{"id":7375,"date":"2006-05-10T14:10:13","date_gmt":"2006-05-10T18:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=7375"},"modified":"2006-05-10T14:10:13","modified_gmt":"2006-05-10T18:10:13","slug":"mccain-vs-the-religious-right-on-pay-by-channel-cable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/mccain-vs-the-religious-right-on-pay-by-channel-cable\/","title":{"rendered":"McCain vs the religious right on pay-by-channel cable"},"content":{"rendered":"

[tag]John McCain[\/tag] is obviously anxious to make the GOP’s far right base happy for 2008 purposes, but he’s apparently willing to take on <\/a>some high-profile TV preachers when it comes to legislation on [tag]cable[\/tag] television programming.<\/p>\n

[tag]McCain[\/tag] is expected to unveil a bill this week that would give cable companies regulatory incentives to offer their customers content on a channel-by-channel basis, which is known as “[tag]a la carte[\/tag]” programming because of its resemblance to restaurant menus that price entrees and side orders separately.<\/p>\n

But large [tag]Christian[\/tag] broadcasters are strongly opposed to the approach because they fear that many consumers will skip over their channels when custom-ordering a cable programming package. [tag]Religious[\/tag] programming, they concede privately, though good for you, is not always the most enticing fare — at least for many consumers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I explained<\/a> in March, clowns like Pat [tag]Robertson[\/tag] and Jerry [tag]Falwell[\/tag] are in a genuine panic over this. The FCC says that the average household watches only 17 channels — and apparently, evangelical right-wingers aren’t pulling in the viewers. To help lobby against the per-channel pricing, Robertson’s CBN, Falwell, Benny Hinn Ministries, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice, and FamilyNet TV — a motley crew, to be sure — have teamed up to save the costly and impractical cable system that helps keep them on the air.<\/p>\n

The interesting thing, aside from the possible ramifications on the presidential campaign, is how far-right groups that don’t have any stake in cable broadcasting are fighting their allies who do.
\n<\/p>\n

One group that strongly supports McCain’s approach is the [tag]Parents Television Council[\/tag].<\/p>\n

Dan Isett, the director of corporate and government affairs at the group, said there is little evidence that a la carte would hurt Christian broadcasters and that a “wide swath” of family and consumer groups support McCain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And on the other (right) hand, Colby May, the director of the Washington office of Robertson’s ACLJ, noted that religious broadcasters believe McCain’s measure “will cause a significant dent in their ability to fill the great commission: to go into all the world and share the news that Jesus is Lord.”<\/p>\n

McCain is moving ahead with his proposal and will offer it as an amendment to telecommunications legislation that Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) plans to markup in June. Stay tuned. (no pun intended)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[tag]John McCain[\/tag] is obviously anxious to make the GOP’s far right base happy for 2008 purposes, but he’s apparently willing to take on some high-profile TV preachers when it comes to legislation on [tag]cable[\/tag] television programming. [tag]McCain[\/tag] is expected to unveil a bill this week that would give cable companies regulatory incentives to offer their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}