McCAIN STILL UNSURE ABOUT CORRECT LIMITS FOR MEDIA OWNERSHIP
After the 3rd media ownership hearing in 3 weeks, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) still is unsure of how to address media ownership concerns. “I don’t know where that answer is,” he said of how many media outlets one owner should be allowed to have. “We need to look at this issue with great care so as to preserve diversity and localism.” McCain said he would call the FCC before the committee shortly after it issued its ruling on media ownership June 2.
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The hearing featured News Corp. Chmn. Rupert Murdoch, who has reached an agreement to buy a controlling stake in DirecTV and its parent Hughes Electronics. McCain questioned Murdoch on how much ownership should be allowed, asking whether one company should be allowed to own all 6 stations in one market. “Of course not,” Murdoch said. McCain apparently was referring to Clear Channel, whose rapid expansion in buying radio stations has concerned him.
While Murdoch told the committee that there should be some limits on ownership, he said he didn’t know where that line should be drawn, but no one owner currently is near where any ownership limit should be. “There should be no limit to diversity,” he said, which drew laughs from the audience. Consumers Union Dir. Gene Kimmelman reiterated his opposition to the News Corp. purchase of DirecTV. He said News Corp. would raise its programming prices to DirecTV, which would lead to a widespread increase in cable and DBS subscription prices. But Murdoch said he would have only 34% control of Hughes Electronics and its board would prevent unreasonable price increases. He said the recently passed Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which provides for accounting oversight, wouldn’t allow him to “rip off my own company.”
In opening statements, senators discussed whether the current ownership rules are “antiquated.” After Sens. Breaux (D-La.) and Ensign (R-Nev.) said the rules were old and didn’t take into account changes in the current media marketplace, Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) responded that he didn’t believe the principles of “competition, localism and diversity” were out of date. Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) replied that competition, localism and diversity weren’t out of date, but the rules put in to protect them were. Sen. Boxer (D- Cal.) said some of the most controversial of the “antiquated” rules, such as the 35% broadcast ownership cap, were instituted in the 1996 Telecom Act. Later, Sen. Allen (R- Va.) said the changes in the media marketplace since the Telecom Act, such as the rise of the Internet, justified adjusting the rules. Breaux said that while there should be some rules to prevent too much consolidation of the media, the FCC shouldn’t base TV ownership on the potential number of viewers a station could have, as it does with the 35% ownership cap. “It’s an antiquated throwback that should be replaced by a new and different system,” he said.
The committee also heard the concerns of an independent TV writer and producer, who said he feared consolidation would lead to more content’s being produced by the networks. Levinson-Fontana Pres. Tom Fontana said the last decade had seen sharp reductions in the TV content that was independently written and produced. In 1992, 85% of network TV content was completely independent, but the figure dropped to 25% in 2002, he said. Murdoch said that 40% of Fox’s upcoming season was independently produced and only 30% was produced entirely by Fox’s studios.
Boxer and Dorgan raised concerns about news diversity, with Boxer criticizing Murdoch’s popular but controversial Fox News Network. Boxer said she never would appear on the network again after information about her in the “crawl” was misleading and unfair. She said the crawl described her as an antigun, abortion rights senator while she was being interviewed about homeland security. “The message was: ‘Don’t listen to her,'” Boxer said. Dorgan questioned diversity of viewpoints when there were more than 300 hours of syndicated conservative radio and only 5 of liberal radio. Murdoch said many Democrats were unused to conservative viewpoints’ being portrayed prominently in the media.
Meanwhile, members of the congressional Hispanic, black and Asian Pacific American caucus wrote FCC Chmn. Powell to express their objections to the agency’s media ownership proceedings. The said that since the Telecom Act, there were fewer minority owners in the marketplace. “Because Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans represent such a small percentage of the nation’s broadcast owners, we are deeply troubled by the possible impact that further relaxation of these rules would have on minority media ownership and the diversity of programming,” their May 21 letter said. It was signed by Reps. Rodriguez (D-Tex.), Becerra (D-Cal.), Cummings (D-Md.), Watson (D-Cal.), Wu (D- Ore.) and Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
Several House Members wrote Powell Thurs. to oppose relaxing the broadcast ownership cap. Led by House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.), they said the FCC’s public comment record on TV ownership didn’t suggest a specific cap higher than 35%. Pointing out that those who supported the cap wanted it to remain at 35% and those who opposed it, such as the TV networks, advocated that it be eliminated altogether, the letter said that the FCC should retain the 35% cap since it was mandated by Congress. Other signers included Reps. Boucher (D-Va.), Waxman (D-Cal.), Stupak (D-Mich.), Wynn (D-Md.) and Price (D-N.C.)