Government

In this Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“Report and Order and Third Further Notice”), we take several steps to increase participation in the broadcasting industry by new entrants and small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses, which historically have not been well-represented in the broadcasting industry.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) added the 2010 census to its “High-Risk” list of federal areas in need of either broad-based transformation or specific reforms to prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.

The Nation’s full-power television stations will transition from analog broadcast television service to digital broadcast television service on February 17, 2009. The Federal Communications Commission (the “Commission”) released the DTV Consumer Education Order requiring television broadcasters, Multi-Channel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs), telecommunications carriers, retailers, and manufacturers to promote awareness of the nation’s transition to digital television. The educational efforts of these diverse groups are intended to provide consumers with clear and correct information about the DTV transition.

U.S. PIRG’s small but hearty crew unearthed problems the entire consumer electronics industry and the Federal government have not fully confronted: yet another weak link in the national effort to help millions of Americans weather the DTV transition. I thank them for bringing this to light.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today concluded its quadrennial review of the broadcast ownership rules. The Commission amended the 32-year-old absolute ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership by crafting an approach that would presumptively allow a newspaper to own one television station or one radio station in the 20 largest markets, subject to strict criteria and limitations.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today adopted a Report and Order (Order) which will expand opportunities for participation in the broadcasting industry by new entrants and small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses, to own broadcast outlets.

The new rules will help eligible entities with access to financing and availability of spectrum.

Following the August release of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on Advertising contracting and Congressional Subcommittee meetings on Government Management, Organization and Procurement, AHAA’s leadership engaged the association in an initiative to enforce government standards in advertising and communications contracts.

“Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country,” said Samuel Gompers, founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. “All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man’s prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day…is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation.”

Leading Senate and House Democrats urged federal agencies to take an active role in increasing the amount of federal advertising contracts awarded to disadvantaged and minority-owned businesses. Their action comes in response to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to be released that found that federal agencies are falling short of the standards set by an executive order issued in 2000 calling on the government to “aggressively” reach out to minority and underserved firms.

The FTC will host a two-day Town Hall to bring together consumer advocates, industry representatives, technology experts, and academics to address the consumer protection issues raised by the practice of tracking consumers’ activities online to target advertising – or “behavioral advertising.”

The Federal Communications Commission announced the release of ten research studies on media ownership intended to inform the Commission’s comprehensive review of its broadcast ownership policies undertaken in its rulemaking proceeding in MB Docket No. 06-121 involving the issues raised by the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Prometheus v. FCC and its quadrennial review of its broadcast ownership rules and certain other rules.

GobiernoUSA.gov, the official web portal for the U.S. government in Spanish, will collaborate with Spanish language newspaper publisher ImpreMedia to expand its distribution of official government information to the Hispanic community.

A study released by the Federal Trade Commission confirms that African American and Hispanic drivers pay more for auto insurance because insurers use credit scores todetermine premiums. The use of credit scores in insurance has long been a controversial practice because of its discriminatory impact on low income and minority families.

STOPPING VIOLENCE ON TV by governmental mandate?

That would be like trying to stop any widespread behavior, according to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). “We tried it once,” he said. “It was called prohibition.”

Alcohol, like fictional violence, is tough to keep away from human beings. Regulating behavior never works, Lautenberg said, speaking at a Senate committee hearing on violence. But having parents monitor kids’ entertainment habits isn’t enough, many senators said. At the same time no one could come up with a reasonable way to curb or change the preponderance of violence in TV show — especially with freedom of speech concerns.