/ 02.01.2010 12:00AM
FCC Media Ownership Workshop Scheduled
WASHINGTON: The FCC Media
Bureau said it would hold a media ownership workshop Feb. 23, 2010, at the
South Carolina State Museum, 301 Gervais Street, Columbia, S.C. The two-panel
workshop, scheduled from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m., will explore local
television and radio marketplace issues as part of the commission’s quadrennial
review of its broadcast ownership rules.
The first panel will focus on television issues, including:
- The state of the television industry and what changes, if any, have impacted
the larger media marketplace;
- Whether the decline in broadcast television viewership is cyclical or
permanent and how this trend has affected the financial viability of TV
stations and their programming;
- How TV duopolies affect the diversity of voices and programming in local
markets;
- What changes, if any, should be made to the ownership rules because of
marketplace conditions;
- Whether broadcasters are adopting new programming strategies and if so, the
impact of these strategies on the Commission’s ownership rules; and
- Whether the local TV and radio/TV cross-ownership rules continue to be
necessary in the public interest.
The second segment will address radio issues, among them:
- The state of the radio industry and how new technologies have impacted the
marketplace;
- Whether local radio markets have stayed the same or become more or less
concentrated since the last quadrennial review;
- What changes, if any, should be made to the ownership rules because of
marketplace conditions;
- How combined ownership of multiple radio stations in a single market affects
the diversity of programming and localism in that market, if at all; and
- Whether the local radio and radio/TV cross-ownership rules continue to be
necessary in the public interest.
The panelists for the forum will include representatives from the local
broadcast community and association and media advocacy groups. Public
participation in the workshop is encouraged.