Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas) are teaming up to propose new broadcast content rules which would extend the FCC’s jurisdiction to include cable TV networks. The measure is likely to be popular in the increasingly conservative Congress, but may not pass legal muster in the federal court system. “The Supreme Court held in 2000 that cable operators aren’t subject to federal indecency rules because they are financed by subscribers who pay for access and because viewers can request that channels be blocked. Broadcasters have argued that cable should be subject to the same indecency rules as network TV.”
Tag: 03.02.05
Reality-Based Art, Or Art-Based Reality?
“It came long ago to the worlds of music (“American Idol”), moviemaking (“Project Greenlight”) and fashion design (“Project Runway”). Now reality television is finally tackling the art world, one of the last creative frontiers still unvisited by the genre’s camera crews, harsh judges and hordes of contestants hoping to turn a little fame into a lucrative career.”
Currently A Smash Hit
Less than two months into Minnesota Public Radio’s grand new experiment – a non-commercial progressive rock station where DJs pick the music, local artists are prominently featured, and eclecticism is the rule – Twin Cities music fans have become slobbering devotees of the new station, known as The Current. Even more astonishing, the station has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from listeners without a single traditional over-the-air public radio fund drive (DJs occasionally remind listeners to pledge money at MPR’s website). But some in Minnesota are wary of the new presence, mindful of MPR’s expansionist agenda and the network’s history of bullying smaller stations out of existence.
Life, The Universe, And Everything? Don’t Hold Your Breath.
Some prominent scientists believe that modern physics is quite close to being able to announce a Grand Unified Theory of Everything – multiply the Big Bang Theory by a couple of million and you’ve got the general idea. However, a new book argues that, while science has made undeniably great strides in the understanding of our universe in recent decades, no one is even remotely close to having a complete understanding of the way in which all of reality is bound together. The book also argues that the popular “string theory” of quantum physics is completely wrongheaded, and seems to suggest that much of what is now assumed to be fact in quantum mechanics doesn’t quite jive with reality. Meanwhile, the universe continues to exist, against all logic and reason…
Big Changes Coming To The BBC
The most venerable public broadcaster in the world will be getting a major behind-the-scenes overhaul under the terms of a new British government plan. The BBC will continue to be funded through revenue raised by the UK’s mandatory television license fee, but a new trust will replace the company’s board of governors, and will be directed to look into other methods of funding. The BBC will also be directed to buy programs from independent producers, and not to engage in a ratings chase with the UK’s for-profit broadcasters.
St. Louis Musicians Ratify Contract, But Take One Last Shot
The musicians of the St. Louis Symphony have ratified a new contract with a 56-36 vote following a bitter 8-week work stoppage which was settled only after a local office of the National Labor Relations Board declared it an illegal strike. The new contract, which runs for 3-1/2 years, calls for modest pay raises, and also contains unusual signing bonuses for the players in place of more significant pay hikes. However, the conflict may not be over yet: at the same meeting in which they ratified the contract, the musicians overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence in SLSO President Randy Adams.
Reason To Believe
“The long awaited opening of the Detroit School of Arts could not have happened at a better time. Financial troubles have so dominated the news coming out of the [Detroit school] district that it’s a welcome change to have a development truly worth cheering. The DSA is a big, shiny six-story reminder of the sort of modern-thinking focus the district needs to embrace if it’s going to compete and survive… The [school] comes complete with talking elevators, an 800-seat auditorium, acoustically efficient vocal and band rooms, a similarly designed recital hall, radio and TV studios, not to mention tons of security and surveillance systems.”
Cincinnati To Build On Recent Fiscal Success
Months after announcing that it had paid off all its debt and balanced its annual budget, the Cincinnati Symphony is preparing to launch a major capital campaign which could reach $60 million. The CSO’s recent budgetary success has come at a cost – the cancellation of a popular summer festival – and balance was only achieved through extraordinary donations from an anonymlous supporter. The money raised in the campaign will go to bolster the orchestra’s endowment, which currently stands at $67 million.
Oscar Verdict: We Very Much Enjoyed Our Show, Mostly
Critics may have judged this year’s Academy Awards as a tiresome experience, but most of the Aademy itself was quite pleased with the revamped ceremony and its new host, comedian Chris Rock. Still, not everyone is happy: “The tweaks to the format–which involved bringing whole groups of nominees onto the stage and handing out some Oscars in the aisles of the cavernous Kodak Theater–have met with occasional disgruntlement. To some, it even seemed cruel to award Oscars in the aisles.” Rock also came in for some criticism from older members of the Academy, who felt that he didn’t show the proper reverence for the Oscar tradition.
Gehry’s LA Concert Hall To Get A Bit Duller
Los Angeles’s glittering jewel of a concert hall, as designed by Frank Gehry, seems to be glittering a bit too much. Disney Hall will undergo a $90,000 exterior renovation this spring to dull the sheen on a convex section of the building’s reflective outer walls, following extensive complaints from pedestrians and nearby residents about sun glare and excessive heat.