Jesus Is the Reason To Seize Power from the Networks and Become the Clear Channel of TV

nexstar_nbc
Two NBC affiliates in Little Rock, Arkansas and Terre Haute, Indiana owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group won’t be airing a new series called “Book of Daniel”, ostensibly because it takes on religious issues and has raised the ire of right-wing Christian groups, like the American Family Association. The AFA, in particular, has been a leader in flooding the FCC with indecency complaints, primarily through its automated webform.

Never heard of Nexstar? Well, two years ago most people hadn’t heard of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which became infamous for attempting to air the “Stolen Honor” smear-u-mentary about John Kerry’s Viet Nam war record during the 2004 election.

Nexstar is a lot like Sinclair, owning 46 TV stations in 27 medium-sized markets. Though, Nexstar is a bit smaller than Sinclair, which owns a total of 60 stations in 37 markets, making it the largest owner of TV stations in raw numbers. Nevertheless, Nexstar is one of the bigger players in TV that you’ve probably never heard of.

Out of its 46 stations Nexstar has 11 NBC affiliates, so on the surface it seems like the “Book of Daniel” blackout is a pretty limited phenomena, although I get the impression that Nexstar may have been specifically targeted. Of those 11 NBC affiliates, only three aren’t in the bible belt, and one of those is the Terre Haute affiliate which isn’t airing “Daniel.”

By comparison, in April 2004 when Sinclair pulled an edition of Nightline that just read aloud all the names of US soldiers killed in Iraq, the program was pulled off all Sinclair’s seven ABC stations (Sinclair now owns 11 ABC affiliates).

While I think the right-wing reactionary element of the story is an important angle, another important element is that Nexstar is apparently using the program as pawn for striking at NBC with regard to its power over affiliates. Arguably, Sinclair had a similar goal in mind with the Nightline blackout.

The Terre Haute station’s general manager also happens to be executive vp and chief operating officer of Nexstar. He tells Reuters:

“This has nothing to do with the program and has nothing to do with the AFA,” Lammers said. “I think the system is screwed up. I think the network thinks we are going to do whatever they tell us to do. I think the regulatory environment is flawed.”

This is not a case of a rogue general manager. Rather, it’s a warning shot and a test fire, to see what kind of reactions Nexstar gets from NBC, investors and the public. They want to gain power in the network-affiliate relationship so they can squeeze more profits from the stations they own (and plan to buy).

These TV station owners like Sinclair and Nexstar are the next big media giants who are itching to become the Clear Channels of TV. They almost got their way, too, when Michael Powell’s FCC loosened TV ownership rules in 2003, except that the pesky Third Circuit Court of Appeals properly struck them down.

The fact that they choose to fight their battles over right-wing issues should also serve as a warning about their agenda, and what content and blackouts viewers in their markets have to look forward to.

Nexstar owns two stations in mediageek’s backyard, Champaign, IL: WCIA-TV our CBS affiliate and the most powerful station in our area, and WCFN-TV our UPN affiliate, which share a newsroom in Champaign, with the WCFN newscast targeted at Springfield, IL.

media ownership & consolidation | Paul | January 5, 2006 11:43 am

mediageek

An unabashed fan of grassroots & indie media, criticially examining our media environment.