Please send this auto generated letter to OFCOM protesting against Murdoch's
.. proposed purchase of 100% of BSkyB.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/ofcom_no_bskyb_takeover/?cl=834868181&v=7581
http://www.avaaz.org/en/ofcom_no_bskyb_takeover/?cl=834868181&v=7581
0
Comments
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/4-days-stop-murdoch#petition
Get bent. Don't sign it if you don't want to.
*sniff* *sniff*
Be that a troll I smelleth over yonder?
I thought the likes of Virgin or the gen pop whinge to Ofcom, Ofcom then whinge to the competition commission, Murdoch then whinges to Cameron, Cameron then suggests we don't really need Ofcom
+1 Sad, but true.
The bigger picture?
In a political AND economic democracy, no ONE organisation should have the political and media power to influence British society to the extent where they can dictate both political and media policy only for their own benifit. And profit.
And to the detriment of the better well being of the people.
(God I sound like Smithy)
But guys, piss-takes aside, this is serious.
I do. I feel that we have been sleepwalking into a 1984 society for a long time. Unfortunately I do not think that signing the petition is actually going to help. I've signed these things in the past and when you see the official response it's always along the lines of "we hear what you're saying.....blah...blah......tough choices.....blah.....blah.....we're going ahead anyway because of x,y and z".
Cynical? Perhaps but it's certainly how I perceive things.
Having done a lot of lobbying in the last decade I can assure you that copying a letter and sending that does little. What you should do is have a broad list of reasons and allow people to phrase their own letter.
So in the case of Murdoch
Although these may not be specific to Murdoch
Noones stopping you.
Let us just go get that hundred million i have saved up in the wardrobe....oh wait..:rolleyes:
Oh dear.
And Noones stopping them either.
Personally I think as long as the BBC is left alone and there are people like Richard Desmond doing it on a smaller scale we're generally ok.
We can all remember when Sky and BSB were a laughing stock, it's taken a good 20 years for them to become the power that they are now. And really most people think he owns it all anyway!
He should not be permitted to buy up any more newspapers without selling some of his existing newspaper assets.
I could understand people protesting about it if it resulted in Sky News turning into fox news who have an obvious right wing agenda and some truly appalling broadcasters but as long as appropriate controls are in place, that should not happen.
As for Sky in general, Rupert Murdoch took a big risk, sunk lots of his money into it and now wants to reap the rewards. Who can blame him? Hats off to him I say.
I've said many times that I admire Murdoch as an entrepreneur but that isn't the issue here.
First and foremost in my mind is the political one. Why should politicians go kowtowing to a businessman to get his support as we have seen with Blair and cameron? I have one vote, how many in effect does this person have who isn't even British? How many more will he have if we allow him to become more powerful.
Then there is the competition issue. If Sky can do what they like instead of having to answer to shareholders there is all sorts of things he can do like cross promotion across his tv platforms and publications which will further drive competition in to the ground.
BSkyB and News International already has so much money now it is difficult for anyone to compete. It could within a short time become impossible with all the implications that has for customer choice and diversity.
We are sleep walking to a situation like Berlusconi's Italy. I'm sure he is also a great entrepreneur. :rolleyes:
I won't comment on the politicians, they are answerable to the electorate, but they should behave honorably in these situations. It will be interesting to see how the Coalition Government deal with Rupert Murdoch and his tendency to monopolise everything through unfair practices (eg the Sky/VM dispute) and let's hope it is a different approach from the last Government. Having said that, Mr Murdoch should also be treated fairly as well.
Certainly, News Corp needs to be watched, but the checks and balances are in place to deal with unacceptable goings on, and as long as they use their powers appropriately, I am content with that. I would be worried if the Coalition Government started to dismantle the apparatus that exists to protect the public against monopolies.
I don't begrudge Murdoch anything but he and his (part owned) company are fabulously rich. That should be reward enough. What I want is best for the man in the street and I don't think it will be best for us at all. I don't see the need to give him any prizes.
He has trnasformed uk terlevison but remember OLD BOY when BT were privatised they were stopped from launching a tv service for ex amount of years so really he was given a large leg up.
Also having so much media in the hands of one proprietor is a bad thing newspapers and a rather monopolistic tv company is way too much influence unless more regulation is bought in to weaken that influence ie seperating sky content from platform.
Rupert Murdoch is a devisive figure for sure but as a consumer do i feel comfortable with so much power in one hand answer er absolutely not,wether anybody thinks he deserves it or not.
I do agree that Rupert Murdoch has considerable, maybe too much control over the newspapers, but I think the position in relation to TV providers is acceptable, provided that we can be satisfied that Sky will not withhold their channels with their exclusive content from their competitors.
Whilst i agree with you in part i think you have to look at media as a whole ie paper and tv media interests he owns numerous titles and will then dominate pay tv also.
Sky at the moment are hanging on to sky sports HD 3/4 and without regulator influence would have hung on to sky movies and sky sports 1/2 HD,also Red Button interactive although coming was hung onto for years.
Sorry without him giving something up i think over the whole gambit he will just be too powerful others though may disagree.
We do need to keep an eye on his overall control of the media, and I agree with you that he should not be permitted by the regulators to refuse access to Sky's HD or 3D channels. This kind of activity must stop.