A broad-based coalition of labor, civic and business leaders are calling on voters in Chula Vista, Calif., to vote no on Tuesday, June 8 on an anti-union ballot initiative -Proposition G.
After a decade-long slide into semi-irrelevance, it's now being announced that the major television broadcast networks are considering leaving behind the "free TV/advertiser supported" business model in order to turn themselves into something more closely resembling a cable operation; the idea being that they could create a second revenue stream from the same "subscriber fees" that are paid by cable and satellite operators to all the other channels those operators carry.
This has become necessary, according to the networks, partly because the market has become so fragmented...which, naturally, is cable's fault-and presumably the fault of the disloyal viewer, as well.
Another reason driving the change is related to the desire of the networks to have a source of revenue that's more reliable in times of economic downturn, when advertisers often try to husband scarce resources by cutting back on all their expenses, particularly advertising dollars.
Will this new change in the business model reverse the fortunes of the networks?
Is it possible that the networks are simply poor business managers?
And what about...Krystal Carey?
Tune in for the rest of the story-and we'll find out.
Bob put this as an update to the post below, but I think this protest deserves its own thread. I too just talked to Dave who said there is about 70 people there already and growing by the minute. They are handing out a ton of pins and it sounds like everyone is having a good time and no issues that the personal officer needs to deal with.
(Bob) I just got off the phone with David Dayen for the report from the ground. It was kinda tough to hear because all of the horns honking in the background. He said there was a great crowd, KTLA is interviewing a number of them, and they are having a lot of fun passing out the lapel pins. Also, he loved the fact that a Burbank Police Officer came by and told them he was their officer for the night and if they had any problems (with ABC or Disney) to give him a call. I wish I was there, if you can make it they'll be out there until 7PM.
[UPDATE 6:09] Just got off the phone with Dave and Rick. Things are going really really well. Lots of people, one radio station, an AP reporter and a photographer were there as well as KTLA.
ABC/Disney actually rerouted traffic away from the gate where the protesters were and so a few people move over to the other gate, so they couldn't be avoided.
There are a lot of interesting things going on that should be mentioned, but that I couldn't quite generate whole posts out of - so here they are for your Friday reading pleasure.
Karen Bass will become the Speaker on May 15, meaning she will play a central role in the upcoming budget negotiations this summer. I'm guessing she won't be as frequent a guest in Arnold's smoking tent as was her predecessor.
Civil Rights groups have come out swinging against the redistricting reform plan - MALDEF, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, and the William C. Velazquez Institute held a news conference to explain their belief that redistricting reform will produce many fewer elected officials of color and weaken the voting rights of those communities. It's especially ironic that these criticisms are made against the backdrop of Fabian Núñez getting ready to hand off power to Karen Bass - redistricting reform is low enough on the state's list of priorities, and if it is going to reduce the representation of California's communities of color, it needs to not be passed.
The Department of Managed Care is going to reexamine thousands of "rescissions" of health insurance made by insurers AFTER the patients got sick. When 90 of these rescissions done by Blue Cross were sampled by the agency, all 90 were found to be flawed. While this process holds out some hope of recovery of costs and insurance by those victimized by this practice, it also simply reinforces the point that health insurers have no place in the delivery of health care in our state and in our country.
All reports indicate that when the ABC News Democratic Party Debate airs in the Pacific Time zone at 8 PM that you are better off doing pretty much anything other than watching it. There are reviews are already in and there seems to be a clear consensus on Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos and ABC News and the parent company Disney.
"Looking around other sites, I guess I'm not the only one that thought this debate was unmitigated travesty," Josh Marshall noted. "Maybe the embargo on debate rebroadcast was a pro-human rights stand."
The Spocko Scandal was featured in a long story on Page A2 of today's San Francisco Chronicle and I predict this new video will end up being one of the most viewed on Youtube (cubical safe, no sound):
Anyone expect this to calm down anytime soon? Already, this clip has 25,000+ views and in additional to the phone calls to all KSFO advertisers, people write letters.
Tomorrow it will be five years ago that I was in Brussels, celebrating my 23rd birthday and my first day as an intern in the European Parliament (with my local conservative member, I have learned since ;)). Only one day later my birthday would forever be the day before 9/11.
Tomorrow I will turn 28 and not only has the pope just arrived in Germany to tell me why I live in sin and should not be allowed to marry. No, now ABC and Disney have to ruin my birthday as well. Thank you, but no thank you! Disney, I don't like my birthday present. Yank the film already!
Right after 9/11 I have witnessed days, weeks and months of unprecedented solidarity with the United States only to watch it all being destroyed by the scandalous behaviour of the Bush administration. This is why I, a former exchange student from Germany to the US, want to see Democrats win in November. This is why I write here and why I started my blog Turn Tahoe Blue because it's the only way I can help change the status quo.
UPDATE: I think the anger I felt last night over some of yesterday's developments has subsided. Plus, the comments to this diary have been enlightening. I particularly like the idea of an equal time broadcast. However, I think at a minimum, the phrased "based on the 9/11 comission report" needs to be pulled from the ads. Additionally some of the really bad factual errors should be corrected as well. I have slightly modified the diary to reflect this.
For those of you who've been living in a cave, ABC is going to run a mini-series blaming 9/11 on Clinton and papering over Bush mistakes. There are serious factual errors in the movie, in fact so many errors that former Bush counterterrorism official Roger Cressey called it "something out of fantasyland". This movie should never have been green-lighted and should never see the light of day. For more information on the movie, see Matt Stoller's Open Letter to ABC.
So, what does this all have to do with California? Plenty. Namely most of the Disney officials are here and we have a tremendous power over these companies. What can we do about it? What should we do? Or more aptly, what MUST we do?
We need to show ABC that we are serious about this crap not seeing the light of day. Marshall Collins a Colorado blogger said this in a comment at Open Letter to ABC:
It is time Democrats stop screwing around with form letters and really go after this tooth and nail.
Here is one idea that Democrats should do to show they are taking the gloves off with this mockumentary.
Every Democratic candidate contact their local ABC affiliate and tell them that they won't spend a dime in advertising on their station if this Republican propaganda is played. (Open Letter Comments 9/6/06)
A great idea. An especially great idea in California. Progressive campaigns, for both elected offices and propositions, need to tell ABC that we won't abide their whitewash of the facts.
Our campaigns have some leverage here. They need to call ABC stations in the state and let them know that they will not that they really don't appreciate them airing propaganda.
