Trump rigged the FCC to broadcast Trump TV into nearly every American home

[CousinIT]

The leader of the FCC installed by Donald Trump exploited a loophole to give a pro-Trump propaganda outlet access to millions of American homes they were banned from under Obama

Trump rigged the FCC to broadcast Trump TV into nearly every American home
By Oliver Willis |
AUGUST 7, 2017

The leader of the FCC installed by Donald Trump exploited a loophole to give a pro-Trump propaganda outlet access to millions of American homes they were banned from under Obama.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, the network of local TV stations that has operated as a pro-Donald Trump propaganda system, had a major expansion of its power enabled by the Trump administration’s stooges at the Federal Communications Commission.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by Trump, used a loophole called the “UHF discount” to let Sinclair increase its portfolio of over 170 stations with 42 stations from Tribune Media. Many of the new stations, which will now be forced to air the “must-run” pro-Trump propaganda segments other Sinclair stations now broadcast, are located in major cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Before the Trump assist, Sinclair was not in as many large cities, with the power to target millions more Americans in states that didn’t vote for Trump in 2016.

Politico reports that “the Tribune deal would not have been viable if not for Pai’s intervention.” Without the use of the loophole, Sinclair would be constrained to the congressionally mandated cap of 39 percent reach for local station owners. In exchange for backing Trump during the campaign, Sinclair now has access to 72 percent of U.S. households for its propaganda broadcasts.

Former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler slammed the move, noting, “There was funny math created to allow the count to come up to still be below 39 percent, wink wink.”

The loophole had been closed during the Obama administration, but was revived by Pai and the other Republican members of the FCC, who after the election, have the numbers to impose rules changes.

http://shareblue.com/trump-rigged-the-fcc-to-broadcast-trump-tv-into-nearly-every-american-home/

[spanone]

1. cheat to win

[onenote]

3. I don't like the FCC decision but its not cheating

Elections have consequences and one of them is that the winner gets to have a majority on the FCC. The two republicans who voted to reinstate the UHF discount voted against the decision to repeal it.

When Obama became President and the majority on the FCC shifted from the repubs to the Democrats, a number of Bush-era FCC rulings were reversed almost immediately. I didn't think of that as cheating. And when, hopefully, the Democrats re-take the White House in 2020 and the FCC comes under the control of a Democratic majority, I would fully expect the UHF discount to be rolled back again.

It sucks. Not because its cheating but because its the consequence of losing.

[spanone]

4. "There was funny math created to allow the count to come up to still be below 39 percent, wink wink"

Former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler slammed the move, noting, “There was funny math created to allow the count to come up to still be below 39 percent, wink wink.”

[onenote]

9. The math is simply the result of taking advantage of the UHF discount

Again, elections have consequences, which in this case suck.

[mwooldri]

21. UHF discount should have remained discontinued.

The reasons for adopting it in the first place do not apply to today's digital broadcast world.

[onenote]

23. I agree

The repubs didn't defend the UHF discount as making sense in today's world, but instead claimed that the UHF discount and the statutorily specified 39 percent national cap are inextricably linked and that the FCC lacked the legal authority to change the former without considering its impact on the latter. The repubs reasoning is being challenged in court.

[RKP5637]

2. Here's one they can broadcast! "FUCK TRUMP!" n/t

[vkkv]

5. Sickening.

[Pauldg47]

6. Betcha Faux news will not like this.

[barbtries]

7. it is maddening.

i'm not sure they can be stopped when they can get away with this kind of shit. i think about so many of my friends who have no idea they're being propagandized mercilessly. they're not bad people or republicans, but they are not very aware. i do what i can to bring this to their attention on fb but i'm pretty sure 95% of my fb friends ignore my "political" posts.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. Yup

And if they do have any political interest, even in passing, and want to hear whats going on in Washington, they click on the only stations in town that talk politics, and its nothing but pro-Trump fake news ad nauseam. I've heard many stories on DU about relatives, close friends, that were at one time either Democrats or moderate Republicans, but after a non stop diet of force fed pro-Trump bullshit, they turn into angry, racist assholes...deplorables, who would never vote Democrat again.

[Angry Dragon]

8. I am glad I do not have TV

[BobsYourUncle]

26. Me too--sooo glad

*and* I recently discovered my neighbor spends over a hundred dollars a month on cable that does not include phone or internet service!

How much have I saved in 27 years?

[Initech]

10. Fuck Sinclair Broadcasting!!!!

[gilligan]

11. Simple solution

to this propaganda. Don't watch. It's bad enough with Fox, OANA, and Newsmax all on my cable. And the talking heads still complain about the " Liberal Media ".
Give me a break.

[Still In Wisconsin]

12. Thank god my teevee still has that little button on it...

You know, the one that turns it OFF.

The teevee machine in my house is only used for watching sports anyway, so nbd here.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. Does your television receiver or remote control have a button with this symbol?

