Sunday, November 09, 2008
Broadway Urges FCC To Reconsider Rules That Could Silence Live Theatre
Live Design: "Actors wearing wireless microphones transmitting on frequencies that are soon to be compromised by consumer devices. Without publishing proposed rules and allowing public discourse, the FCC, pressured by leading technology firms, will vote on this issue on November 4, 2008: Election Day. The FCC’s own engineers’ report demonstrates that the technology in place to prevent interference is ineffective."
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9 comments:
this is scary. there would be no way to ensure there are no devices on without confiscating every peronal item (coat, purse etc.) i hope the FCC makes the right choice. Also, this article was from Halloween, and the vote was to take place on election day. We have our new President, but what is the outcome of this vote?
This would be a large setback in the advancements that sound has made in the theatre world over the past few years. There would be no way to effectively maintain the sound of a show without being compromised by outside sources. I am curious to know the outcome of this vote, and how theaters will respond to it.
The problem with the wireless craze is that eventually we will reach saturation where ther eare just too many devices talking all over the place. Wireless mirophones are just one device that absolutley work when they need to, though this is a growing problem as the wireless spectrum fills up with professional grade devices which also must work. The issue is not that the FCC does not care about microphone users, but in volume there are far more consumer products begging for bands than there are theaters with mics.
Ack, actors would have to project! Crap! Actually I agree in that this is very devastating to the sound industry. My favorite thing a few years back was the sound guy at a place i worked going crazy cause somehow we kept getting interference from a local mariachi station over telex and we had no clue why. Every now and then we lost our comm's to Spanish singing.
This is really starting to feel like the FCC is being run by lobbyists for technology firms that want the white space for themselves, and that entertainment isn't a big enough or rich enough industry to fight that. I guess money can buy anything or anyone eventually. It's not like big business has never payed to have their interests put into law before, look at Disney's copyright fight.
While we all know this will be cripling to our industry... it will only be temporary. Once the need is created (for real and is not a threat) new technology will arise and repair the problems. The question is, can the industry withstand the blow?
This could potentially kill theatre entertainment, or at least give it a mortal stab wound. Broadway is already suffering well enough due to the economy right now; the FCC should recognize this and either create an alternative for theatre, or just not go through with these deals. Cody has a valid point about the change in technology; however, I hesitate to think of how much time that would take vs how much time could be afforded.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/04/googles-election-day-victory-fcc-approves-unlicensed-use-of-white-spaces-spectrum/
Here is an article about the outcome. Theatre lost. It's kind of ridiculous that the FCC went with google. I wonder how long it will be until Google and other technology companies conquer the white space and it starts to interfere. Hopefully by the time they start to do that someone will have invented a wireless mic that uses a different air space or type of signal
i didn't realize the extent that the FCC was wanting to take this to. This will have a significant on the sound industry, but it will also force many to start researching other technologies that could replace the current setup. perhaps they can solve all the existing problems of performances interrupting other production on broadway, or other close venues.
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