As noted here last week, as part of their Marginal Revolution University online courses, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok have been rolling out several classes on “Economics of the Media.” I think TLF readers will be interested in checking out their lessons on “Bundling” and “Cable TV Regulation” since these are topics we have frequently discussed here over the years. I’ve embedded those two presentations below, but please go the MRU site and watch all the videos in their media economics course when you get a chance. They are excellent.
Is competition really a problem in the tech industry? That was the question the folks over at WebProNews asked me to come on their show and discuss this week. I offer my thoughts in the following 15-minute clip. Also, down below I have embedded a few of my recent relevant essays on this topic, a few of which I mentioned during the show.
I’m pleased to report that the Mercatus Center at George Mason University has just released a new white paper on video marketplace regulation and the ongoing “retrans” wars by one of America’s leading media economists, Bruce M. Owen. Owen’s new paper, “Consumer Welfare and TV Program Regulation,” examines the lamentable history of misguided federal interventions into America’s video marketplace. Owen also explores to possibility of deregulating this marketplace via the important new Scalise-DeMint bill, “The Next Generation Television Marketplace Act.” If you’re following these issues, Owen’s paper is must-reading. Here’s the abstract:
Getting rid of obsolete regulation of the broadcast and distribution of video programming is essential to the efficient operation of a market that has the potential to greatly increase the benefits to consumers. Services that increase video program distribution capacity have been delayed and suppressed for many years, and consumer benefits were lost as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) pursued ill-defined and ephemeral “public interest” and “localism” objectives.
It is past time to stop extending interventions originally intended for old technology to a range of new competitive media. No longer is there any rational public policy basis for a government agency to dictate how much or what content the viewing public can see, any more than there ever has been for printed media. There is no market failure to which the current regulatory framework is responding and no longer any reason for FCC bureaucrats to decide how much of the spectrum should be used for each of many existing and future commercial services. Spectrum reform, along with the repeal of other broadcast programming restrictions contained in the proposed Scalise-DeMint Next Generation Television Marketplace Act, provide a roadmap for the necessary reform. With an adequate supply of tradable rights in spectrum, we will find out how much additional competition is possible among traditional wired and wireless, analog and digital, and fixed and mobile delivery services.
Writing over at the conservative Big Government blog (part of the Breitbart.com network of blogs), someone who goes by the pseudonym “Capitol Connection” has posted an editorial about the debate over retransmission consent reform that is full of misinformation and misguided policy prescriptions, at least if you believe is truly limited government. The piece is entitled, “Big Cable Would Prefer if You Paid Their Bills,” and the problems are almost immediately evident from that headline alone. First, what is a supposedly small government-oriented blog doing using a silly label like “Big Cable” to describe a vigorously competitive sector of our capitalist economy? Using terms like “Big Cable” is a silly lefty tactic. Second, no one in the cable industry is proposing anyone “pay their bills” except for the customers who enjoy their services. Isn’t a fee for service part of capitalism?
Anyway, that’s just the problem with the title of the essay. Sadly, the rest of the piece is filled with even more erroneous information and arguments about the retransmission consent regulatory process as well as the bill that aims to reform that process, “The Next Generation Television Marketplace Act” (H.R. 3675 and S. 2008). That bill, which is sponsored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), represents a comprehensive attempt to deregulate America’s heavily regulated video marketplace. In a recent Forbes oped, I argued that the DeMint-Scalise effort would take us “Toward a True Free Market in Television Programming” by eliminating a litany of archaic media regulations that should have never been on the books to begin with. The measure would:
eliminate: “retransmission consent” regulations (rules governing contractual negotiations for content);
end “must carry” mandates (the requirement that video distributors carry broadcast signals even if they don’t want to);
repeal “network non-duplication” and “syndicated exclusivity” regulations (rules that prohibit distributors from striking deals with broadcasters outside their local communities);
end various media ownership regulations; and
end the compulsory licensing requirements of the Copyright Act of 1976, which essentially forced a “duty to deal” upon content owners to the benefit of video distributors.
This represents genuine and much-needed deregulation of a market that has been encumbered with far too much top-down control and micro-management by the FCC over the past several decades. To be clear,
none of these rules apply to any other segment of our modern information economy. Every day of the week, deals are cut between content creators and distributors in many other segments of the media industry without these rules encumbering the process. The DeMint-Scalise bill is an attempt to get big government out of the way and let these deals be cut in a truly free market without regulators putting their thumb on the scale in one direction or the other. Continue reading →
This seems like a logical follow-up to Berin Szoka’s previous post about technology, social activism, and government power. ReasonTV has produced this important short clip on “Cops Vs. Cameras: The Killing of Kelly Thomas & The Power of New Media.” It documents how the combined power of citizen journalism, social media, and surveillance video can ensure that our police authorities are held accountable for their actions. In this particular case, it can hopefully win some justice for Kelly Thomas, the homeless Fullerton, California man who was brutally beaten to death by police officers on the night of July 5, 2011.
