Been a while

Wow, it sure took me a long time to get around to this. Sorry about that.

Here's some updates on what's been going on with the AT&T/Bellsouth Merger:

Still waiting for the FCC to rule on the AT&T BellSouth Merger. We will find out on December 13^th whether they plan to vote on the matter this year, or push it until next year. AT&T is still unwilling to endorse network neutrality, and if I was an FCC chair I’d wait for that before I let them recreate the giant communications monopoly that the FCC broke apart in 1984.

LINK

AT&T Bellsouth is still up in the air. The most recent news is that the republican appointee who had recused himself, since he had recently worked for an organization that opposed the deal. This is a tricky position for McDowell, since his former economic interests are not congruent with the deregulatory ideals that his party endorses. He says he supports the decision they made to allow MCI/Verizon and SBC/AT&T in the past. The question here is what action he will take to get us out of this stalemate.

LINK

The verdict is in: McDowell will be allowed to vote on the merger.

LINK

Now for the FCC's new indecency rules and the ensuing battle there:

Thes articles are about the networks fighting against the FCC’s new indecency rules, which they say are too broad and constitute a violation of the first amendment. NBC, CBS and FOX are fighting, but not ABC. These new profanity rules were passed last March. Since the introduction of the v-chip, they say that these new rules are unnecessarily restrictive.

LINK

Some unions have joined in the fight against the FCC’s new indecency rules. These include: the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Writers Guild of America East, the American Civil Liberties Union, various public radio groups and the Brennan Center for Justice.

LINK

The FCC has countered their arguements, saying that the statutes are not going to come up before the court. This is a set back.

LINK

Chris Clemenson's talk was pretty interesting. He definitly had a lot to say. Here's his email.

He also wanted to give us a link to radioandrecords.com.

Sorry I haven’t been updating the blog, for anyone that’s been checking it. Blogger decided that this blog was spam, probably because of all of the links to other websites that it has on it. They locked it down, and so I got out of the habit of posting, hence the delay. Keep checking it over the break for updates.

Thanks to Jordan, Mike and Sammie for helping out with my 740 project. You guys were great. If you'd like to see the work I've been doing, check out online.sfsu.edu/~chulheo. Mine's called Space.

Have a great winter break everyone, I'll see you around next semester, and good luck with finals.