Here They Go Again

Tuesday, April 05, 2005, at 08:40PM

By Eric Richardson

It seems like this kind of stuff pops up every few months these days:

Martin, named FCC chairman two weeks ago, told a crowd at the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. convention here that his agency did not have the authority it exercised over conventional broadcasting to regulate the programming that streams over cable lines.

But, he warned, that could change if Congress decides to give the FCC power to police content on cable and satellite.

At least he's honest; cable's in no way within their control. I don't think Congress can change that, either. Sure, they can pass a law giving the FCC control over cable. They can even make cable indecency fines a million bucks a piece if they feel so inclined. But you're going to have a pretty hard time convincing the Supreme Court that they've been wrong about almost a century of established doctrine regarding what forms of speech the government does and does not have the right to regulate. The government can talk and talk and talk about how "pervasive" cable is because "everyone" has it, but that still doesn't change the base fact that it's a service into which you have to subscribe. Case closed.