American politics are not always interesting compared to the goings-on of the Galactic Senate, but as viewers and fans of television, it’s important we pay attention to the bodies that control not only what we watch on television, but how we watch it. The US House Energy and Commerce Committee has announced that it has launched a probe to determine how transparent, fair and open the FCC has been in determining policy. The controversy stems from an ongoing debate about a 35-year-old policy preventing companies which own a news channel in a city from owning newspapers in the same city.  The FCC ignored a government request to delay a vote which resulted in the lightening of those restrictions (Click the picture above for the full article).

Most of the time the FCC comes under fire from show creators and fans because they regulate content on shows, but there isn’t a lot of commentary out there on how the FCC and other government agencies regulate the industry. I don’t want to criticize one way or another, because the FCC has always been pretty fair with us, but we would like to raise awareness among our fans that our government representatives, who often have very good intentions, can do more than limit the number of swears on an episode of “South Park.” Look into the Family and Consumer Choice Act of 2007 if you want an example.

So what does all this mean? That’s anybody’s guess, but I had a hard time finding this article anywhere other than industry publications and felt that it should be shared. ”Friction” between the FCC and Congress could in the short term mean they’ll have just a little less time to regulate onscreen content, but in the long term we could see big changes in everything from what you watch on TV to how much choice you have in what you get to watch.

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