Broadcast Ownership Hearings Continue

A second field hearing in Seattle on March 7, scheduled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hear public comment as the FCC re-evaluates media ownership rules, found the same battle lines drawn as the first one, held in Richmond, Va., Feb. 28.

Attendees voiced grave concerns that further deregulation would engender anti-competitive practices that shrink the diversity of music and news and erase local programming input.

If the FCC decides to axe the rules, it would allow one company to own radio, TV, and newspapers in a market. Broadcasters complain that without those changes, they cannot compete in a new landscape that includes cable, satellite, and Internet companies.

The gathering also gave the public a chance to view a commission deeply divided over the issue, which pits the pro-industry, deregulatory position of its chairman, Republican Michael Powell, against its two Democratic members, meeting organizer Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. Powell characterized the meetings as quickie "whistle-stop tours" and did not attend.

The FCC was met by a pre-meeting salvo in the form of a blistering op-ed article in The Seattle Times written by U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash. "The Pac-Man-like effort of one conglomerate devouring smaller, independent news providers will reduce, not increase, the ability of Americans to participate in democracy," Inslee wrote. "We cannot allow the private appetite for corporate efficiency to overwhelm the public appetite for the truth."

Even other media company execs believe radio consolidation has given deregulation a black eye. Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen testified that big media companies with profit margins of up to 50% cannot seriously claim poverty. He said, "It doesn't pass the smirk test."