Capital Watch
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/15/2004 8:00:00 PM
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Items:
TV Groups Still Face Limits No Foul Joint Sales Pacts in Jeopardy Fallout From Mexican AM Interference |
TV Groups Still Face Limits
TV groups expecting the FCC to help them knock down court roadblocks to media consolidation were disappointed last week. Rules passed by the FCC in 2003 allowed TV-station owners to set up duopolies and buy newspapers in more markets around the country. But federal judges ordered the FCC to rewrite the rules in June and stayed any implementation of previous media-ownership changes. The FCC asked the court to lift the stay, but only in the one area where ownership restrictions were tightened. "There are no sound reasons for maintaining the stay of the local radio-ownership rules," the FCC told the federal appeals court judges in Philadelphia. New radio limits approved by commissioners cut the number of radio stations an owner may control in some small markets.
No Foul
"Dry humping" in prime time is apparently OK, according to the FCC. Episodes of Will & Grace and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that depict actors cavorting are not considered indecent. Americans for Decency and other groups had complained about a Will & Grace episode that featured two female guest characters kissing passionately and then engaging in a dry hump. But the FCC said no indecency penalty is warranted because "both characters are fully clothed, and there is no evidence that the activity depicted was dwelled upon, or was used to pander, titillate or shock the audience." Applying similar reasoning, the FCC also dismissed a Parents Television Council complaint about an installment of Buffy that shows her kissing and straddling Spike prior to having sex.
Joint Sales Pacts in Jeopardy
TV stations could soon find it harder to rely on other stations to drum up ads. Two stations in the same market would be considered commonly owned when they enter into a joint sales agreement under a rule being considered by the FCC. In essence, joint sales agreements could effectively be banned in markets with fewer than eight separately owned stations since co-owned stations, or duopolies, are forbidden in markets that small. Under the typical joint sales agreement, a station owner authorizes a broker to sell some or all of its ad time in return for a fee or cut of the revenue. Last summer, the FCC voted that radio joint sales agreements between same-market stations would be considered duopolies. The tightened rule could be implemented within six months, after a round of public comment.
Fallout From Mexican AM Interference
A California broadcaster faces a $20,000 fine and possibly tougher punishment for providing programming to three Mexican stations that generated massive interference for more that a dozen AM stations in the western U.S. The FCC proposed fining Pacific Spanish because the Mexican stations were operating at high power levels and, in one case, on a different channel than approved by U.S. officials. (Pacific Spanish can appeal.) The interference flap led to a minor diplomatic dust-up between the Mexican and U.S. governments. A 1986 treaty requires the two governments to coordinate technical details for TV and radio stations operating along the border. U.S. officials were disturbed that Mexico would ignore the treaty, possibly leading to more disputes as DTV stations build along the borders. In June, the Mexican government ordered the three stations to cut their power.
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