“PIRATE Act” is officially introduced in the House.
Reps. Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Chris Collins (R-NY) and their co-sponsors drop the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act” into the hopper, to the applause of the NAB and the New Jersey Broadcasters Association. The bill looks like the discussion draft (March 21 NOW) – fines of up to $2 million for “any person who willfully and knowingly” engages in running an unlicensed station. Same potential fine for those who “facilitate” it (like landlords). Daily fines up to $100,000. There would be “biannual sweeps” by FCC enforcement personnel in the “top five radio markets identified as prevalent for such broadcasts.” Those sweeps “shall include identifying, locating and terminating such operations” – and “seizing related equipment.” The NAB’s Dennis Wharton thanks the House backers of the PIRATE Act, “which provides the FCC with enhanced penalties and additional tools.” NAB also gives a shout-out to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly “for his longstanding leadership on this issue.” O’Rielly colorfully says “I think the PIRATE Act has a great chance of becoming law and helping stomp-out this illegal activity.” That may be the first use of “stomp-out” by a Commissioner. The NJBA’s Paul Rotella points out that “unlike New Jersey, which has a statute against pirates, many states do not have such laws.” In the Garden State, pirates face up to $10,000 in fines and 18 months in prison.
I take it your point is that the big boys don't play by the rules either?
+-RH
Where are the vocal stylings of Jimmy The Weasel when they're needed?
Tim Leary got bounced from Pacifica for announcing fake whale pods off Santa Barbara back about 1980. He had traffic tied up for miles. He'd been making up the news for a good while, but that incident did him in. That's what you get for putting Tim behind a live mic for three hours.
in my opinion, this is a useless deterrent against FM pirates (the bad ones) because the FCC simply cannot collect the money from an individual citizen, they dont have the authority and until congress gives them the authority, this problem (as they claim it is) will continue despite the increase in the amount of fines levied.
red-hat once described the situation as a "whack-a-mole", that is exactly what it is.
there was an article i read that explained why the FCC doesnt have the authority to collect levied fines and even if they did have the authority, the AG has better things and bigger fine amounts to go after and collect so maybe increasing the fine amount to $2M will get the AG motivated ?in my opinion, this is a useless deterrent against FM pirates (the bad ones) because the FCC simply cannot collect the money from an individual citizen, they dont have the authority and until congress gives them the authority, this problem (as they claim it is) will continue despite the increase in the amount of fines levied.
red-hat once described the situation as a "whack-a-mole", that is exactly what it is.
This is incredible to me. How can they levy fines but not have any power to collect them? Try not paying your credit card bill or a traffic ticket for a few months and watch what happens.
As to what was mentioned about the big boys not playing by the rules either, Most commercial radio stations (especially the top dog stations in small markets) have countless FCC violations, most commonly poor EAS functionality and interference to other operations both broadcast and non-broadcast related. They will almost never directly report an FCC violation of a pirate or competitor station, as they themselves would then have to "clean up" I have seen many stations (mostly translators) which run at several times legal power, AM sites which are abhorrently in disrepair not meeting FCC regulations or even fire safety code, and a complete disregard for any other broadcasters in the market (unless of course they are owned by the same big company).it doesnt matter how clean your RF is, how abiding and how professional you are as a pirate on FM, even with documented and diagnostic proof, the bottom line to the FCC is that you do not have a license.
To boot, most of the translators I have seen are sold in the community as the main market station, allowing the AM to become a more and more unreliable and poor quality signal. This is completely against the purpose of a translator, and yet, seems to illicit no negative response from the FCC or NAB.
on a second note, I wonder what would happen to a pirate operator who was caught if they had been running a sane and well controlled amount of power, with clean modulation, and monitored an EAS primary to actually participate in eas alerts and weekly tests? I am quite curious to whether the FCC could deem that pirate OPs action legally "harmful".
Where there is money..... etc.which is precisely what is happening.
I don't like being conspiratorially minded, but I see an industry (FM radio) that is worried. Worried about their future. Worried about loss of listeners. Worried about loss of revenue, including advertising revenue. Even though the numbers of radio listeners who have gravitated away to other forms of entertainment haven't yet been substantial, the writing is on the wall.
When you see massive businesses scrambling to wipe out gnats, you know that there is more to the picture than just whether someone was breaking the law.
