Transformers Caught in FCC Inquiry

The Federal Communications Commission has until the end of this week to give Congress the compendium it asked for of just about every content filtering, blocking, or rating gizmo that's out there. And you can bet that a small battalion of lawyers for the networks, cable, gaming, and computer industries would like to read it right now.

But the rapidly approaching deadline for the report (August 29, a Saturday, oddly) isn't stopping them or various media reform advocates from advising the FCC right up to the last minute on what they want the agency to say, or not say, in the document. Interestingly, the Transformers movies have blundered into the FCC's requisite Notice of Inquiry asking for public input on the report.

And the concerns various advocates raise about the marketing of these films suggest how subjective it could be to expand V-chip-like regulation, as many filers want (we've got a quick tutorial on the chip here). Ratings creeps Earlier this month the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood filed a response to a key question in the FCC's NOI