Page 179 - Communication Commerce and Power The Political Economy of America and the Direct Broadcast Satellite

Capital, Technology and the US in an 'Open Market' 169

made available to DBS broadcasters. In April 1993, the Commission
placed the burden of proof onto the shoulders of cable programers in
legal conflicts in which access issues arise.
Like the US cable television industry, television and radio broad-
casters have opposed DBS. In general, the National Association of
Broadcasters has been anxious about more competition. One of the
core arguments used by the NAB against DBS is its potential threat to
the economic viability of local stations and network affiliates. Over-
the-air broadcasters believe that because of the low costs involved in
reaching each consumer through DBS, direct broadcasters pose a
direct threat to their audience share.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MP AA), representing
much of the US film and television production sector (namely, Holly-
wood), has mixed views on DBS. As Fritz Attaway of the MPAA
explains:

We are always looking for new outlets for our programming.
However, we have to factor in the effect that new outlets have on
existing markets. We would not want the DBS system in Hong
Kong [Star TV], for instance, to result in a severe decrease in
theatrical attendance because we [now] make more money per
viewer in theaters than we do on television. Similarly, we would
not want DBS to produce a major adverse affect on home videos
because again we [now] make more money per viewer on video
than television. Television is really the last in the sequence of
exploitation. . . . So one has to be careful, when you're in the
business of marketing ... [our] product that the new outlets don't
cannabalise the old. 31

At least until direct broadcasters gamer enough spending power to
make their delivery systems at least as profitable as theaters and
videotape rentals, the MPAA remains reluctant to embrace DBS. In
the United States, existing subscription movie channels, such as HBO,
usually do not broadcast films until most theater and video rental
revenues have been tapped. With DBS and the development of cable
pay-per-view services, Attaway explains that 'one of the big marketing
questions' facing MPAA members is 'what's going to happen to the
existing home video market if films are released on pay-per-view
simultaneously with home videotape release?' 32
As described above, the development of an 'open market' commun-
ications regime in the United States - featuring the relative retreat of