Did the US government ruin television forever?

Page 1 of 1 [ 11 posts ] 

K_Kelly
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Apr 2014
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,452

17 Dec 2014, 3:26 pm

Did the US Federal Communications Commission ruin television forever? When they had that incident with the broadcast of the Super Bowl in 2004, the FCC decided that it would Crack down even tougher than it has before. Why must we put up with that just because once incident ruined it for everyone. That's not even fair.



alex
Developer
Developer

User avatar

Joined: 13 Jun 2004
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,214
Location: Beverly Hills, CA

17 Dec 2014, 3:39 pm

The FCC only regulates the channels you get over the air (the major networks like abc, nbc, cbs,fox). Cable channels aren't under their jurisdiction and there are way more cable channels than network so not sure how they could ruin most TV.


_________________
I'm Alex Plank, the founder of Wrong Planet. Follow me (Alex Plank) on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexplank.bsky.social


Tollorin
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Jun 2009
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,178
Location: Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

17 Dec 2014, 6:27 pm

TV ruined itself.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,739
Location: the island of defective toy santas

22 Dec 2014, 2:05 am

American puritanical culture ruined American TV, otherwise we'd be watching something more like Canadian TV, IMHO.



K_Kelly
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Apr 2014
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,452

22 Dec 2014, 4:06 pm

When did American culture get so puritanical then?



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,739
Location: the island of defective toy santas

22 Dec 2014, 4:16 pm

K_Kelly wrote:
When did American culture get so puritanical then?

since the puritans [basically shooed away from more enlightened Europe] landed upon Plymouth rock back in the day.



K_Kelly
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Apr 2014
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,452

22 Dec 2014, 5:08 pm

So much for America being the best culture on Earth. I think we're stuck forever.



auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,739
Location: the island of defective toy santas

22 Dec 2014, 7:01 pm

we serve as an example of what NOT to emulate.



SpirosD
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 26 Sep 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 350
Location: Europe

24 Dec 2014, 5:51 am

alex wrote:
The FCC only regulates the channels you get over the air (the major networks like abc, nbc, cbs,fox). Cable channels aren't under their jurisdiction and there are way more cable channels than network so not sure how they could ruin most TV.


I'm not sure about that, I have the feeling that even cable channels are under regulation, look carefully, channels like AMC or the CW for example, they show very violent and graphic elements, like The Walking Dead, but they never, ever show nudity or are allowed to use the F-bomb. Breaking Bad they mutted out the few F-bombs, and older shows people consider very sexual like Nip/Tuck if you pay attention nothing is shown ever.

Only premium Channels like HBO, Showtime, Starz or Cinemax are not under the FCC regulation and are allowed to show it all and say it all, look at Game of Thrones, Californication, Banshee or True Blood for example.


_________________
Beauty will save the world -- Fyodor Dostoevsky


auntblabby
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,739
Location: the island of defective toy santas

24 Dec 2014, 6:07 am

I believe the FCC really dropped the ball, when they approved the ATSC digital broadcasting system that is presently in use, it is a totally NON-robust broadcasting method whose reception starts dropping out at anything below strong signal levels further than 20 miles from the transmitter tower under most urban reception conditions and with the typical "rabbit ears" tv antennas. people who live in the suburbs MUST use at least a 20' [above the roof] antenna mast, a deep-fringe antenna with signal amplifier and more often than not a rotator for the antenna, because with digital signals there is NO leeway, the highly directional digital "flyswatter" deep-fringe antennas MUST be aimed DIRECTLY at the broadcast tower or else there will be insufficient signal strength for reception, PERIOD. people who live at least 50 miles from the nearest DTV broadcast tower MUST use treetop antennas [at least 100' off the ground] if we want any DTV reception at all. in contrast to this, with the same treetop antenna I use now, back in the NTSC analog days I coulda received stations 100+ miles away with usable reception quality and NO signal drop-outs. in fact, with just a sony "watchman" sitting atop the roof, I could receive [in Tacoma Washington] stations all the way from Portland Oregon to the south, and Vancouver BC to the north, albeit with noisy reception. the upshot of all this, is that for most practical purposes and reception conditions, there is hardly any more of what used to be called "free TV" to be had anymore, these days, at least in America.



K_Kelly
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Apr 2014
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,452

24 Dec 2014, 2:10 pm

In fact, I think we have a worse reaction to such things than we did during the 80s.