The Artful Jurist

An Associated Press story suggests that the days of free broadcast television may be numbered. According to the AP, revenues for broadcast TV have been dropping while cable TV revenues remain strong. The result is that the American broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC — could simply find it much more profitable to go pay-TV cable and abandon the old system of providing free programming on stations that draw their revenue from selling commercial time.

The story acknowledges that such a move would take years because of the need to phase out all the affiliate contracts. But, besides, that there's another legal issue that would come to the forefront should the networks go cable and cease broadcasting over the public airwaves. Such a move would take them out from under the control of the Federal Communication Commission's regulations regarding what can and can't be shown on their networks.

The FCC has long been the guardian of the airwaves, which have been deemed to be a public resource that gives the federal government the right to step in and restrict certain content determined to be unfit for certain members of society. Take away the public airwaves and you take away the rationale for allowing the government to do that kind of policing.