Minority TV Ownership Could be Endangered by Auction Proposal, Clyburn Says
The FCC needs to weigh the potential effect on minority broadcasters if it proceeds with a proposal to urge broadcasters to sell off part of their spectrum for mobile broadband, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Monday at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition meeting in Chicago on spectrum and the National Broadband Plan. She said the effect of the auction on broadcast diversity is one of a “number of potential landmines” for the auction proposal. Clyburn has voiced similar concerns before (CD March 17 p7).
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"It seems to me that the most likely candidates for a broadcast spectrum sell-off are minority owners,” Clyburn said. “This group -- making up only 3 percent of all television broadcasters -- is already on the endangered list,” she said. “Any further reduction in their ranks would be devastating.”
The concern doesn’t mean that the proposal is “dead on arrival,” Clyburn said. “I am merely raising what I believe to be an important and missing piece of the conversation. In addition, I sincerely hope that broadcasters who have not actively supported diversity in ownership in the past do not now use my focus on this issue as a pretext to undermine the proposal. But for those of us who spend a great deal of time struggling with the lamentable state of minority -- and women -- ownership in the broadcast world, this is an important concern to discuss."
Another troubling question is whether mobile broadband is a satisfactory substitute for broadband connections to the home, Clyburn said. “Is it a potential gateway to home use and thus an integral part of the overall adoption strategy?” she asked. “These questions are particularly pertinent in the context of broadband adoption among African Americans and Hispanics.” Both groups, she noted, are eager users of mobile, while they lag in connections at home. “According to an FCC study released earlier this year, African-Americans and Hispanics both outpace the national average for mobile Internet use by nearly 10 percentage points,” she said. “These numbers do suggest … that for some, mobile broadband is acting as a substitute for home adoption."
The FCC also needs to focus further on “the provider side of the equation,” Clyburn said. “As we roll out more spectrum to auction across the board, what role will minority businesses play?” she asked. “I recently expressed my dismay over conflicting signals that are given out by the FCC and [the Department of Justice] as to what kinds of bidders the federal government is seeking when it comes to conditions on spectrum reallocation. … Are we going to continue to see spectrum go to the largest providers? Or are there meaningful opportunities to be had for small and under-represented businesses in this high-growth field? This aspect of the spectrum conversation cannot be ignored.”