The Broadcasters and Their Billions

Drew Clark (National Journal): Spectrum Wars. Generations ago, broadcasters got the right to use the airwaves -- now worth billions of dollars -- for free. Ever since, they have used heavy lobbying and political friendships to stave off rivals. But as the digital age unfolds, change is in the air.

Comments

[Scote]

I'm not sure that **selling** the public air waves to the highest bidder really fixes anything. Whole swaths of spectrum are sold to mega-corporations like Verizon, who can then make cell phone customers sign up for 1 to 2 year lock in contracts so they can access the public air waves.

The problem is not the broadcast industry, per se, but the unwillingness of the legislature to demand concessions for the public good. In the past, the individual license renewal for a station meant something. The station had to meet a standard of public good to renew its license in exchange for free access to the public airwaves. Broadcasters were required to have a certain amount of educational and community programing, and their was the Fairness Doctrine. Broadcasters no longer meet these standards and have stopped keeping up their end of the pact. Now we literally have shopping channels with broadcast licenses.

We need to demand that the public spectrum be used for the public good. Profits are not automatically good for the public.

[Joe I.]

Scote-

I tend to agree with most of what you said, but as a smallish business owner your line "profits are not automatically good for the public" is mostly wrong. It would be correct if unemployment and no tax base for the government is, GOOD for the public. Without profits new jobs for people cannot be created and government has no ability to tax either the corporation or a persons salary (none if they don't have a job or profit). When the economy was booming State's and the Fed were awash in money. When it turned down State's had no money and cut all programs. This is the effect of low/no profits. I say it is in the public good!

[Alex Krupp]

Joe: I'm a member of the public, explain to me how someone else making money off a resource that I should be allowed to use but can't is good for me.

[craig]

Joe,
Business people automatically beat the drum that corporate profits create jobs and taxes. You are seriously out of touch on this issue.
Regarding taxes I recommend reading:
"Perfectly Legal" by David Cay Johnston. This book will explain everything you need to know about corporations and taxes.

And business, particularly large ones, are not creating more jobs, they're creating less, by shipping them overseas in bulk.

Long story short: None of the reasons you have for supporting your views have any basis in fact. It's all changed. Large businesses are making your life worse, not better.

Please investigate this and get well informed. We need good Republicans out there to fix the system.

[Joe I.]

Craig-

I agree with you about BIG business. They are downsizing and are not the source of the future employment in North America or the EU. As I sit Vancouver BC, Canada there is word in the newspapers that two of the largest companies in the area are outsourcing to China and Singapore. Corporations are not a source of major employment growth. So that is old news. Small and mid-sized businesses are though. Certain industries must be large by default like utilities (until fuel cells are common), telecom, defense, government...Other than that why not have the needs of the economy met by smaller companies. One new company we just started is exporting Washington State wine to France and Spain. Eleven employees and it is an international business. This is what I am saying.

By the way in the EU corporate taxes are less than in the US because in the Socialist system there the individual bears a much higher tax burden to fund State welfare. (A good thing for health care) We'd like to shed our health care burden and turn it over to the government as much as the next guy. One of the reasons our Canada office is very productive is the national health care payment from the employees check to the government is efficient. I find a way to offer full health care to my employees but it is hard in the costly US system.

Alex-

Unless you are making money, raising capital, creating the business conditions for content and technology companies to thrive and putting your neighbor to work, yes it IS much better that you and me are not competeing to make money off those resources because if everyone did there is physically not enough spectrum to spread it around effciently. It would be chaos.

The greatest thing I do as a small business owner is create the conditions for people work, earn, and to eat.

[craig]

Joe,
I guess I wasn't specific enough. The humongo giant corporations that are competing for spectrum and using their money to influence Congress are deadweight for the rest of us.

They don't pay their fair share of taxes and they don't create enough jobs and opportunity to make up for it.

The huge corporations also control most of the wealth and use their influence to keep their position. The foundation of a good Republican philosophy is that the playing field has to be fair and everyone has to pull their load.

I think a lot of Republicans are out of step with what's actually occurring these days.

[Nathan]

Hmmmmm........ I seem to prefer the Internet as my primary new medium. First, I have complete control of the what I see. I can see many multiple view of the same controversial subject or search for an article with more details. Second, I don't have to pay for anything, it comes free with my internet access (and I don't have to go outside to get the physical paper). Also, it allow me to get news as it happens, not twelve hours or even twelve days after the fact. Today, I think the best use for the paper is the Saturday morning circulars that tell's me whats free after rebates at OfficeMax, etc. (though there still is salescircular.com..... Gratis, the people behind free ipods, now offer free LCD monitors and TVs: http://freeflatscreens.iceglow.com/ Gmail to all and $25 paypal to the first three to complete an offer!

[Nathan]

Hmmmmm........ I seem to prefer the Internet as my primary new medium. First, I have complete control of the what I see. I can see many multiple view of the same controversial subject or search for an article with more details. Second, I don't have to pay for anything, it comes free with my internet access (and I don't have to go outside to get the physical paper). Also, it allow me to get news as it happens, not twelve hours or even twelve days after the fact. Today, I think the best use for the paper is the Saturday morning circulars that tell's me whats free after rebates at OfficeMax, etc. (though there still is salescircular.com..... Gratis, the people behind free ipods, now offer free LCD monitors and TVs: http://freeflatscreens.iceglow.com/ Gmail to all and $25 paypal to the first three to complete an offer!

[j]

This is incredible:

Over the years, broadcasters have skillfully rebuffed efforts to deprive them of their frequencies. In the 1940s they killed an AT&T plan for mobile telephone service, delaying the arrival of cellphones for more than a generation. Public safety was also tuned out.