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.