Re: MythTV and the broadcast flag

On Sun, 6 Mar 2005, der.hans wrote:

> The FCC has authority *only* over things broadcast over the airwaves.
>
> Does this not mean that you can ignore the broadcast flag if the device
> can't receive airwave broadcasts? In other words, if it only receives
> cable and/or satellite broadcasts the FCC has no authority and can't
> mandate a broadcast flag, right?


Ultimately, the FCC does have authority over satellite - that is
"airwaves" too. Likewise, cable is also regulated by the FCC - both at
their head-ends (where they receive the content via satellite, thus
FCC-regulated) and in their CATV infrastructure. I doubt you will have any
luck there.

Now, as I understand it, if a broadcast is *purely* Internet-based, from
source to destination, then that *may* be outside of the FCC's scope.
Nonetheless, I am not aware of any mainstream content distributed this way
today, and I would bet that if it does start happening, the rules will
change to encompass Internet-based mainstream content distribution into
the FCC's scope.

One thing we can be sure of in these matters: if we find a loophole in the
rules, then the government will likely just change the rules.

--
~Jay


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