Copps calls free broadcasters interests into question, Rehr fires back

In a recent Op-Ed piece to the New York Times, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps questioned the public service interests of free broadcasters, and called for the FCC to reform its license renewal process.

"Our policies should reward broadcasters that honor their pledge to serve that interest and penalize those that don’t," wrote Copps.

He continued to call for a shortening of the license renewal process, currently set at every eight years (commonly rubber stamped), to a more frequent three-year renewal period. Copps also called into question broadcaster's intentions for providing children's educational programming, election coverage, and "improve the generally shoddy coverage of minority and other underserved communities."

"If you need convincing that something needs to be done, consider that only about 8 percent of local TV newscasts in the month before the last presidential election contained any coverage whatsoever of local races, including those for the House of Representatives," Copps wrote. "This low number is just one example of how poorly stations are serving their viewers."

XM recently announced POTUS '08 - a 24/7 channel providing election coverage - as well as covered, and is a lead participant, in the Children's Miracle Network $10 Million fundraiser. Both Sirius and XM broadcast CNN en Espanol, ESPN Deportes, a wide variety of Latin music channels, and many public radio channels nationwide. In 2005, Red Cross Radio was established during the Hurricane Katrina aftermath to provide free satellite radio based services to workers on the field during a time when local radio towers were simply not functioning.

Of course, NAB President/CEO David Rehr doesn't agree with Commissioner Copps. He fired back a letter to the New York Times editor disputing Copps' statements. Rehr feels that broadcasters go through "enormous lengths" to fulfill their public interest rolls. He specifically cited Amber alerts, disaster coverage and polls that say broadcasters "do a good job" of covering elections.

Yet, earlier this year, the NAB backed the "Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2007" legislature that would prevent Sirius or XM from broadcasting Amber Alerts, as well as transmit local traffic, weather, and other public safety/emergency information. Funny, that seems to go against the public interest, and only serve the broadcaster's own monopoly of localism.

So, exactly who's interests is the NAB serving?

[NYTimes: Commission Copps' Op-Ed Piece]
[NY Times: Rehr Letter's to the Editor]