More and more people are waking up to Ron Paul

When broadcast execs start telling other broadcast execs to pay attention to Ron Paul, you know that you are on to something.

From: Broadcastnewsroom.com

Must-Carry Foe Ron Paul Raises Profile

(Multichannel News) _ It might be time for cable operators to give Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul a closer look. They might like what they see from the Texas congressman.

Paul, a quirky libertarian physician described as an "isolationist" during an MSNBC report last week, raised $5 million in the third quarter, double the amount in the prior quarter, for his campaign war chest.

The money surge, which caught some political pundits by surprise, might give Paul a shot at being mentioned in the same breath as the frontrunners: former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

What's the cable connection? In September, he introduced a bill that would repeal the 1992 Cable Act's must-carry provisions, which enable every full-power TV station to demand cable carriage.

"These federal 'must carry' mandates deny cable companies the ability to provide the programming their customers' desire. Decisions about what programming to carry on a cable system should be made by consumers, not federal bureaucrats," Paul, a 72-year-old obstetrician who has delivered more than 4,000 babies, said in introducing the bill.

Some cable big shots might decide to snub Paul, though, because his bill would require cable operators to obtain permission to carry commercial TV stations.

Paul's bill (H.R. 3602), the Television Consumer Freedom Act, would reinstate some of satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications' court-lost legal authority to distribute Big Four network signals beyond their home markets. For the consumer electronics industry, Paul's bill would stop the Federal Communications Commission from requiring the installation of digital tuners in TV sets, which Paul says can add $250 to the price of a set.