Re: Marshfield cable TV controversy

[Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@yahoo.com>]

--- "Fitzpatrick, Mike" <engineer@the-spa.com> wrote:
> > The show would feature naked pictures of little
> > boys and girls, and would air during the early
> > evening... Any problems with that, folks?
> 
> Yes, doing so is illegal.

Right; just pointing it out to say "to what extreme
might this go?". Marshfield said they would not
interfere with the public access programming
(in their contract) but I would hope that there
would be exceptions to the rule.

 The public access channel can not
> prohibit a locally produced
> show from airing as long as the program did not
> violate any copyright laws
> or broke the law. 

Yes. But again, if certain shows are allowed because
of "freedom of speech", where is the dividing line?
You could put on a political talk show, but what if
someone wanted to put one on which featured
extreme anti-Semitic views (which advocated
violence, for example)? To use the old radio talk
show expression, there's a "slippery slope" here.


> Not turning this into a free speech issue here, but
> I don't think Free
> Speech applies to privately run, closed circuit
> systems. Free Speech applies
> to in the general public. A cable TV system is not a
> public entity, although
> regulated by the Federal government via the FCC, it
> is still private so
> freedom of speech rules do not apply to it or any
> channels carried on it.

So if enough people were to complain about this
show, Marshfield's Adelphia Cable would be within
their rights to pull it? As far as I know,
the show has no commercials, so it's not like people
could just "write the sponsors"... in which case,
those who are offended could contact the cable
company with their concerns.