Privatize the Atlasian National Broadcaster Act (Debating)

[Leinad]

I just thought about something...does repealing the original bill eliminate the ANB's existence, thus defeating the purpose of selling it?

Also, since I don't believe the legislative reboot will affect businesses, I'd like to point out that there's no lame-duck-ness to this bill.

Presuming my privatization committee idea is the consensus strategy (not sure if it is), how shall we go about doing that?

Key questions, should we go down this route:
-How many people will be in the committee?
-How will they be selected?
-Is it an auction among approved companies, or a sell for a fixed price to the best company?
-If it's the former, how many committee members are needed to approve a company for the auction?
-If it's the latter, how much is the price?

I could write up an amendment after some people give their thoughts, and one of you could introduce it. Or, if you guys decide to be really slow, I could introduce it myself Friday.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Repealing the original bill would likely dissolve the broadcaster I think.

[Blair]

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I offer this amendment, its deliberately not complete and requires further work, but puts a marker down regarding price

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

As the person who proposed and advocated for this... the privatisation of the ANB would completely undermine the nature of this broadcaster. Putting it at the mercy of commercial interests, the generosity of the wealthy, not a fund designed to ensure that every Atlasian has a stake and that the ANB reflects all Atlasians and all creative and cultural expression.

[Kingpoleon]

Anyone can buy shares. I'd like to suggest the Senate suggest an auctioneer. If any Senator has an idea, I recommend PMing whoever you're thinking of.

[Clark Kent]

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I offer this amendment, its deliberately not complete and requires further work, but puts a marker down regarding price

It's not as good as complete privatization, but I can support this.

[Leinad]

Again, if you repeal the old bill none of this matters, because there is no ANB to sell.

And "controlled bidding process" is too vague (who controls it? How?). Basically what this leads to is some version of the "privatization committee" idea I've mentioned earlier in this thread.

So, since a controlled process of some form is the current path we're taking, instead of a free-for-all auction (bad) or literally naming the recipient (worse), I'll re-ask my original questions:

-How many people will be in the committee?
-How will they be selected?
-Is it an auction among approved companies, or a sell for a fixed price to the best company?
-If it's the former, how many committee members are needed to approve a company for the auction?
-If it's the latter, how much is the price?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

As the person who proposed and advocated for this... the privatisation of the ANB would completely undermine the nature of this broadcaster. Putting it at the mercy of commercial interests, the generosity of the wealthy, not a fund designed to ensure that every Atlasian has a stake and that the ANB reflects all Atlasians and all creative and cultural expression.

I just want to say I find it so heartwarming to find the input of a distinguished former Senator and one of our best Presidents is now welcomed in this chamber.

Atlasia is truly on the right path again!

[Leinad]

And as my first act as Atlasian Senator, I offer this amendment as a framework for the direction I think we should take with this bill:

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-As I mentioned twice before, repealing the entirety of the original bill would render the rest of this bill meaningless.

-Only selling half of it defeats the purpose. But to Blair's concerns, I created Section 3 as a placeholder for any conditions or guidelines, so that if someone buys it they can't just do anything with it.

-Stuff in brackets is either a placeholder or just highly negotiable--this is not meant to be the final version.

-I'm not sure how we'd choose the committee members. Maybe the Management and Advisory Boards of the original bill could have a say, or even be the committee? Either way, I think two things we should try to do with the selection process is aim for people with expertise in this, and to make the committee, overall, un-biased.

Hopefully we can continue to fine tune this bill in the next few days. Does Clark like this ammendment? Also, does anyone else have any further thoughts on this?

[Blair]

I'd not be able to support a bill that would sell of 100% of the ANB, we need to retain a governmental stake 

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Y'know, I was thinking; shouldn't PBS still exist? That makes ANB pretty redundant as an entity.

[Leinad]

    Y'know, I was thinking; shouldn't PBS still exist? That makes ANB pretty redundant as an entity.

Exactly, which is why this was somewhat silly to begin with, and I'd prefer a full repeal over anything other than selling all of it, unless Senator Blair can convince me otherwise.

I'd not be able to support a bill that would sell of 100% of the ANB, we need to retain a governmental stake  

I'm not asking this to be obtuse or snarky, but...why?

[This account no longer in use.]

I, personally, believe that television is one thing that should not be controlled by the government.

[Blair]

    Y'know, I was thinking; shouldn't PBS still exist? That makes ANB pretty redundant as an entity.

Exactly, which is why this was somewhat silly to begin with, and I'd prefer a full repeal over anything other than selling all of it, unless Senator Blair can convince me otherwise.

I'd not be able to support a bill that would sell of 100% of the ANB, we need to retain a governmental stake  

I'm not asking this to be obtuse or snarky, but...why?

Largely for the points put forward by Polnut- we've put a large amount of public money into it, and it's important for their to be an un-bias news service that puts quality programming before financial profits.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Is there any palpable difference between the ANB and PBS? I agree with what Blair and Polnut said, but I don't see why we need two public broadcasters.

[Clark Kent]

And as my first act as Atlasian Senator, I offer this amendment as a framework for the direction I think we should take with this bill:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

-As I mentioned twice before, repealing the entirety of the original bill would render the rest of this bill meaningless.

-Only selling half of it defeats the purpose. But to Blair's concerns, I created Section 3 as a placeholder for any conditions or guidelines, so that if someone buys it they can't just do anything with it.

-Stuff in brackets is either a placeholder or just highly negotiable--this is not meant to be the final version.

-I'm not sure how we'd choose the committee members. Maybe the Management and Advisory Boards of the original bill could have a say, or even be the committee? Either way, I think two things we should try to do with the selection process is aim for people with expertise in this, and to make the committee, overall, un-biased.

Hopefully we can continue to fine tune this bill in the next few days. Does Clark like this ammendment? Also, does anyone else have any further thoughts on this?

Amendment is friendly.

[Leinad]

So, are people here in favor of repealing the ANB altogether due to it's redundance (since we still have PBS), or shall we continue to iron out the details of privatization? I'd be fine either way.

If it's the latter, I'd love to hear people's opinions on how exactly we'll run the committee. And if Blair or anyone else would like to add preconditions for the sale, now is the time. I literally created a blank section of the bill for that very purpose.

[This account no longer in use.]

I'd definitely prefer a simple repeal.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Knowing that we have a public broadcaster, I have no issues with a repeal.

[Prince of Salem]

I'd be fine either way.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I can see advantages in both approaches. A simple repeal is... well, simpler and avoids the possibility that Rush Limbaugh or Michael Moore types would gain a platform built on taxpayer dollars. Privatization, on the other hand, would result in greater budget flexibility, as we'd have the money that would have gone to the ANB plus the price of the sale.

[Blair]

Surely this is the type of thing we should contact Enduro about- the GM has the power to decide if PBS exists

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Surely this is the type of thing we should contact Enduro about- the GM has the power to decide if PBS exists

I believe he confirmed this a while back, but I can't seem to find the post...

[Enduro]

PBS does not exist unless a previous GM has used it for a plot device.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

PBS does not exist unless a previous GM has used it for a plot device.

I see; thanks, Enduro! In that case, I must agree with Blair that the federal government should retain at least partial ownership of the ANB.