Commentary

Speaking Volumes

  • by , Op-Ed Contributor, December 22, 2009
Dec. 16 & 19 news flashes:  Although five major nations, including the United States, had together forged a climate deal, which President Obama called "an unprecedented breakthrough" and conceded that the agreement was merely a political statement and not a legally binding treaty, back in the States, the House of Representatives (with unanimous bipartisan support) passed the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which will give the FCC rights to develop guidelines to prevent a wide gap between the sound emanating from advertisements - audio, and video possibly - and programs. Apparently, lawmakers have discovered, unbeknownst to the ad community, that there is often times a disparity between the volume, usually louder, of the audio in a commercial and the audio housed within program content. 

 

Hopefully, when the Obama administration, agency regulators and elected officials are able to turn down the volume by enforcing audio parity between all forms of media - they will be able to focus their full concentration on what I consider to be a more serious threat to our quality of life issues dwarfing even the audio effect: "pixel emission." Is the number of pixels utilized by the ad community for commercial creation comparable to those of other nations and their media empires and how do they compare - in what relative proportion - with program content pixel creation. Hopefully, at the appropriate time, the climate will be right for regulators to focus on worldwide pixel reduction goals and accept responsibility along with global leaders to take action to confront the threat of over pixelization in commercials and programs; and then, and only at that juncture, can our administration spend time focusing on other pressing issues that might make a significant contribution to the freedom of media consumption and quality of life issues in the U.S., such as the following unresolved biggies (in non-hierarchical order):

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·       multiple ownership of TV stations in the same market

·       national television station ownership (single market and multiple)

·       dual broadcast network ownership

·       broadcast/newspaper/radio cross ownership

·       v-chip utilization/parental controls

·       radio station group ownership (single market and multiple)

·       cable systems operators ownership of programming on their systems

·       cable systems operators and broadcast station cross ownership

·       cable systems operators penetration of national viewership

·       satellite operators ownership programming on their system

·       satellite operators and broadcast station cross ownership

·       satellite/cable/broadcast cross ownership

·       telco/cable/satellite cross ownership

·       net neutrality

·       enforcing cable card deployment

·       must carry broadcast transmissions for all digital terrestrial channels

·       must carry versus transmission consent

·       program availability via fair and equitable licensing arrangements

·       the sanctity of copyright

·       the efficacy of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

·       cable subscription pricing: a la carte vs. package

·       internet access pricing by bandwidth usage and justification of pricing tiers

·        "White Space" exploitation and interference with broadcast signals

·       personal identifiable information transgressions both online and television

·       remote programming storage

·       global warming

·       universal healthcare

·       ballistic shield defense

·       nuclear proliferation

·       airline passengers transporting liquids on planes

·       budget deficits

·       unemployment

·       completion of the rebuild of the World Trade Towers

·       weapons of mass destruction

·       death panels

·       institutionalized financial avarice

·       military surges in less industrialized nations

·       cellphone usage in automobiles

7 comments about "Speaking Volumes".
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  1. Gena Zerbin from KOHD TV, December 22, 2009 at 11:24 a.m.

    Excellent!

  2. Peter Schankowitz from Joe Digital, Inc., December 22, 2009 at 11:42 a.m.

    Smart and quite a To Do list for an administration so besieged by the extremists. Before any of it can get done, add "return to civility" to the very top of your list. Only then can these representatives of ours trade in their vitriol for victory on some of these issues.

  3. William Hughes from Arnold Aerospace, December 22, 2009 at 12:17 p.m.

    I would like to see the following, regarding Television.

    1. The "V Chip". Considering how many times I see ads for Products such as Contraceptives, Condoms, Phone-Sex Numbers and Prescription Drugs for various "Bodily Functions" aired at times when Children are watching Television (Including during Children's Shows themselves!) I want to see Commercials rated so parents who do not want to see their kids watch these things can have them blocked from their sets.

    2. A La Carte TV. People shouldn't be forced to pay for channels they aren't watching in order to get a channel they want. Here again we see channels with Mature Subjects that parent6s would not want their kids to see, unfortunately in order to get a channel their kids want they have to subscribe to the tier the other channel is on, (and pay for it) so they can view the one they want.

  4. Joseph Mccallion from Media Monitors, December 22, 2009 at 2:02 p.m.

    And I was feeling happy going into the Holiday's!
    With all the new and old problems now to be solved--what to do first?

  5. Karl Meisenbach from HDNet, December 22, 2009 at 2:12 p.m.

    now that the government has control of interest rates (the fed) buying mortgages (fannie and freddie) bailing out poor decisions by the banks, auto companies, etc (TARP), and soon to increased control over healthcare and supply the insurance companies with money and CZARS (2,017 page bill being worked on in the senate)

    I PROPOSE UNIVERSAL HDTV'S !

    and lets pass UNIVERSAL FOOD and UNIVERSAL CLOTHING and UNIVERSAL HOUSING and...

  6. Karl Meisenbach from HDNet, December 22, 2009 at 2:14 p.m.

    And it's too darn cold, let's pass more bills on Universal Warming!

  7. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, December 22, 2009 at 3:27 p.m.

    WOW, I agree with WH totally on #1 and #2 perhaps various packages vs a total picky choosy as well as an all in one available. Mitch, as my mother used to say, "Out of your mouth into G-d's ears." Then again she used to say "keep 'em poor and stupid and promise them salvation and they'll follow you anywhere." So "Santa baby...."

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