Ed Markey on TV Violence, Media Ownership and the Digital Transition

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August 20th, 2007

The House Telecom & Internet Committee Chairman Sets the Agenda on DTV and Junk-Food Ads
By John Eggerton — Broadcasting & Cable, 8/20/2007 12:06:00 AM

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6470038.html&

Since January, http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6463749.html">Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has directed business as chairman of the powerful House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee, after one-dozen years of watching Republicans control the gavel and much of the debate.

A veteran of TV regulation and deregulation, Markey is most concerned now with http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6466009.html">DTV’s D-Day, when the nation switches from analog to digital TV — a deadline that’s now just 18 months away. Worried that many Americans will be left without TV, Markey pledges tight oversight of the switch.

That means working doggedly with the industry to educate consumers about Feb. 17, 2009, the date for the turn-off of analog TV service. His top worry: that educating viewers about the switch will cost more than the $7 million the government has so far ponied up.

That’s hardly the only open file on what is an ambitious agenda. Markey also wants media companies to put their junk-food ads on a stricter diet where kids are concerned. Otherwise, he will push the Federal Communications Commission to do it for them.

The chairman says he still prefers program-content ratings and the V-chip — which he helped to create — to government regulation of media content, though he is open to other suggestions. He also wants the government to look into broadcasters’ role in the dissemination of hate speech.

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