The End of HBO, Cinemax and Pay-Per View Porn?

Senator Ted Stevens (R) from Alaska and Congressman Joe Barton (R) from Texas have expressed an interest in expanding their "clean up of the airwaves" campaign to include paid cable and satellite radio transmissions. I guess the cable industry is going to have to step  up their contributions to Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Joe Barton because according to figures compiled from last year they haven't been paying much attention to these guys.

With the advent of cable and satellite broadcasts Stevens feels these laws for governing public airwaves are antiquated and outdated and should cover both types of broadcasts.

Stevens was asked whether the government has the right to regulate paid services and his response was.

"I think that's wrong," he said. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air because of the combination of the two."

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the entire cable TV network and satellite shows transmitted over equipment owned and maintained by the corporations? Just because it comes out of the same box as public broadcasts gives the government the right to regulate?

Barton isn't far behind Stevens slanted way of thinking.

"If we can work out the Constitutional questions, I'd be supportive of that. I think they ought to ... to the extent it's possible, (play by) the same rules," Barton told reporters. "It's not fair to subject over-the-air broadcasters to one set of rules and not subject cable and satellite to no rules. So I'm supportive of what the senator says."

I think what Barton was trying to say is that they just need to figure out a way to get around that pesky first amendment and they should be good to go with the beginning to the end of HBO or pay-per-view porn. That would suck! (to lose HBO I mean, I'm still waiting for the next season of the Soprano's to come out).

I thought the Republicans were for a non-intrusive government. I guess they only want  a non-intrusive government when it applies to corporate governance but individual rights should be regulated so that we can all become as righteous as them.

Oh, and they also want to regulate what kind of streaming media or language that is posted on your website or blog. So until that regulation is passed you can go fuck yourselves and your self righteous bullshit because I pay for this crap. If you personally don't like your TV stations then just cancel your cable subscription and leave the rest of us the fuck alone!