There is live video from the horrific beating here, but I caution you it is not for the faint of heart. Watching the last moments of man’s life slip away from repeated blows to the head while he begs for his life and calls out for his father is, well, stomach-turning. But imagine if this video and the other citizen videos that were taking that night had not existed. As the ReasonTV clip notes, the Fullerton police department basically ignored requests for more information about the case until Kelly’s father (who was former police officer himself) took cell photos of his son’s beaten face in the hospital and released them to the public. Then the citizen videos of the beating were posted on YouTube and went viral. And then, finally, mainstream media started paying attention. And now the surveillance video from a nearby street camera has been released after citizens and activists demanded it. Continue reading →
On May 26th, it was my great pleasure to participate in a panel discussion on “Growing Up with the Mobile Net,” which was co-sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus and Common Sense Media. It was a conversation about kids’ privacy, online safety, teen free speech rights, anonymity, and the possibility of expanding the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and implementing the so-called “Internet Eraser Button.”
I was joined on the panel by Jules Polonetsky, Co-chair and Director of the Future of Privacy Forum, and Alan Simpson, Vice President of Policy at Common Sense Media. And the session was very ably moderated, as always, by the supremely objective Tim Lordan.* We really unpacked the “Eraser Button” and “right to be forgotten” notion and thought through the ramifications. And the discussion about the extent of First Amendment rights for teenagers was also interesting.
The video for this 48-minute session can be found on the Congressional Internet Caucus YouTube page here and is embedded below.
Note: During the session, Tim Lordan claimed that he takes no position and that if anyone says he take positions on issues that he will slap a super-injunction on them. Well, I say Tim Lordan is brimming with positions and he’s letting them fly at every juncture. In fact, I’ve never met someone so full of controversial positions in my life as Tim Lordan! OK, so sue me Tim!
My good friend and mentor Robert Corn-Revere, a First Amendment attorney with the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, gave a terrific talk on “The High Value of Low Speech” at a recent Reason Foundation event. Bob is one of the greatest living defenders of freedom of speech and expression and his talks are always inspiring, informative, and entertaining. I recommend you check it out. The video is embedded below or can be found on the ReasonTV website here.
“All First Amendment cases are about the power,” Corn-Revere argues. “Who should have the power to tell individuals what to read, think, believe or feel?” He continues on to explain the recent history of controversial First Amendment jurisprudence — much of which he has been personally responsible for litigating — and explains why even “low speech” is worth defending if we cherish our speech rights.
Many TLF readers already know the story and the key players, but if you haven’t been following along, or if you want a refresher, here’s a better video than I could have produced in eighth grade. Or now. Congratulations, Melissa Yu!
In my latest Forbes column, “Keeping The Video Revolution Going Strong,” I argue that we’ve been blessed to live through a veritable information revolution but that “many scarcity-era regulations remain on the books and threaten this ongoing revolution — especially in the video marketplace. So long as Washington continues to enforce regulations dating to the days of I Love Lucy, the old regulatory norms and edicts threaten to roll over onto emerging video technologies, stifling innovation and consumer choice.”
I go on to briefly discuss a few flashpoints in the ongoing video wars, including: the fights over “retransmission consent,” so-called “AllVid” tech mandates, and the broader battle to liberalize spectrum. “While the video revolution will hopefully continue apace, a light-touch from Washington will be essential to keep it going strong,” I conclude. “To the extent policymakers are looking to ‘level the (regulatory) playing field’ between the old and new video worlds, they should do so in the direction of freer markets, not more tech mandates.”
Last week, it was my great honor to speak at the 2011 State of the Net 2011 event, where I participated in a panel discussion about the future of the online video marketplace. In an earlier essay, I mentioned how some of the discussion that day revolved around the Comcast-NBCU merger, which had just been approved by the FCC, but with unprecedented strings being attached. The heart of the panel discussion, however, was a debate about the future of online video and regulation of the video marketplace more generally. Also joining me on the panel were Susan Crawford of Cardozo Law School, William Lehr of MIT, Marvin Ammori of Nebraska Law School, and Richard Bennett of ITIF.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology. Learn more about TLF →
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.