Show Biz Issues At Stake in Election 2012

Performers including Bruce Springsteen, Jay Z and Ricky Martin appeared for President Obama, and Kid Rock and Meat Loaf stumped for Mitt Romney in the final day of the 2012 presidential race on Monday, but there is much more at stake for showbiz in this election than stars and their political stripes.

While a second Obama term would signal status quo on a whole host of industry-related issues, a Romney win would have implications for arts funding, public television, indecency enforcement, media consolidation and net neutrality.

A power shift could mean reorienting lobbying strategy on some issues in D.C., particularly for an industry in which virtually all of the studio chiefs have contributed to the Obama campaign. And even beyond showbiz-centric issues, industry activists would find themselves, at least initially, without significant White House contacts, the kind of access over the past four years that has seen George Clooney, Brad Pitt and others gain entree to the Oval Office to discuss signature causes.

Here's a rundown of the significant areas that could be affected by the results of Tuesday's election:

FCC chairman: There is some expectation that even if Obama wins re-election, Julius Genachowski will step down as chairman, given the past tendency of agency chieftains to see a second term as a jumping-off point. If Romney wins, he will be able to obtain an FCC Republican majority and appoint a new chief. Current commissioner Robert McDowell is one of the names mentioned, as well as communications attorney Bryan Tramont and John Kneuer, former head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Net neutrality: Many Republicans detest the FCC's net neutrality rules as interfering with a bright spot of the American economy, and a GOP-dominated FCC could rollback regulations or eliminate them altogether. They would be reopening a can of worms, but the GOP saw the issue as important enough to include in their party platform. And even if Obama is re-elected, the FCC may have to grapple with it anyway. Verizon is challenging the open Internet guidelines in court on the grounds that the FCC lacks the authority to implement them.

Spectrum: One of Genachowski's signature initiatives has been the expansion of broadband infrastructure, and a part of that has been freeing up spectrum from broadcasters for wireless use. Although broadcasters have been wary of plans toward voluntary incentive auctions, Congress sees them as a way to collect additional revenue to pay down the deficit. A Romney administration would oversee the first of these auctions, currently expected in 2014, and while it would be difficult to turn back the clock given bipartisan passage, broadcasters are closely watching to see that their reach is preserved as details are worked out.

Piracy: In campaign rhetoric, Romney has pledged to get tough on China, and has even slammed Obama for not doing enough to protect intellectual property there. But it's uncertain how much different Romney's approach to piracy would be to Obama's. The present administration has emphasized crackdowns led by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, but it also expressed opposition to parts of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which helped scuttle the legislation earlier this year. Yet Romney opposed SOPA, too. A factor in whether any new legislation is introduced in the next Congress -- and that is a big if -- may be what role the White House takes in helping to frame the issue and perhaps mediate between sides to better line up support on Capitol Hill.

Media consolidation: Republicans traditionally have taken more of a hands-off approach when it comes to mergers in general, and there are many reasons to believe that would be true in a Romney administration. But even Genachowski has shown a willingness to examine media-ownership rules, which include a prohibition on owning newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market. A Republican-dominated FCC could be driven to speed up the process of abandoning such constraints.