satelite home viewer improvement act

[tvlover]

i live in carbondale,il and i would like to know what can be done about the portion of the satelite home viewer improvement act of 1992 than prohibits people that can recieve local network tv signals with a tv antenna from buying out-of-market network tv signals on a satelite dish. i believe that network tv signals are speech and banning me from viewing them ,just because i can get local stations with a tv antenna law violates my first amendment right to freedom of speech.

 

[racer72]

What does watching out of market television have to do with free speech? I find absolutely no corrolation between the two. It costs a lot of money for television stations to obtain and keep their licenses to broadcast and as a valid trade off, the FCC guarantees each station a set broadcast region. And that has carried on through the expansion of first cable and not satellite television.
The right to free speach guarantees every American to say what they want when they want (within the limits of our laws) with fear of retribution. The right to free speech does not guarantee you the right to hear what you want though. We as Americans are spoiled rotten when it comes to the variety of information available to us through our television screens. But no where is there a right to view television. It is a privelige (the same as driving a car) and is not guaranteed by the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights. There are countries that the televisions do not even need to have tuners. You get the one channel that is broadcast and the government controls that.

 

[tvlover]

reply to racer72

tvlover in illinois . i think racer72 is totaly wrong. free speech does include tv,movies, newspapers and radio . americans can recive virtually any radio statiion in the country with satelite or the internet. we can have any newspaper from anywhere in the country delivered to our front door ,so to say it is okay for the federal goverment to say we can only watch local network tv is outragous! my loacl tv stations frequently pre-empt network programs or cut into them for storm warnings ,so i want to be able to switch to st.louis stations. if i put an antenna and get them that way, it is perfectly legal. the satelite laws and the cable exclusivitity laws were passed because local stations were afraid of losing ad dollars .the constitution provides for free speech not the right to prevent you from seeing other speech even if its duplicate. the right to broadcast tv is a privalege, anyone has the right to watch it

 

[JETX]

Ah, tvlover, though I may applaude your efforts, your wrong on this 'free speech' issue.

YOU have the right to free speech. That does NOT mean that you have a right to lesson to OTHERS exercise THEIR free speech rights. If your argument were valid, there would be NO concerts (after all, I have the RIGHT to hear them without having to pay), no sports games (I have the RIGHT to watch them without having to pay), no cable OR satellite (I have the RIGHT to watch that PPV or HBO without having to pay), and even your job, whatever it is (I have the RIGHT to free service without having to pay). Sorry, but the free speech issue goes the other way.

And even if it did apply, it wouldn't apply in your case do to another error in thinking. You can watch CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. at your convenience since they are LOCAL broadcasts and that station has a government license to broadcast only in a certain broadcast area. You would NOT have a free speech issue if you demanded to watch that same 'speech' out of Detroit, or Chicago, or Houston.

Sorry, nice try. Won't fly!

 

[jarod]

satelite law stinks

i live in paducah,kentucky and i agree with tvlover . this law is scarry. i looked up the law on the fcc website . if you are caught buying out of market tv ,you can be fined and prosecuted. that's ridicoulus. i seen stories on the news about people who have lied to satelite companies to get out of market tv ,these people were shown with their faces hidden because their afraid of being caught. i do think this is a free speech issue involving a product that people want to buy but because, of what i call geographic censorship based on where you live, only some people can buy it and others can't. the key to overturning this law is to find a liberal federal judge that is a firm believer in free speech. a conservative judge might take the fcc's or racer72's argument and rule in favor of the law. if i had the money i would challenge the law myself. the only question i have is standing ,to challenge this law would you first have to be caught and prosecuted, or could you just go into court on the first amendment violation alone?