Word: fcc
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Journalist Peter Lance, who first raised these allegations in his book "The Stingray," likened the potential fallout to the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s. The rigging of shows like "Twenty-One" led to national disillusionment and the establishment of FCC rules forbidding the fixing of competitions. But not only does this not yet look like a Charles Van Doren-scale shocker, I'm not sure whether one is even possible anymore. One reason has to do with the kinds of game shows in prime time nowadays. The other has to do with the people watching them...
...What's more, the FCC rules that the quiz-show scandals produced were meant to restore a compact of trust between the public and broadcasters. But that leaky raft sailed long ago. In fact, polls show that most viewers already assumed that "Survivor" was fixed. Viewers today are better aware of the Heisenberg effect than your average sociology professor a generation ago; not only do they believe that the shows are set up and edited for dramatic TV - viewing between the lines is part of the sport of watching. Rules are rules, of course, but if Survivorgate ends up disillusioning...
Fortunately somebody is working on it. A handful of companies, notably twin goliaths Microsoft and Yahoo, have formed a coalition called IMUnified to attack the problem. Unfortunately AOL, which between ICQ and AIM controls 80% of the market, isn't part of the gang. That's what has the FCC's regulatory knickers in a knot...
...right? It doesn't look as if we will find out any time soon. Under the FCC's terms, AOL Time Warner has to open up its network to competitors before it can offer any "advanced, IM-based high-speed services" that involve streaming video. Big deal. AOL has indicated that it wasn't planning to offer such a service in the foreseeable future anyway...
...gets to keep the walls that separate its instant-messaging system from the rest of the world. But that's going to have to change eventually, not because of the FCC, but because consumers want it. And because it just makes sense...