The Media Knot

The old five-legged octopus now has ten legs that are hopelessly intertwined! The media morphed into an unrecognizable knot of commingled partnerships between various sectors that wanted to get in on the Internet boom, broadband, and delivery on demand. It's a little like The War of the Roses ” bitter divorcees now forced to live under the same roof. Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon sharing a beach house in Beirut is the analogy I use to describe the relationship between Silicon Valley and Hollywood.

A groundbreaking and controversial FCC decision in June 2003 relaxed the rules limiting the ownership of TV stations, radio stations , and newspapers by media conglomerates, which bolsters the media knot theory. The FCC proclaimed that decades-old regulations are now obsolete, in part because of the rise of the Internet and other new technologies. FCC Chairman Michael Powell believes that technology offers a wealth of media alternatives that simply were not available a generation ago ”the Internet, 802.11 wireless networks, XM and Sirius satellite radio, DIRECTV, hundreds of cable channels, new low-power FM radio, and more magazines and books. "America needs modern rules that take into account the explosion of new media outlets," Powell expounded.