How Does Political Pressure Influences Cable Regulation

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Political pressure has indirectly influence cable regulation over the years. For instance, the FCC is an independent regulatory agency that is overseen by Congress. "Overall, principal-agent studies have broadened scholarly understanding of regulatory agencies. In particular, these studies have provided systematic theoretical accounts of how external political actors attempt to strategically influence regulatory agency decision making. Principal-agent studies have also strongly suggested that institutional design play a role in determining how regulatory agencies operate." (Source 17) So, the only way political actors can influence a regulatory agency such as the FCC is through funding or budget constraints."Because elected officials have limited …show more content…

For instance, " Consumer dissatisfaction with various aspects of cable television services is common. Fueling demands for regulatory oversight is the persistent growth of cable prices over time." (Source 2) It is a well known fact that there is a positive correlation between consumer demands and prices of goods. For example, as time progresses consumers expectation of mature story lines, sexual content, and violent themes explodes. This growing trend forces the government to regulate cable television more extensively in order to protect the vulnerable consumers such as children and also the conservative viewers. This led to the implementation of TV Parental Guidelines which is a television content rating system that was implemented by the FCC in 1997. The TV Parental Guidelines ratings are divided into two specific categories programs for children and programs for general audiences. "The ratings categories are separated into two groups: ratings for programs designed for children and ratings for programs designed for general audiences. The two children’s ratings were created based on input from child advocacy experts who raised concerns about the special sensitivities of young children. The children’s ratings are: TV-Y, for programs designed for all children, and TV-Y7, for programs directed at children seven years or older. The “general audience” ratings categories are as follows: TV-G (general audience — appropriate for all ages), TV-PG (parental guidance suggested — may be unsuitable for younger children), TV-14 (parents strongly cautioned — may be unsuitable for children under 14 years of age), and TV-MA (for mature audiences only — may be unsuitable for children under 17). However, content descriptors of D (suggestive dialogue), L (language), S (sexual content), V (violence) and FV (fantasy violence — exclusively for the TV-Y7 category) would be added to the ratings where