In a new wave of rapid media consolidation, large and unaccountable telecommunication corporations are gobbling up local television stations nationwide, according to a new study, devouring the interests of communities and unwitting consumers along the way.
Though consolidation of television and other media companies has been an unrelenting trend for decades, the media reform group Free Press says large telecoms have been acting to avoid the radar of the Federal Communication Commission in order to quietly take-over large swaths of the media landscape in search of profits and larger market domination.
In the group’s new report, titled (pdf), the research reveals a new trend in which large media conglomerates—including the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Gannett, Media General, Nexstar and the Tribune Company—are using smaller shell companies to evade the FCC’s media ownership rules.
According to Josh Stearns, public media campaigner at Free Press, skirting the FCC’s oversight and regulatory mechanisms allows these aggressive companies to inflict real and lasting damage to the communities where their newly acquired stations operate. As Stearns explains:
“TV consolidation is out of control, and communities are paying the price,” said Free Press Research Director and report author S. Derek Turner. “Companies are swallowing up stations at an alarming rate, often through deals that violate the law. If the FCC doesn’t start enforcing its rules, the damage to local competition and viewpoint diversity will be overwhelming and irreversible.”
Among the report’s key findings:
- In the first eight months of 2013, 211 full-power TV stations changed hands, the highest level in more than a decade, and the fourth-highest year on record in terms of deal value. The latest surge of consolidation is unique from prior waves in that it’s taking place in small and medium-sized markets and involves companies that are not household names.
- Sinclair Broadcast Group is leading the current wave of consolidation. In the past two years alone, Sinclair has closed or announced deals that will increase its holdings from 58 to 161 stations nationwide. These deals will more than double the number of markets Sinclair serves from 35 to 78, covering nearly 39 percent of the U.S. population.
In numerous ways, the report makes a particular effort to point out the destructive role this kind of consolidation has had on local news coverage and the overall state of journalism across the United States.
“We’ve seen the effects of this so-called covert consolidation on local news already,” Turner said. “Stations in the same market air the same content, often with the same on-air personalities and production teams. You can literally change the channel and find the same exact news.”
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