FCC Study Suggests Lifting Cross-Ownership Ban

FCC Releases Three More Ownership Studies

The FCC has released three more media ownership studies, and among their conclusions was that there is only minor evidence that newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership impacts the amount of news at the market level and statistically significant evidence it has a "positive correlation" on local news.

According to a story by John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable, another finding was that owning multiple stations in a market does not negatively impact local information programming and has a positive impact on the mix of local and national news.

One study suggested it might be time to lift the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban altogether.

The FCC released five ownership studies last month, which leaves three more it must release for perusal by the public before it can weigh in with how it will change its media ownership rules in response to the quadrennial rule review mandate from Congress and a recent court mandate to rethink its 2007 rule changes.

The just-released studies were on "Local Media Ownership and Media Quality," by Adam D. Rennhoff and Kenneth C. Wilbur; "Local Information Programming and the Structure of Television Markets," by Jack Erb; and "Broadcast Ownership Rules and Innovation," by Andrew S. Wise.

The Rennhoff/Wilbur study found "scant evidence that local media ownership changes media competition or localism" or has any affect on "media usage or programming."

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