Broadcasting Changes in a "Obama" Administration...

[tothedj]

With corporate radio in a "free fall", it broaches this question to the regular's who
post on this part of the board, what broadcast changes could we see when the
Obama Administration takes over in January?
There is a few things i would like to see, first off, tighten the rules broadcasters
are asked to follow, second, look into the possibility of returning the cap limit on
the number of AM, FM and TV stations one company can own, we should have
"never" repealed this rule, and as a result look where broadcasting in the U.S.
is today, and finally, even though this is not related to radio, as we all know
cable television rates have gone up almost every year for quite sometime, and
i understand cable companies spend money to upgrade and offer more services
like HD, but a movement needs to commence that should bring the prices down
and give the consumer a break, one way is to offer subscribers the option to
choose what you want to watch, if you want only 10 channels, you pay for just
those, if you want 100 channels, the same price structure for those apply, i
only watch about 40 channels right now, and this would be a good move and
more importantly, save money, especially in the economic conditions we are
in at this moment.
And if there is one thing that i don't want to return is the "Fairness Doctrine",
i'm sure someone in Washington will do everything they can to restore this,
which the listeners of "talk radio" will voice their opinions, and some in TV
will as well, there is no legitimate reason for this rule to ever come back, but
those of a certain political party wants to silence certain radio hosts, don't
you think that's a violation of "free speech"?

 

[KFodor]

Initially - I don't think radio or broadcasting is anywhere close to the top of Barack Obama's agenda.

He's got deeper fish to fry on the financial markets.

And remember, the FCC...not the White House, makes these determinations. Though, admittedly, the White House could appoint people who favor certain positions.

That being said: the old caps will not come back. Period. Give it up. You just can't put that genie back in the bottle, without financially ruining certain broadcasters, and the NAB and certain entrenched interests will not allow that to happen. (They may end up ruining themselves, but it won't be due to increased regulation or some big national "break up" of the major radio groups.)

What could very well happen - is more regulation on the issue of "localism" (where criticism of radio broadcasters is very well deserved in most cases). That doesn't mean live/local programming 24/7, but it could mean stations would have to show better efforts at providing programming that attempts to address local issues and concerns, since some stations idea of "Public Affairs Programming", is airing "Newsweek Week In Review", or some program like it that they don't have to produce.

There will probably be calls in Congress for a "Fairness Doctrine", but whether such a thing could be adopted is very iffy, I think. Why? If you think people pushed Congress overboard on immigration, just wait until the calls to Congress, stoked by talk show hosts of both genres (right and left) begins to happen. Remember - if the Fairness Doctrine were to be imposed upon talk radio, Air America would also be required to air conservative content, too. Any attempt to solely impose it upon "Right-Wing Talk Radio", given the plethora of left-slanted views on TV, the internet and print media would easily be seen as "censorship" by a good portion of the public. And the pressure they would place on Congress would make such an effort untenable.

So, there you got my two cents.

 

[TheBigA]

This sounds like wishful thinking to me.

I've been reading the blogs of the two people advising Obama on the FCC and telecommunications matters, and I posted them elsewhere. Based on their writings, I have no reason to believe the Obama administration will seek increased regulation or new limits in ownership regulation. In fact, Henry Rivera, one of Obama's advisors, has supported repeal of the newspaper-broadcasting cross-ownership rules.

The real story of the last three years is that radio companies aren't interested in buying any more radio stations. If anything, most are looking to sell. The problem is no one is looking to buy. Even top performing stations in major markets.

based on the writings of Obama's advisors, I believe the top priorities for an Obama FCC will be the internet and cell phones, not broadcasting.