FCC and deregulation, why should I care?:
This is an action alert post (sorry I've been away for a while)
The FCC/Federal Communications Commission is currently in the midst of debating the rules limiting consolidation of media ownership and will soon vote (June 2) on weather or not to deregulate these safeguards. The big media companies are all for 'deregulation' while others like Barry Diller and media watch groups are against it. Now you might be thinking, "What the hell does this have to do with me? Why should I give a rats ass?" Well, let me tell you how I see it.
Like the principals that made me design this web site, I feel far too much juice has been taken out of the entertainment industry. Part of the reason for that is, media consolidation. These huge media companies pay attention mostly to their financial bottom line, the money they are raking in. While this is not always such a bad thing, there comes a point when it begins to kill creativity and hurt the consumer. Like replacing real butter in theaters with crappy yellow flavored oil. Like trying to set up next years summer blockbuster with little care for it's quality. These things tend to have no heart cause they are usually decided by business men who use calculators and very little heart or common sense.
Now, at the FCC they are getting ready to decide what the landscape of media will look like for some time to come. You know, which companies can own what and in what amounts and in what areas of the country.
This can seem very harmless at first glance. You might think, "What is the big deal? Companies want to make more money, so what?" OK, have you ever played the game of "Monopoly?" If you have, I'm sure you have been in a game where one person owed most of the big Monopolies? You know how unfair it can seem and you know the game is all but over. You feel powerless and even when you try to build your way back, you know it's only a matter of time before you are 'shit out of luck.' This is the most simplistic way I could think to describe it. Here is another scary example.
I'm sure most of you know "The Dixie Chicks" have hit a bit of a snafu lately do to a statement one of them made about President Bush. Well, it seems that quite a few radio stations stopped playing their songs and organized rallies against the group. I believe most of the stations that were involved with the "Dixie Chick" boycott were Clear Channel stations. Clear Channel is one of these huge companies that benefited from the deregulations of the radio industry a while back. With over 1200 radio stations and 7800 counting syndication and more than 110 million listeners a week, this puts Clear Channel in a very powerful position to make or break artist and other smaller dependant businesses. If this new round of deregulation happens Clear Channel can begin to start looking deeper into buying TV stations, news papers or anything else it felt like. This is far too dangerous a prospect to allow one company to have so much power in an industry. Now I am not picking on Clear Channel, only using them as an example. It could just as easy be Disney or AOL/Time Warner. These companies can't be left to buy up the media Monopoly. It will hurt us in the long run.
Look at Microsoft, the company that swallowed up so many other companies and the ones they couldn't, they destroyed. This could very well happen to media in this country. That means Movies, TV, Radio, News and yes, even the internet. I'm sure a lot of you love the idea of the internet, the free exchange of ideas, networking, or just getting your voice heard. Well, what if one day, that was not so easy to do? What if one day you needed a license to do it? This is a more extreme example of 'what if' but it could happen.
Go ahead, try to open a radio station or TV station, try to get your movie's distribution without the major studios. I would think you'd have a hard time making it happen. This is what we have now and if the majors are allowed to consolidate even more, there will be less and less original voices reaching us, less original ideas, less original movies. Also, less and less room for the little guy, less room for the American dream of making it in this business. Although this deregulation has farther reaching implications and dangers, this is but one of the problems it can cause in the movie making industry.
So write you representative and tell them you are against this FCC deregulation. Tell them mega media is choking the heart of creativity in this business. Tell them you want to give the little guy a chance.
Head Honcho April 29, 2003
Update: May 14, 2003
Now: with Bill Moyers has written a lot of great stuff on this. Time is running out on this issue, so act fast.
Update: June 2, 2003
Update: Nov 20, 2003
Honcho again. Well, the vote was passed and big media won the first big battle but the war isn't over yet. Seems some of our judges and reps in Washington are trying to block the vote put forth by the FCC. It will be interesting how this all turns out. I would still suggest you write you reps and let them know how you feel.
Head Honcho
