|
|
Due to a new FCC regulation, radio and TV broadcasters are now may be required to keep an archived edition of everything they do for sixty to ninety days. I'm not a fan of this approach; I expect that it will significantly curb any broadcaster's willingness to even risk playing a song (or showing a skit) that might offend someone.
My reasoning? Well, prior to this rule, if someone was going to complain, they had to be recording the broadcast in question. This didn't always happen, of course (How often didn't this happen, you may be asking? Try 1.17%.). Nowadays, all that anyone has to do is write the FCC, say "KBAL did something indecent at 7:25am on Saturday, July 10" and an investigation will follow. Said investigation will cost the station money (in research, lawyers, etc.), so the sheer nuisance value of the potential complaints will cause the station to shy away from taking the risk.
Before any of you get all happy over this possibility ("less smut on the air! yeah!"), try to keep in mind that there is no limit to how this can be applied. A complaint could be lodged for something offensive during a Rush Limbaugh show just as easily as an allegation can be sent in about an incident during a Michael Moore interview.
Also, what about small/indie stations? Most radio/TV groups will probably have the technical means to support this requirement (to warehouse the tapes and/or hard disk space for the archives), but some of the micro stations that the FCC has been trying to encourage may not. Web-based radio stations will probably have the disk space (since it's a streamed medium), but I still suspect that this regulation will probably put some groups out of business.
-- Update --
I changed the post to better reflect the reality of the situation. Thanks for the correction, Kristin.
Point of clarification: Note that this archiving regulation is far from being "required" as stated in your first sentence -- at this point it's just a proposal. On July 7, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which is the beginning of the regulatory process at the FCC -- it's the time that they lay out the questions and solicit feedback from stakeholders and citizens. Anyone can file comments in this proceeding -- citizens, stakeholders -- by just going to this page at the FCC's website:
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.hts?ws_mode=proc_name&proc_id=04-232
Docket number is 04-232. Comments are due by July 30. Then there's a time for all the participants and the FCC to review the comments filed, and then folks can file reply comments. Those are due August 30.
Future of Music Coalition will most likely address the issues raised in this NPRM in the reply comments we're filing at the FCC on the broadcast flag/digital audio transfer, but I'd encourage anyone who cares about this stuff or has an opinion about its value, or lack thereof, to file a comment at the above link.
Posted by: Kristin Thomson at July 8, 2004 11:48 PMThanks for the catch, Kristin; I've updated the post accordingly.
Posted by: Casper at July 10, 2004 03:25 AM