http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Tue, 28 Dec 2004 14:00:53 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/28/094945.php#comment-105753 Well, as a card-carrying member of the vast "Right Wing Conspiracy" (btw, we have great holiday parties), I'm very glad for the FCC's ruling. The government has every right to set standards around tax-payer funded services, but I don't want to see them messing with cable and satellite services. I look at it from two angles: 1) Yes, there will be raunchy content that I don't want my kids getting access to. With that said, I can lock out any of those channels at home or on my XM Radio account very easily, so I'm happy. 2) The sword of government control is two-edged. Yes, they might limit offensive material, but then they may also limit good content that I want, like all those great conservative talk shows that I listen to every day. :-) The markets will help set some limits on what works and what does not with cable and satellite services. Also, I think broadcasters will increasingly align themselves with whatever niche market they've chosen to serve. I think it will be very interesting to see the "battle of the satellite services" as it begins to really heat up. And I can't wait to see what future services we'll get as well. If we can stream radio, then we can stream other media sources, and as technology lets us pack more memory into smaller sizes, we can stream, store, consume, AND interact, all on demand. We'll get the content and services we want, any time, any place, all for what will hopefully be a reasonable price. :-) Price too, will remain market driven, so we can have reasonable hope that prices will remain within the means of the average person. Thanks, David 105753@blogcritics.org Tue, 28 Dec 2004 14:00:53 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/12/28/094945.php#comment-105731 Even if the FCC wanted to regulate the content of subscription-based satellite radio service, they would have had to change the rules in place for cable television, a massive undertaking that would have further pushed the first amendment onto thin ice. In my view, a sinister figure in the battle of free speech vs. censorship is Senator Brownback of Kansas, who has made it his mission to target and take out radio broadcaster Howard Stern via ghastly and capricious FCC fines. Now that Stern is moving over to satellite, it will be very interesting to see how things play out over the next several years. With sales and subscriptions of both XM and Sirius satellite radios soaring, it looks like free speech will survive... for the time being. Eric Berlin <a href="http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com">Dumpster Bust</a>: Miracles from Mind Trash http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com 105731@blogcritics.org Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:25:08 EST