Broadcasters Hope Fourth Time's The Charm For Anti-Satellite Radio Bill

You sort of have to admire the satellite radio companies. Whatever your interest in paying a monthly fee for their service, anybody that so consistently manages to get under the skin of people like the RIAA and Clear Channel can't be all bad. The RIAA aims lawsuits and legislation, while Clear Channel's tried its best to make XM's programming worse. The National Association of Broadcasters, the radio broadcasters' trade group, has consistently derided satellite radio as a bit player that poses no threat to its members, while trying to disrupt it by whining about FM modulators, and now it's backing legislation that would prevent satellite radio broadcasters from offering any sort of local content, like weather or traffic reports. The bill, which has been introduced three times before and failed, is hung on the bizarre idea that satellite radio broadcasting local emergency alerts and other types of information is somehow a threat to public safety because, basically, satellite radio could hurt broadcast radio's ad sales. You'd imagine making the information more widely available would actually be a boon to safety, but logic clearly doesn't make it up Capitol Hill. This bill is simply an anti-competitive tactic by the broadcast radio industry, and comes at the same time the NAB is asking for millions of satellite radios to be recalled and taken back from consumers. full story...