Editor

Independent Filmmakers Call on New Administration to Guarantee Competition and Diversity on Television and the Internet

Washington - In a letter sent to today to the Co-Chairs of President-elect Obama's Transition Team, the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), which represents the producers and distributors of independent film and television programs, called on the incoming Obama administration to appoint a new FCC Chairman and commissioners who "support principles of openness and diversity in the media."

The letter sent by IFTA President Jean Prewitt to John Podesta and Valerie Jarrett  underscored presidential candidate Obama's  understanding that "the American public has been denied the opportunity to hear from diverse voices by the patterns of ownership and content selection on the major media channels."

Pointing to the fact that IFTA's members have produced and continue to produce quality, Academy Award winning films like ‘Crash,' ‘Lord of the Rings,' and "Million Dollar Baby,' Prewitt wrote that, "IFTA's members have seen their access to distribution over first, broadcast networks and now, cable networks disappear over the past decade as major studios, networks and cable channels have been integrated into a handful of media giants."

In addition to asking President-elect Obama to appoint an FCC Chair and commissioners who support competition and diversity, IFTA asked that President Elect echo his commitment to open, non-discriminatory access to the Internet in his appointments to the FCC, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.

IFTA also called for the FCC to initiate a rulemaking on source diversity and media ownership and for the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC to incorporate in merger review guidelines "an explicit evaluation of the impact on independently supplied content of future mergers" in the media sector.

A link to IFTA letter can be found at http://www.ifta-online.org/Uploads/Issues/60.PDF.

The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) is the global trade association of the independent motion picture and television programming industry.  Headquartered in Los Angeles, the organization represents and provides significant entertainment industry services to more than 160 member companies from 22 countries, consisting of independent production and distribution companies, sales agents, television companies, studio-affiliated companies, and financial institutions engaged in content finance.

Collectively, the Independent Film & Television Alliance's members produce more than 500 independent films and countless hours of television programming each year and generate more than $4 billion in distribution revenues annually.  As the voice and advocate for the independent film and television industry worldwide, the Alliance speaks out on matters of critical importance and, where appropriate, actively lobbies governments around the world in regard to measures directly affecting the independent industry.  For more information on IFTA and the American Film Market, please visit http://www.ifta-online.org/.