There's also the danger to power when the networks are bypassed, and by networks I mean fox, abc, cbs, nbc, msnbc, cnn, etc corporate/agenda media.
which is precisely what is happening.
the conglomerate media companies who own several FM/AM stations in captive market areas are trying to recoup their losses by offering and venturing to several other media platforms to keep the investors and lending firms happy in addition to acquiring competitive radio stations to eliminate competition and stomping out the "gnats" of low power pirates in order to keep captivity on that specific market and keep revenue loss from advertising on the decline.
now imagine if one media company owned all the FM radio stations in the NYC market.
There's also the danger to power when the networks are bypassed, and by networks I mean fox, abc, cbs, nbc, msnbc, cnn, etc corporate/agenda media.
Cable TV is starting to see a dip, just as FM radio is.
Not as much news about it, but when ESPN cuts staff, you know that Cable is having a few issues.
From what I've read, it seems to be mostly people cutting back on their cable packages.
This bill mandates the FCC to increase enforcement, but provides them with no additional funds to pay for it....
LOL
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i am quite sure the conglomerate media companies support the FCC financially when the need arises.
the casual listener wouldnt notice or even care but the companies who want to advertise would have no competition for better advertisement rates.which is precisely what is happening.
the conglomerate media companies who own several FM/AM stations in captive market areas are trying to recoup their losses by offering and venturing to several other media platforms to keep the investors and lending firms happy in addition to acquiring competitive radio stations to eliminate competition and stomping out the "gnats" of low power pirates in order to keep captivity on that specific market and keep revenue loss from advertising on the decline.
now imagine if one media company owned all the FM radio stations in the NYC market.
I hate to sound cynical, but if only one radio company owned all the FM stations in the NYC market, would any of the listeners really notice?
I think the only people who would notice would be industry types, radio enthusiasts (like us here at HFU), and policy wonks.
The average listener? I'm not sure they would either notice or care. They just want to hear their favorite music. Not saying that's awesome, but just sayin'.
I don't know why people watch TV anyway. There is very little out there I actually want to watch, and almost none of it prime time.
+-RH
Congressman Himes,
I am writing to express my concerns regarding HR 5709, which is known as the "Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act". This bill, which is currently being discussed in the House, deals with the unlicensed operation of radio stations.
First off, I concede that there are some radio operators who intentionally interfere with licensed radio frequencies. However, the majority of stations that I have heard don't attempt to do this. Rather, they are small, community-based operations that transmit on otherwise vacant frequencies, with average power outputs of around ten watts (compare that to the one hundred thousand watt maximum power output of an FM station). As they do not interfere with other stations, their transmissions serve the public, and harm nobody.
The radio broadcasting industry would have you believe that unlicensed broadcasters often interfere with frequencies intended for emergency broadcasts, as well as the public health. The major broadcasting firms say that they are afraid of "pirates" taking over their frequencies. However, and having first-hand knowledge of the radio industry, I can tell you that this is a "red herring". What the major companies are really afraid of is competition in the radio industry. Many broadcasting firms have virtual monopolies in several markets, as they control the vast majority of stations in those areas. The unfortunate reality of the radio industry is that "if you want to play, you have to pay", and pay big bucks at that. Unless you know someone in the radio world, it isn't possible for average citizens to own radio outlets, as one station will typically cost millions of dollars. This has the effect of limiting the diversity of voices that can be heard, and degrading free speech.
Congressman, I understand the arguments of the major broadcasting firms. It wouldn't be false to say that unlicensed broadcasting is a problem, and should be addressed as such. However, I believe that the proposed legislation is a threat to the free speech rights of all radio broadcasters, licensed or no. For this and other reasons, I urge you to oppose the submitted bill, and vote no on passage. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
(Real Name was put here)
Haven't had a tv for tv watching since the 80s. I do, however, watch vids such as youtube online and movies too, just not any tv programming. They don't call it programming without reason. When you watch it, you're being programmed. In an alpha state."Television, the drug of the nation..."
Haven't had a tv for tv watching since the 80s. I do, however, watch vids such as youtube online and movies too, just not any tv programming. They don't call it programming without reason. When you watch it, you're being programmed. In an alpha state."Television, the drug of the nation..."
on a different note, the "MMA" bill, i believe is going to have a big impact on online music streaming.Haven't had a tv for tv watching since the 80s. I do, however, watch vids such as youtube online and movies too, just not any tv programming. They don't call it programming without reason. When you watch it, you're being programmed. In an alpha state."Television, the drug of the nation..."
While a fruitloop celebrity, I think it was an accurate description when Johnny Depp said watching tv was nursing at the glass breast.