Pro-censorship FCC head Kevin Martin is on a one-man crusade to decide what millions of Americans can view in the privacy of their own homes. In a grab for power to gain clearly unconstitutional control over cable and satellite broadcasts and arbitrarily determine what is indecent, he continues to urge Congress to enact legislation making him the decency Czar.  

Many thought that he was using this campaign in an attempt to force cable companies to offer a family channel tier of just family friendly channels. The industry has caved in to that demand, despite the fact that it will violate the contracts they have with channel providers and cost them millions of dollars and drive up cable rates. They had little choice, as Martin was extorting them by linking their cooperation to his allowing pending mergers. Their cooperation seems to have done little to still Martin’s enthusiasm for taking control of America’s home entertainment industry.  

Under Martin’s vision, there would be no more South Park, no more Girls Next Door, no more History of Sex on the Discovery Health channel, and no more unedited movies on HBO and Showtime. Everything that viewers see would be sanitized for their protection. All this in the name of protecting children, even though there are plenty of ways for parents to block out content they don’t want their children to see. 

Martin seems to be completely out of touch about these technologies. He said, “I think the industry needs to do more to address parent’s concerns. You can always turn the television off and block the channels you don’t want. But why should you have to?”  

The FCC does not currently have the authority to regulate cable, and even if the Congress gives them that authority, it is unlikely that such a move would be found constitutional. The problem with indecency, as has been found with the FCC’s onerous attempts at regulating content on broadcast television, is that the FCC is even less able to define it than the courts have been in defining obscenity. No one in broadcasting in this country has a clue as to what the FCC means exactly when they talk about indecency, nor has the FCC made any attempt to more clearly define it.  

Martin also called for allowing consumers to individually select the channels they want, a model that would put many channels out of business. The FCC, based on a study prepared by the Government Accountability Office, concluded that such a move would ultimately raise consumer costs and limit consumer choice.  

They estimated that the per channel cost would be $3.90. To have the equivalent of the 70 channels now commonly available would cost over $270. In reality, consumers probably won’t pay for the channels they only watch occasionally, and ultimately, these channels will go out of business, dramatically decreasing choice.  

Martin did what all Bush appointee’s do when science and research disagree with their extremist opinions- he called the study flawed. So much for being pro free market 

According to Tim Winters of the exceedingly right-wing Parents Television Council, “A la carte [channel selection] is a solution that will immediately address the issue of indecency on cable.” Interestingly, normally anti-indecency advocates such as Pat Robertson are not too thrilled with this solution. Among the channels likely to disappear from cable if consumers are forced to pick channels individually are those that offer religious broadcasting.  

The televangelist’s solution is simpler- just ban all indecency from all television. I am assuming that the ban would not include the indecency of his huge profits and high living lifestyle, or the indecency of raising huge sums of money for fraudulent charities where the money actually winds up in their own pockets ( A Robertson charity funneled money into his personal diamond mine business).  

FCC Chairman Martin has asked cable operators to voluntarily reign in their own shows. In other words, to limit consumer choice while tinkering with their most popular shows. They are clearly not going to do that, so Martin will continue on his decency crusade. 

Martin is clearly not taking these stands on his own. His wife is chief public affairs strategist for Vice President Dick Cheney.  
  
 

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