Last edited Mon Aug 7, 2017, 07:38 PM - Edit history (1)

If so, when Sinclair comes on, push that button.

Mission accomplished.

The ones labeled "channel up - down" will work too.

Note that Sinclair's broadcast operations reach only the dwindling minority that still receive television programming the old fashioned way - overt the air. I believe that's down to about 10% of the entire TV audience. I am among them.

ETA: I see a few other DUers have had the same thought.

[roamer65]

17. Soon, that feature will available only to the Inner Party.

[Initech]

28. I will be blocking every Sinclair station from my DVR.

I don't want to run into this horseshit even by accident. I do not support state run television under any circumstances.

[roamer65]

15. If it ends up in my cable package, I will cancel it.

I'll go down to limited basic to get rid of it if needed.

[onenote]

24. Local broadcast stations are always part of limited basic

It used to be a legal requirement (and some argue that it still is); but in any event, its a practical requirement -- cable operators can't get permission to carry local broadcast stations if they don't also agree to include them on limited basic.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. this is not a dictatorship, dont watch. im glad i got rid of comcast a while back.

i dont listen to clear channel and their ilk either . or is it neither .

[maveric]

18. Stalin anyone?

When will the billboards and posters come into play?

[mwooldri]

19. The UHF discount is as dated as Republican thinking.

In analogue days, VHF was prized spectrum. It could cover a bigger area with less power and deliver an acceptable picture (480i or 576i). The problem of noise is something people lived with as most people saw it as an artifact on the screen which didn't interrupt their viewing badly. Or some just watched through the noise.

Switch over to digital and things are different. You don't need as much power for a digital signal, so UHF is more attractive because what digital needs is to be free of noise. VHF is noisier than UHF, and stations during the digital transition that had its temporary digital signal on UHF, but opted to go to their VHF allocation after the analogue switch off found the coverage was not as good as predicted. WGHP (my local Fox station) petitioned the FCC to go from VHF 8 to their pre transition channel of 35. Despite geographic short spacing, it was granted.

Now Sinclair is acquiring WGHP. Though there is another FCC rule: can't have too many stations in one market. Also TV is going through broadband repacking. My "market" is losing 2 stations as they chose to give up their licences rather than go to VHF or argue to stay put. Sinclair will own 3 of the 6 commercial broadcast licences in our "market". What next?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. In DC, WJLA is Sinclair.

It is both virtual and actual channel 7. It is a real challenge to get. I watch TV with rabbit ears for my signal input, but many other people have reported difficulty getting channel 7.

Can you get channel 45 from Baltimore? That's the main Sinclair operation. They have a subchannel dedicated to testing ATSC 3.0

Best wishes.

[mwooldri]

29. ATSC 3.0?

Well, Sinclair was pushing the FCC to allow them to use DVB-T as an alternative to ATSC.

I'm glad ATSC 3.0 is being developed. ATSC is by today's standards "old" - MPEG-2 for video compression, the constraint of a 6 Mhz band for a TV channel... about 2-3 HD channels max. Across the pond, they use DVB-T2 (Germany's already got plans to make DVB-T transmissions obsolete by 2020!) and with Europe's 8 Mhz channels - 5 HD channels possible per existing TV transmission. And since DVB-T/T2 was designed with single frequency networks in mind (ATSC 1.0 doesn't do this well at all), it's a better system than ATSC in terms of all around performance.

I'm near Greensboro, NC - so watching Baltimore channels will take a very very long lead. Or some set up in Baltimore plus a "Sling" box to allow for remote control else where. I'd rather set up a Sling box somewhere in the UK and pipe live UK TV over... but then I'm an ex pat so ...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

30. Oh, I had thought you were in or near Harrisburg, PA.

Last edited Tue Aug 8, 2017, 02:15 PM - Edit history (1)

For some reason, I had thought WGHP was a Harrisburg call sign.

They're WHP, for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You're WGHP, for Greensboro - High Point.

My mistake.

That said, I was watching WJLA during the evening local news segment. There was a long bit about something ***** had done that wasn't newsworthy at all. It did come across as a puff piece.

[n2doc]

20. The fact is, we aren't the intended audience

It is the person who comes home and mindlessly turns on the tube who is the target. Fox, part 2.

[randr]

22. It is now up to all of us

to identify the SINclair stations in our marketing areas and get after the sponsors so they know what to expect if they support fascism.

[SeattleVet]

27. It's a pretty long list...

this article contains the TV and radio stations that Sinclair owns or operates:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_owned_or_operated_by_Sinclair_Broadcast_Group

Their tentacles are into the vast majority of the population.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

31. Previously at DU:

Sinclair Broadcast to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion

I was watching WJLA, the Sinclair-owned station in DC, during the evening local news segment yesterday. There was a long bit about something ***** had done that wasn't newsworthy at all. It did come across as a puff piece.