Republican Michael Powell, Chairman of the FCC, has jammed through another give-away in the media arena. This time, it essentially gives one of the largest-and-getting-larger-still
media companies in the world a corner
on the global satellite market, and increases its huge holdings in the US market
even more.
In a 3-2 vote along party lines, Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan
S. Adelstein joined fellow Democrat Michael J. Copps in opposing News Corp.'s
purchase of a controlling stake in DirecTV. They said more stringent conditions
were needed to prevent News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch — whose empire
includes Fox Broadcasting, two dozen cable channels and 35 television stations
in 26 cities that reach 44% of U.S. households — from squeezing or
retaliating against rivals that don't play by his rules.
"With this unprecedented combination, News Corp. could be in a position
to raise programming prices for consumers, harm competition in video programming
and distribution markets nationwide and decrease the diversity of media
voices," Adelstein
said in a statement. [FCC
Approves News Corp.'s DirecTV Bid subscription]
The Justice Department said they would not
oppose the deal.
It's part of the current Republican policy of paying back Big Media for
their Big Campaign Contributions. Eleven
media companies own about
90% of all the media in the US. And now we're going to get all the news [the
right wants us to get] all the time.
Michael Powell, son of Colin Powell [but I sometimes wonder if Michael
wasn't adopted], did a similar thing earlier this year, too.
Article comments
1 - Rep. Mark B. Cohen
We need an increase in media diversity. We must bring back the fairness doctrine, reverse the concentration of ownership, and get a Democratic majority on the FCC before they have a chance to reduce Internet access to the property of major corporations.
2 - Jonathan
We could all just stop watching TV. Reading newspapers...etc.. then when there al bankrupt we'll start up again :P
3 - Hal Pawluk
Murdoch is a particular problem because he's single-minded and won't give up.
With his print media, he broke the union and fired 6000 workers in England by shutting down his plant and restarting a mile away.
In the US, when starting the Fox network he ran into limitations on ownership by a foreigner, so he became a US citizen.
He supports and is supported by neocons, and owns Faux News and the Weekly Standard, not mention scores of other properties.