FCC Vote Could Reshape Media Landscape

[John Corn]

WASHINGTON - Rules governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations are on the verge of changes that could significantly alter who controls what people see, hear and read.

In a vote set for Monday, the Republican majority on the five-member Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) was expected to allow companies to buy more television stations and, in some cases, own both a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same city.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030601/ap_en_bu/media_ownership_2

[ARKDTVfan]

this is a BAD idea, it will kill local prgramign options..

[Mike123abc]

Originally posted by ARKDTVfan
this is a BAD idea, it will kill local prgramign options..

You say that but local TV is almost dead. What content does your local stations provide? Morning, Noon, Evening, Night news? That is about it. The rest is network feed, syndicated programming and infomercials. I doubt they would end up dropping local news because that is the one spot they make the most $$. If they want to buy a bunch of stations, they want them to be making a ton of $$.

[TNGTony]

Local TV began to "twich" when the 7-7-7 rule was lifted. That rule was implemented in 1934 for a VERY good reason. Cable, satellite and the Internet did not change the reason for the 7-7-7 rule. Now there is unfortunately no going back.

For those that do not know, the 7-7-7 rule is one that said that no one company could own, program or control more than 7 TV, FM or AM radio stations each. It also stated that you could not own more than one of each in any one given market. This also stated that no one company could own or control more than one network. This caused RCA (Radio Corporation of America) to sell off the NBC Blue radio network to a company that would form ABC.

Well....now CBS owns UPN, NBC owns Telemundo and Pax. Each network owns or operates more than a couple of dozen TV channels. Duopolies in markets are common and local radio is a joke!

See ya
Tony

[RichW]

Local TV has simply become a distribution outlet rather than a community resource. I remember when many stations had great local programming for both kids and adults. Even late night and late, late night fare is not local like it used to be.

This pretty much a non-event because most stations are already owned by out-of-town corporations. Other than the fact that a significant portion of the country depends upon "free' TV, I would rather see the networks go to a single feed for cable and DBS.