Broadcasting and Cable reports on a letter Disney Corp. President Robert Iger sent to FCC Chair Michael Powell in which he argues that local ownership isn’t necessary to do quality local TV news and public affairs programming. Iger instead says that, “The true measure of localism in broadcasting is not who owns the station but how committed that station owner is to the local community.” The letter was sent to encourage the FCC Chair to reconsider current TV station ownership caps that prevent networks from owning stations that reach more than 35% of total households. The national broadcast networks are in a bitter battle with their affiliates over this, who see increased network ownership as a threat to their existence.
You know, I have to agree with that last quote, however it’s that very commitment to the local community that I hold in great suspicion. I have seen absolutely no evidence in the recent history of rapid consolidation that there is any commitment to local communities on the part of these large broadcast conglomerates. In many cases it seems like they hold onto local stations only as investment opportunities, and keep them only long enough to make back a good profit on their investment–all the while putting little or no money into the actual operation.
A good point of comparison to TV station ownership is cable company ownership. For instance, here in Champaign-Urbana we have had now 4 different owners of our cable company in five years. In order, they are: Cablevision, Time-Warner, AT&T and Insight Communications. In the case of Time-Warner and AT&T there didn’t even seem to be much local management, although there was some infrastructure upgrade so they could offer digital cable and cable modems. But at the same time there were pretty intense disputes between Time-Warner and the local cable commission over quality of service and forcing higher-cost services onto customers.
So, rather than simply saying that “local ownership is necessary for quality local service,” it would be more precise to say “a local owner is far more likely to have a commitment to a local community, which in turn, is likely to result in better service to the local community, from public affairs programming, to plain old quality of service.”
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