It’s about time someone put a stop to the FCC’s reign of terror.

I have no problem with the FCC policing the airwaves; in fact, I wish we still had a more formal family hour on television.  However, they are going too far lately.  They’ve become little more than the personal lackeys of the right wing thought police.  When you consider that all modern television come with the V-chip and that millions of American view television through cable or satellite devices that have the ability to block any program, the FCC is becoming irrelevant.  These attempts to slap the wrists of the networks are pathetic attempts hold on to their power to decide what we can and cannot watch.

What happened to my grandmother’s Republicans?  You know, the Republicans who worked to keep government out of your lives as much as possible?  Presidential never-gonna-be candidate, Sam Brownback, wants to tack on two amendments to a spending bill that would give the FCC greater control over violebt content and allow them to fine networks for “slips” of the tongue.  Like I asked before:  what happened to the Grand Old Party?  When did they decide to become America’s Nannies-in-Chief.

I just don’t get the whole a la carte programming initiative that some members of Congress and the FCC are trying to push.  They say they want to offer parents more control over what their allowed to watch.  Don’t they already have that in the form of blocking that is available from every cable and satellite provider?  The other issue is allowing consumers more control over their cable bills and again I think that’s a double-edged sword.  Will it be cheaper for consumers to pick and choose rather than pay $40 a month for 150 channels?  Something tells me the per network price will average more if you buy a la carte. 

The other issue is, like it or not, cable and satellite is a venue where niche networks that could not otherwise exist flourish; chief among them religious and minority programming.  I have a limited understanding of how licensing fees work with networks and providers, but I believe cable and satellite providers pay a per-user fee to the network owners in order to carry the network.  That fee is based on the number of subscribers system-wide, not just the people who watch the network.  If networks have to start surviving based on their Nielsen number I think you’ll see the number of available network fall drastically, starting with networks that are lucky to see less than a million real viewers; and that’s  a majority of the networks.  This seems like a bad decision all around and is coming from a misguided effort to provider greater choice and control to consumers.

I don’t know what this means for the future, but the federal appeals court in New York City told the FCC to fuck off when it comes to their arbitrary decisions and subservience to a small (and I do mean small) portion of the country who gets upset every time a naughty word is uttered on television.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think broadcast television should be filled with bad language and sex.  I’ve always felt there should be a strictly enforced family hour of television (say 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm Eastern/Pacific), but beyond that I think the FCC should butt out as the evening progresses.  By the 10pm hour (Eastern/Pacific) I see no problem with a Nip/Tuck-type series airing.  If you’re a parent and allowing your children to watch a show like that, then you only have yourself to blame.  Yes, yes, I know parents cannot watch their children 24/7, but is that any different than the current state of affairs?  I’m not looking to turn broadcast television into a version of the England’s Channel 4, but the FCC’s nanny-syndrome and their willingness to listen only to small, vocal group needs to end.