Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study explores the theoretical, methodological, and empirical challenges that come with forging a cultural explanation for a particular policy outcome. By theorizing culture as a tool kit of discrete values, two specific cultural values were explored for their role in bounding the agency of various actors in constructing broadcast policy and regulation that favored broadcast networks. The study challenges realist stories that explain policy or regulatory outcomes based on the power of particular interests.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: As new media technologies have come into the marketplace of broadcasting, the broadcasting environment has become more tremendously competitive than ever. With the increased number of channels that digital television provides, it can be difficult for a public service broadcaster to survive amongst media systems which are commercialized in many countries around the world. Based on the case study of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), this study articulates the legitimacy of public service broadcasting in the new media age. The question of whether public broadcasting should be sustained and protected is at the heart of current media policy debates in Korea. With some examples of public broadcasting systems in European countries, this study examines the current status of Korean broadcasting policy for the KBS and suggests recommendations of new regulatory frames to accommodate the public broadcaster, KBS with the new digital broadcasting era.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The broadcasting history of The Bahamas parallels the history and development of the country. The British introduced broadcasting to the colony in 1937. It was based on the British public service model. When The Bahamas dismantled colonization with independence from Britain in 1973, the broadcasting system retained the structure that was left by the British. From its inception broadcasting was state-owned, a condition that remained in effect until 1993. Throughout its seventy-two years of history, broadcasting in The Bahamas has faced numerous changes and challenges. Today, perhaps its greatest challenge is staying economically viable and aesthetically appealing to local audiences. This article examines four significant periods of growth in the history and development of broadcasting in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas from its inception in 1930 to the beginning of private commercial radio broadcasting in 1993.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines the way the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is approaching its review of broadcast ownership regulations. We focus our analysis on how the twelve studies the FCC used in its review focus predominantly on economic aspects of the issue. This is troubling because it appears that the notion of the “public interest” may be relegated to questions regarding market efficiencies in this debate, as well as future policymaking decisions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The WIPO is in the process of drafting a proposed "Treaty on the Protection of Broadcast Organizations" with the goal of beginning ratification in 2007. The proposed treaty seeks to protect broadcasters by granting them a set of exclusive rights to control distribution and use of broadcasts, mirroring current intellectual property rights. While there are a number of grounds on which to challenge the value of the Treaty, there has been little consideration of whether the Treaty will actually "protect" broadcasters by enhancing the value of their signals, and if so, whether that added value is overshadowed by a loss of social welfare. This paper applies a social economic approach to the various proposed rights, and finds that much of the potential value is likely to be offset in the long term by declines in the demand and use of their signals. Further, most "rights" will also come at the expense of other groups, resulting in an overall loss of social welfare.