Media Moguls Defend Ownership
Worried about rampant media consolidation, key Senate Democrats are trying to put the brakes on government efforts that could loosen restrictions on the industry even further.
The new Democratic chairman of the Commerce Committee, Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, and his colleagues argue that there already has been too much concentration in the market for TV, radio and other services - a result of deregulation in the mid-1990s.
He wants to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission, which oversees media industries, doesn't ease restrictions even more. On Tuesday, Hollings introduced a measure which would require the agency to justify to Congress any attempts to ease or eliminate media rules. It would take 18 months for the changes to take effect.
The FCC is in the process of reviewing some key media rules, including one that bars a company from owning TV stations that reach more than 35 percent of U.S. households and another that prohibits a business from owning a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market. New GOP chairman Michael Powell has expressed his skepticism about such broad-based limits, suggesting the rules could be relaxed or even repealed.
But Hollings, at a hearing Tuesday, took aim at the new FCC leader's viewpoint.
"That is not the law," Hollings said.
He had the support of his Democratic colleagues. "In my judgment, there is no basis and no case for increasing these limits," said Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota.
Top executives sought to sway the committee at the hearing, arguing that in today's market, with a host of media outlets, they need to be able to combine for greater efficiency.
And consumers won't lose out because of it, said Mel Karmazin, president of Viacom, which owns the CBS network and a slew of cable channels.
"Localism and diversity are things we think are very important," he said.
CBSNews.com is also a service of Viacom.
The company wants to see the TV limit eliminated. It is currently over the 35 percent cap, but doesn't have to shed any stations because the limit is being reviewed by a federal appeals court.
Not all industry players agree. Stations that are affiliated with the major networks, but not owned by them, fear that if the cap is removed, CBS, ABC, Fox and NBC will snap up even more stations. That could give the major networks too much leverage to require that all of their national programming be carried by local stations, said Alan Frank, president of Post-Newsweek Stations Inc.
Still, the committee's Republicans showed empathy to the arguments for easing government restrictions. Top ranking minority member John McCain of Arizona noted that many of the limits were created decades ago.
"Since then, the media market has expanded exponentially," he said.
Several GOP members also dismissed the rule prohibiting common ownership of a newspaper and broadcast station in one market as archaic.
Tribune Co. is among hose seeking elimination of that rule since its acquisition of Times Mirror Co. would give it newspapers in cities where it already operates television stations. Jack Fuller, president of Tribune Publishing Company, the media giant's newspaper subsidiary, said the growth in the variety of information sources has put pressure on his industry.
To bring Americans better news coverage, organizations may need to pool their resources, he said. As an example, Fuller cited an award-winning joint project completed by the Chicago Tribune, the company's local broadcast station and its cable channel.
"We're doing what we can to continue to build the model of great journalism," Fuller said.
By Kalpana Srinivasan
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