"We had legislation regulating cable television in 1992, Ronald." Little Doug said to Ronald on the phone.
"Oh, I know, I just want to add some regulatory content, which will be more beneficial to us."
It is not an easy task to get politicians to legislate for their own interests. There are many technical details involved.
Regulatory legislation always lags behind development. Sometimes, when a new thing emerges, or an emerging industry arises, and it has profoundly affected the lives of ordinary Americans, the government really needs to do something.
will arouse the interest of legislators.
Another form of legislation, that is, legislation promoted by big players in the industry with the purpose of promoting industrial development, will be passed at an earlier stage of industrial development.
The legislation Little Doug mentioned, the "Cable Cable Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992," falls into the latter category. As can be seen from the name of this bill, with the word "competition" in it, it is to draw up the rules in advance and favor those who push legislators.
move in the direction.
For example, the biggest clause in this law is to restrict content providers and must provide basic television services at low prices, because "television" is regarded as a low-cost channel for the public to obtain information to ensure America's
"free".
Moreover, although content providers such as HBO are not restricted from charging more "advanced" channel subscription fees at market prices, users' freedom of subscription must not be restricted. Even if they only subscribe to the most basic package, they must be installed and opened for cable TV.
In many cases, this is actually a loss-making business. What cable TV stations are really interested in are those wealthy users who are willing to spend more than ten dollars a month to subscribe to premium content. Because most cable TV stations charge subscription fees directly instead of traditional
Wireless TV stations generate revenue through advertising fees.
The final result of this bill is to benefit content providers who already have wireless TV stations in the industry. They are also advocates of congressional legislation. TCI, led by John Malone, wants to replace it with large-scale coaxial cable infrastructure.
The traditional wireless TV transmission center company was publicly condemned by Deputy Commander Al.
John Malone's philosophy is very simple, that is, try to monopolize the construction of infrastructure by one or two companies across the country, and then charge users. As for the content on the cable TV platform, content providers will compete freely.
See how many viewers you can subscribe to based on your skills.
If this market structure is realized by him, then TCI will be invincible no matter what. Whether it is the installation and basic subscription fees paid by viewers, or premium subscriptions such as HBO, a considerable part will become TCI
profit.
Of course, such a strategy will definitely not be liked by those established TV stations. What they prefer is to establish various regional cable TV networks by themselves and use the content they have accumulated over the years to carve out cable TV areas.
sex market.
These TV stations have existed in America for more than 40 years, and their relationship with Capitol Hill is much stronger than TCI.
Therefore, the 1992 bill was stuffed with many protective provisions, which did not really help people enjoy high-quality services at a relatively cheap cost.
This kind of big market does not want to be unified across the country, but is more biased towards a strategy of using states as the basic competitive areas. To a certain extent, it is a strategy that is conducive to Ronald's acquisition of small wireless TV stations in various places.
"Why did John Malone fail so completely? It seems that the provisions that were beneficial to him were not included in the 1992 bill, and the provisions that were not beneficial to him were passed." Ronald chatted with Little Doug for a while and discovered that this 1992 bill
The bill seems to be specifically targeted at TCI.
"He has a feud with Al, the deputy commander. The deputy commander named him as a conservative who hinders technological progress. However, this matter has nothing to do with cable TV. The main reason is that Malone has ambitions for the information superhighway." Little Doug in New York.
I have many friends in Washington, DC, and are more knowledgeable about these legislations than Ronald.
"Information superhighway, what is that?" Ronald asked. The name seemed very familiar, but he didn't know the details. And when he heard it, he had a feeling that this was a great event.
"It is a plan promoted by Deputy Commander Al. He compared the network to a facility like a highway and emphasized the core role of infrastructure. He hopes to establish a nationwide digital network to connect individuals, schools, businesses and governments."
"What network is that BBS system? Tell me more..." The more Ronald listened, the more familiar he felt. However, although the reaction of some movie fans could be seen in that BBS, it was far from the high-speed system that Al was touting.
The highway seems to be still far away..."
No matter how much they tout it, the current network provider AOL has no special use except for sending emails after surfing the Internet, or going to BBS to chat with people who have the same interests.
“According to the speech of the Vice-President, in the future, hiding places in libraries can be viewed online, we can also file taxes through the Internet, apply for driver’s licenses, and even vote in general elections, all can be done through the information highway.
He also said that in the future you can watch TV and movies through the Internet, can you believe it? Hahaha..."
"Uh," Ronald wanted to agree, but he always felt that this didn't seem like bragging.
"OK, not to go too far, John Malone wants to use the coaxial cable of cable TV to provide Internet services, but he wants to bundle his services into it. What Al supports is the telecommunications network, allowing services in all industries
Providers are all competing on it. Anyway, the two of them are at loggerheads..."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! When it comes to the field of Internet access, Malone, who called for competition in the cable TV industry, has become conservative and closed-minded. It is no wonder that everyone is driven by interests. As for shouting
Whatever slogans you use are just excuses to win legislation in Congress that is beneficial to you.
"It seems that this deputy commander is our ally."
The same is true for Ronald. As long as it is beneficial to him, he must support legislation. He then asked little Doug, a know-it-all in Washington, "What other allies do we have?"
"To strengthen the supervision of cable TV content, these organizations must pay attention." Little Doug named several organizations and individuals in succession.
They are the American Family Association, a conservative organization originating in conservative Mississippi that opposes violence, pornographic content and anti-Christian values in the media.
There's also Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based evangelical religious association that promotes traditional family ethics and helps young parents cope with parenting challenges.
These two organizations are located in the most conservative central region, and they are, figuratively speaking, Forrest Gump's fellow countrymen. Their ideas have a lot of religious content, as well as ideologies against minority groups, and what Ronald wants.
