CHICAGO MEDIA ACTION NEWSLETTER: December 5, 2004 http://www.chicagomediaaction.org In this month's newsletter: * Chicago's public access TV wins funding ordinance for the short term * CMA at the Future of Public Television Conference, and in Wired News * Lots of nationwide media politics developments * How many complaints does it take to get to the center of the FCC? * Efforts to win a municipal broadband fiber network in Chicago's suburbs (1) ANNOUNCEMENTS * An ordinance to support CAN TV (Chicago's public access cable TV network) passed on December 1. The ordinance provides for short-term funding of CAN TV. (More details are below in "What's New in Media Politics"). Our thanks to CMA list subscribers who wrote, called, spread the word about the campaign. * The next CMA meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 14, at 6:30pm, at 3411 W. Diversey, in Chicago (at the intersection of Milwaukee, Diversey, and Kimball, near the Logan Square blue line stop). Be sure to stop by if you're interested in organizing on media issues in Chicago. (2) WHAT'S NEW WITH CMA? * CMA is participating in a conference at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art entitled "The Future of Public Television". Reports from the conference are forthcoming. More details about the itinerary are here: http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/pbs/agenda.shtml http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=251 * CMA made an appearance this month in Wired News, the online news outlet of Wired magazine: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,65734,00.html * And November 2, 2004 marks the second anniversary of the effective founding of what became Chicago Media Action. Read the details: http://www.chireader.com/hottype/2002/021115_1.html http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/index.php?link=about (3) WHAT'S NEW IN MEDIA POLITICS? A ton. Here's a list of some of the past month's developments. * CAN TV has resolved its funding problems in the short term with an ordinance which passed on December 1, 2004. The ordinance calls for interim funding of CAN TV for three years, while efforts are and will be underway to iron out a longer-term solution. (The ordinance was delayed from an early November passage due to objections by Comcast.) Read details of the ordinance: http://www.cantv.org/update.htm * The INDUCE Act, which proposed to criminalize file-sharing internet technologies like those in peer-to-peer music networks, has been shelved for the time being -- though a new copyright bill cleared the U.S. Senate. http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Copyright-Bill-Clears-Senate-Minus-Induce-Act-38423.html * Three Big Media firms (NewsCorp/Fox, Viacom/CBS, and General Electric/NBC) petitioned the Supreme Court on November 19 to overturn a June court ruling keeping current FCC media ownership rules in place. Now, these firms have asked for (and received) a 30-day extension to delay filing arguments, perhaps because consequences of such an appeal (even if they win) may backfire. Read more: http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/washingtonwatch/SupremeCourt202.html * An effort to develop local broadband networks across Pennsylvania got stymied by the Pennsylvania legislature and lobbyists from big Internet companies: http://www.freepress.net/news/5606 http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/Rendell.html (4) FACT OF THE MONTH Ben Bagdikian reports that Rupert Murdoch (the head of NewsCorp which owns Fox) is facing a stock takeover threat from Liberty Media's John Malone for control of NewsCorp. To prevent Malone from taking over NewsCorp, Murdoch is cutting a deal with the Saudi royal family. Read more (registration may be required): http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2004-11/29bagdikian.cfm (5) QUOTE OF THE MONTH To quote from an article by Jeff Jarvis from Buzz Magazine: "With not much original reporting, I discovered that the latest big fine by the FCC against a TV network -- a record $1.2 million against Fox for its "sexually suggestive" Married by America -- was brought about by a mere three people who actually composed letters of complaint. Yes, just three people." Read the article here: http://www.freepress.net/news/5389 (6) RECOMMENDED WEBSITE http://www.tricitybroadband.com/ This is the website of community organizers in the Chicago suburbs of Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles, who have been working to build a municipal fiber network for residents of those suburbs. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** This is an email from Chicago Media Action, a Chicago activist group devoted to media issues. Chicago Media Action, P.O. Box 14140, Chicago IL 60614-0140 Call toll-free: 1-866-260-7198 Web: http://www.chicagomediaaction.org E-mail: cma@chicagomediaaction.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, simply send an email requesting removal to mailinglist@chicagomediaaction.org