Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20554

In the Matter of
Implementation of Section 4(g) of the Cable Television Consumer Protection Act of 1992
Home Shopping Station Issues, MM Docket No. 93-8

COMMENTS OF

CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER
BENTON FOUNDATION
NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION
COMMON CAUSE
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION, INC., UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

Summary

The use of scarce and valuable television spectrum for home shopping is antithetical to the public interest standard under which the Commission determines whether to award broadcast licenses. Broadcasters are expected to educate and inform the public in exchange for their exclusive right to use publicly owned spectrum. Home shopping stations cannot satisfy this obligation. In abandoning limits on commercialization, the Commission predicted that marketplace forces would constrain broadcasters. It is clear that these predictions have been disproved. In light of this fact, the need to promote programming which advances the public interest and to fulfill the mandate to restrain excessive commercialism, the Commission should rule that stations carrying home shopping programming for half of more of their broadcast day are not operating in the public interest.

The Commission’s 1993 decision to the contrary was flawed and tainted by the reliance on hundreds of letters and other filings which are not part of the record in the case and were never seen by the affected parties. Moreover and in any event, the material facts relating to the Commission’s decision have changed:

• MVPD penetration has soared.
• Cable MSO’s no longer have ownership interests in the major home shopping networks.
• The digital transition has greatly exacerbated spectrum scarcity and underscored the highly valuable nature of the spectrum reserved exclusively, and without competition, for terrestrial broadcast use by incumbent broadcast licensees, and broadcasters may now use TV spectrum for non-broadcast uses.
• The 1996 Telecommunications Act dramatically modified the Commission’s broadcast renewal process.

The advent of the internet has dramatically expanded the options for stay-at-home consumers.

• These changed circumstances change each of the three factors enumerated in Section 4(g)(2) of the 1992 Cable Act.
• The Commission previously ruled that over the air home shopping viewership was sig nificant; it is now much lower.
• The Commission had found that the broadcast licensing process in use as of 1993 adequately reflected the competing demands for spectrum, but the process has now changed. In particular, the comparative renewal process, upon which the Commission placed major reliance, has been repealed. Moreover, the Communications Act now allows non-broadcast use of TV stations’ spectrum. This, plus the fact that vacant channels are now auctioned, establish precise measures of competing demands for spectrum and show that the demand is high. The Commission was concerned about competition from cable-owned home shopping services, but there are now no such services.

One other important changed circumstance is the importance of over-the-air home shopping for the home bound. Now that MVPD passes nearly all TV homes, nearly 90% of TV homes subscribe to MVPD services, and the internet offers an important alterative, this factor has been negated.

To view the full comments, see the PDF file linked below.