Who controls what you watch, hear and read?
Media consolidation refers to the concentration of ownership of news, information and entertainment sources in the hands of fewer and larger corporations as well as cross-ownership of multiple media outlets in a single market. The extent of media consolidation differs across industries and within specific national and local contexts. Advocates of media consolidation contend that it benefits consumers by improving the quality and diversity of content, while critics charge that it has the opposite effect, endangering democracy.
Vertical Integration
Vertical Integration refers to the acquisition and control of multiple media outlets of a given type by a single company. Prior to 1996, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) restricted ownership of broadcast stations. For example, radio ownership rules limited a single company to two stations in a single market and no more than 40 stations nationwide. The 1996 Telecommunications Act lifted these restrictions, leading to a wave of consolidation. Clear Channel Communications, for example, gained control of 1,225 radio stations in 300 cities during the six years following the act's passage.
Horizontal Integration
Horizontal integration refers to the consolidation of ownership across different types of media outlets. In 1975, the FCC established the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule, which prohibited a single company from owning more than one medium--newspapers, radio or television--in a single market. In 2003, the FCC eased these restrictions, but the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked the change from taking effect. In March 2010, the court lifted its stay, clearing the way for increased horizontal consolidation.
Cable TV
In 1970, the FCC passed the cable-broadcast cross-ownership rule, which prohibited a cable system from owning a broadcast television station within a market in which it operates. The legal battle over FCC revisions of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules apply equally to cable-broadcast rules, meaning that consolidation of cable and broadcast outlets in a single market is now possible.
The Internet
The Internet has changed the way consumers access news and information, reducing the influence of traditional broadcast media and paving the way for relaxation of barriers to media consolidation. In a Dec. 19, 2007, article in The Huffington Post, FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate noted, "With the multiplicity of sources now available at the click of a button, the historic concerns underlying the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban would seem to be alleviated." However, media consolidation also implicates the Internet, as telephone and cable companies with proprietary control over this new medium could affect access and content.
History
Media is called the lynchpin of democracy.
Media consolidation in the United States has varied significantly over the past 200 years, from the early days of the republic when control of the press was highly concentrated to the rise of regulatory controls to prevent media monopolies during the 20th century. Regulations designed to curtail media consolidation were intended to ensure that consumers had access to a variety of news sources and diverse opinions and ideas, information required to participate in democratic decision making.
Tags: single market, media consolidation, media outlets, newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership, single company, consumers access, cross-ownership rule
