In end-of-term rulings, justices bang up media
Now that the dust has settled on a much-discussed U.S. Supreme Court term, this much can be said in entertainment law terms: For legacy media looking to dodge regulation and leap forward to keep up with newer, more nimble peers and competitors, three of the high court’s end-of-term decisions appear to have taken a truly retro course, reinforcing a regulatory landscape as it existed in 1978 and 1969, a paleozoic era by modern media standards. While broadcast networks like Fox and CBS dodged indecency fines in the short term (See FCC v. Fox and FCC v. CBS Corp.), the sting of unique high court-approved second-class status for these operators bodes poorly for their future, especially in comparison to a few million dollars in since-retracted fines. In upholding cross-ownership rules — corporate prohibitions on owning a broadcast network and a newspaper in the same market –the restricted ownership in the embattled newspaper industry will continue. Let’s see these decisions as two steps sideways and one step back. FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. Peter Suderman does a great job of synthesizing the indecency issue: First, singer Cher saying “So fuck ‘em” in an unscripted acceptance speech during an awards show broadcast by Fox; second, “a person named Nicole Richie” (as the ruling describes it) saying “Have you ever tried to get cow shit out of a Prada purse? It’s not so fucking simple”...
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