Cable Under Attack

摘要

Ashowdown is brewing between Congress and the cable industry now that two top lawmakers are vowing to bring the industry under the same indecency restrictions as broadcasters. "I think we can put restrictions on cable, and I intend to tell them that," Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens told an appreciative crowd of TV and radio-station executives in Washington for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual state leadership conference last week. Stevens' comments were echoed by his House counterpart, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). Both men said their viewers, particularly children, do not differentiate between traditional broadcast channels and pay-TV channels when they scroll through program guides, and there is no reason for Washington to make that distinction either.