Can Public Access Television Survive the Telecom Revolution?

Main Topic

Detroit Begs for Survival...Again ()

The CEO's of the Big Three went back to Congress today, upping the ante from $25 to $34 billion in federal money to keep them in business. They promised personal sacrifice, better management and greener cars, saying the taxpayers would be paid back, maybe with interest. We hear their latest plans and how Senators in both parties reacted. Are the Big Three making better cars than they get credit for? Are they too important to too many people to allow them to fail?

Guests:

• David Shepardson: Reporter, Detroit News
• Peter De Lorenzo: former automotive advertising executive, @Autoextremist
• Dan Neil: Pulitzer Prize-winning auto critic, Los Angeles Times, @Danneilwsj
• Mark J. Perry: Professor of Economics, University of Michigan-Flint

Links:

• Shepardson's article on Big Three testimony on Capitol Hill
• De Lorenzo's 'The United States of Toyota: How Detroit Squandered Its Legacy and Enabled Toyota to Become America's Car Company'
• Dan Neil's article on nationalizing GM

Making News

Barbie Beats the Bratz ()

This may be the last Christmas for Bratz dolls and a lot of jobs in Van Nuys. That's where MGA Entertainment has been making Bratz dolls, but a federal judge says the name, the design and even the dolls themselves now belong to Mattel, which makes Barbie.  Mattel even has the right to recall Bratz, but that won't go into effect until February of next year. We get an update from David Colker, who's been covering the Barbie v. Bratz trial for the Los Angeles Times.

Guests:

• David Colker: Reporter, Los Angeles Times

Main Topic

Can Public Access Television Survive the Telecom Revolution? ()

Public access channels on Cable TV provide access to city council meetings and other official events, and to anyone else who can figure out how to produce a program.  They were a quid pro quo in the days when cities had the power to grant monopoly franchises to cable operators.  Now the state performs that function and, in the City of Los Angeles, Time Warner Cable has decided to eliminate all four public access channels. We get several perspectives from public policy analysts, telecommunications officials and current and former public access hosts, including City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

Guests:

• Skip E. Lowe: Host, 'Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood'
• Steve Titch: Telecommunications Policy Analyst, Reason Foundation
• Brian Moura: Telecommunications Policy Analyst, Reason Foundation
• Bill Rosendahl: Los Angeles City Councilman, @Bill_Rosendahl