MoveOn and The Big Game
My fellow Dean supporter and Really Friggin Cold Place dweller NTodd links to a column by John Nichols using CBS’s refusal to air MoveOn’s (excellent) anti-Bush ad during the Superbowl as evidence of the dangers of media consolidation. I think CBS made the wrong decision, especially after two Superbowls ago they introduced us to the revolting “drug money supports terror” series. But I fail to see how any regulatory regime could change the situation.
The Superbowl is the most-watched television program in the United States. And there’s only one Superbowl. Of course someone’s going to have exclusive control of it. This was true before the FCC relaxed the ownership restrictions last year, and it was true before Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
What kind of regulations could one pass to end Viacom’s “monopoly"? I suppose we could force the NFL to sell broadcast rights to two or more networks, but if you think the media are too homogeneous now, putting more football on TV probably won’t make you happy. We could impose restrictions on to whom CBS must and must not sell advertising time, but Superbowl time is still a finite good, and someone who wants it is going to have to go without.
So the real problem is the overwhelming popularity of the Superbowl. Maybe the Big Game constitutes an illegal monopoly. I say we break it up into multiple games. This recommendation has nothing to do with my being an Eagles fan. Nothing at all.