Tuesday, Genachowski said.
News licensing startup NewsRight doesn’t follow the business model of Righthaven, the struggling law group that sued bloggers for reposting articles, but litigation isn’t out of the question, President David Westin told us. The organization, launched in the summer as the Associated Press’s News Licensing Group, last week said it signed up 29 news and information partners and investors, including The New York Times Co. and Hearst, covering more than 800 websites whose content it has authority to license (CD Jan 6 p12). Focused on digital text for the moment, NewsRight is in “very preliminary” talks with organizations interested in having licensed video and still images from NewsRight’s partners, Westin said.
PASADENA, Calif. -- Digital and social media have brought a significant number of younger viewers to PBS, said PBS President Paula Kerger at the winter television press tour. Through apps, streaming and Facebook, more than 60 percent of pbs.org visitors watching video are between the ages of 18 and 49, and the average age of PBS’ online viewer is 35.
LAS VEGAS -- With 2012 widely seen as a make or break year for mobile DTV, the Mobile 500 Alliance and Mobile Content Venture (MCV) are expected to continue discussions at CES this week on a potential merger, industry officials said.
An FCC Media Bureau report on regional sports network access and carriage issues that the bureau was required to write under a 2006 FCC order doesn’t assess the market for RSNs. That drew criticism from some multichannel video programming distributor officials and others. Some had hoped for more from the study (CD Sept 28 p9).