COMM 122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Cable Act, Consumer Protection

• School: UMASS-Amherst
• Department: Communication
• Course: COMM 122
• Professor: Martha Fuentes- Bautista

Document Summary

Cable companies are required to provide access to local tv broadcast stations at no ! charge! Est. in the 1970s and sanctioned by the cable act of 1984 and 1992! Cable companies pay franchise fees for rights of access (up to 5% of local revenues)! Monies are used to support local cable access tv (community media)! Must balance among competing interests: commerce & the public information & comm. needs! Paradox media system runs on private pro t but is required to serve the public interest! Public outcry against radio"s over-commercialization in the 1930s! Trying to create spaces within media that were not commercials! Stations that are licensees of the spectrum must:! Sustain experimental programs that were not sponsored by advertisers! Devote programs to the discussion of local public issues and eliminate advertising! Lessons from the ght for the blue book:! The capacity of the public to participate in policy process depends on collective action ! that articulated public interest concerns!