That kind of support is actually not from everyone.
Two congressmen who also called for stricter regulation of cable television are also anti-Hollywood.
One is Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, a conservative from Kansas who wants to regulate all media industries, and the other is Jewish Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
Although Lieberman is Jewish, he is an outlier. Together with Dole, he called for the regulation of Hollywood to prohibit pornographic and violent content from appearing in film and television works, which poisons young people.
He is a die-hard orthodox Jew. In addition to living according to religious rules, he also protects the interests of Israel to the death. This has caused other fellow congressmen to complain that he seems to have acquired Israeli citizenship and is more like an Israeli than an American.
In short, those who call for stronger supervision have malicious intentions towards Hollywood and are dissatisfied with the current blockbuster commercial films. If they really succeed, the blow to Hollywood will be very fatal.
This is not what Ronald wants at all. He can at best use some excuses to complain that the existing television ratings and premium cable networks, such as HBO and Showtime, are ineffective in supervising teenagers and children.
For example, if you purchase HBO services and your children secretly pick up the remote control to watch while you are not at home, there is nothing you can do to stop it.
It would be best to have a mechanism that can prohibit children who should not watch adult content on cable TV from watching it privately. And strengthen regional content so that children can watch more educational TV programs.
This is the so-called "regulation" that Ronald wants, just a little bit, don't be completely against Hollywood. Just regulate those cable TV stations, don't regulate Hollywood.
"In that case, I recommend someone." Little Doug thought of a person he met in Washington DC, that is, the Secretary of Education during the Ronald Sr. era, who became the director of the National Prohibition Commission during the George Sr. era. In the new term,
William Bennett, who lost his job after the General took office.
During the old Ronald era, this guy jumped from the Donkey Party to the Elephant Party, and then switched to the conservative side. During his tenure as Minister of Education, he also called for the establishment of a real grading system that can technically solve the problem of what teenagers should not see.
Methods for rating film and television dramas.
He also strongly advocated maintaining chastity and not losing virginity in high school, because many people were immature and morally imperfect at that time, so they should wait until college or after work to have sex with a man or a woman.
Generally speaking, this person is conservative, but not extremely conservative. He upholds morality, but does not have unrealistic illusions. He still advocates tinkering within the rules to solve problems.
Precisely because he is not extreme enough and is more pragmatic, politicians whose life depends on election do not like him very much. Although he has spent a lot of time on public relations in Washington, hoping to get a high-level federal office again, no one has ever paid attention to him.
Moreover, the best thing about this man is that he is a sanctimonious hypocrite. Although he preaches that teenagers should abide by morality, he is an avid gambler in real life. He spends a lot of money in Las Vegas every year
, as well as various sports betting.
So much so that it has affected his family's financial situation and he also owes a lot of gambling debts. This is one of the reasons why he desperately wants to return to the federal political arena.
One advantage of such a person is that once the control is in the hands of the donor, he can be more trusted to serve the donor's purpose, and he is less likely to kick away the donor after being elected to an important public office.
situation.
Ronald asked Bud Jr. to set up a new charity, then set up a new PAC action committee, hired William Bennett as a consultant for both, and then received a high salary and consulting fees for this new
The organization lobbied in Washington, befriended various members of Congress, and advanced the agency's agenda of giving parents complete control of their television sets.
This organization, named the Parents Television Council (Parents Television Council), called for necessary regulations on emerging cable TV, like the anti-theft chip for video recorders, adding a parental monitoring chip to every cable TV subscriber before leaving home.
, you can lock certain TV channels.
The newly established Parents Television Council wanted to target some well-known national TV series. After looking at it, it targeted Showtime's flagship TV series, "The Red Shoe Diaries," and began to criticize it in the media.
"Red Shoe Diaries" was actually originally a TV movie. Director Zalman King tells the story of the male protagonist accidentally discovering the diary of his gentle and elegant fiancée after her tragic death, which records the completely unknown things about her fiancée.
In life, while she was in love with the male protagonist, she was also having an affair with a construction worker.
This TV movie was broadcast on Showtime, a subsidiary of Viacom, and received good ratings. After all, such erotic films, such as the famous 9 and a half weeks of love, can only be watched at home through video tapes.
.And the new cable TV can broadcast some large-scale movies and TV dramas that public TV stations cannot broadcast.
Zalman King saw the potential, so he lobbied Showtime to start filming a spin-off TV series based on the movie. It was also called Red Shoe Diaries.
This TV series follows the end of the movie and has the male protagonist place an advertisement in the newspaper. He cannot understand why his fiancée would have an affair with a construction worker, so he asks ladies to send him their experiences.
Each episode begins with the male protagonist receiving a letter from a woman, telling an affair story, and then ends with the male protagonist complaining to his dog about why women are like this.
This TV series has become Showtime's flagship program, not only because of its precise positioning, but also because of its male protagonist.
The actor who plays the male lead is an extra that Ronald used when directing Working Girl, David Duchovny. In 1991, he had to film a TV movie with erotic connotations such as The Red Shoe Diaries. After that,
In order to earn income, I had to sign a contract with a TV station for a spin-off TV series.
However, just after the first season of the TV series was filmed, he received an invitation from Fox's science fiction TV series "The X-Files" to play the male lead, Fox Mulder, an FBI investigator investigating unnatural events.
This role brought him national fame. David Duchovny and the Red Shoe Diaries signed a hefty penalty contract, so he had to obediently appear at the beginning and end of each episode.
The style of this TV series is not high, but the casting taste is good. Every time, some actresses who are outdated or not yet famous, but have very good looks, are found to play female roles.
Therefore, it has become one of the favorite TV series for high school students to watch secretly. Ronald's Parents Television Council is planning to use this TV series as a target to call for stricter legislation on the cable television industry.