USA Today pushing Telecomm agenda
An article in USA Today entitled “FCC hopes to speed phone companies’ entry into TV” is a textbook case of the Telecommunications Agenda, with absolutely no mention of why it would be a bad idea.
Though it’s true that there is little competition in cable TV, there is no truth that the entry of the Telecommunications Companies into that field will add competition. The Telecomms have already stated to stockholders that their entry into the TV arena will not foster a price war.
USA Today appears to make the case that current local franchising is bad for consumers. What the article doesn’t say is that current local franchising in almost all cases requires that in order for a franchise to be granted for a local area, the franchisee must build out the entire area. With the advent of state or federal franchising rules those guarantees will go out the window and redlining of “unprofitable” areas will occur with regularity. Current local franchising also, in almost all cases, requires a certain amount of local public access, another requirement that will go out the window, homogenizing all our news and taking away minority and regional voices. The most important thing that is going unstated is that the Telecomms want Net Neutrality scuttled in order for the TV buildout to occur, so they can use “their” network (the one we taxpayers bought and paid for) in a discriminatory way by prioritizing traffic not only by who is paying on both ends but also setting up tollbooths in the middle, which will have the effect of turning the current open and democratic internet into just another Home Shopping Network and Bud TV.
I’m also surprised that USA Today has written that the FCC is pushing this. This is not accurate, since the democratic members of the FCC, Copps and Adelstein, have argued against most of the points that the article attributes as being originated by the FCC.
It’s shocking that a supposedly unbiased article by a major media publication could print such a biased and badly researched piece. It’s as if Astroturf Telecomm Homeboy McCurry wrote this and USA Today put their byline on it.
But then I doubt highly if Gannett is printing much about the fight against Media Consolidation either.
Technorati Tags: USA Today, FCC, McCurry, Cable Franchising, Local Access, Media Consolidation
