LawMeme LawMeme Yale Law School  
LawMeme
Search LawMeme [ Advanced Search ]
 
 
 
 
FCC Releases 12 ''State of the Media'' Reports
Posted by Robert Heverly on Tuesday, October 01 @ 21:05:35 EDT Media Regulation

The Federal Communications Commission today released twelve (yes, 12) studies on the current media marketplace. There is a press release (pdf) available and a Public Notice (pdf), which requests comments on the studies themselves (comments are due December 2, 2002, reply comments are due January 2, 2003). According to the Public Notice, "The studies, which were conducted by outside researchers and by Commission staff, examine a range of issues that impact diversity, competition and localism, three important policy goals of the structural ownership rules." All of the studies are available from one starting location on the FCC's Web site..



There are two "batches" of studies available: consumer oriented studies and market based studies. At first glance, they look fascinating. Here's the laundry list (all the docs are pdfs except where noted; access to text and MS Word copies are available from the Web site link above):


Consumer-Oriented Studies

A Comparison of Media Outlets and Owners for Ten Selected Markets: 1960, 1980, 2000, Scott Roberts, Jane Frenette and Dione Sterns, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (links to tables omitted).

Consumer Substitution Among Media, Joel Waldfogel, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Consumer Survey on Media Usage, Nielsen Media Research.

The Measurement of Local Television News and Public Affairs Programs, Thomas Spavins, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement Bureau, Federal Communications Commission; Loretta Dennison, Jane Frenette, Scott Roberts, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission.

Viewpoint Diversity in Cross-Owned Newspapers and Television Stations: A Study of News Coverage of the 2000 Presidential Campaign, David Pritchard, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Program Diversity and the Program Selection Process on Broadcast Network Television, Mara Einstein, Department of Media Studies, Queens College, City University of New York.

Market-Based Studies

Broadcast Television: Survivors in a Sea of Competition (Federal Communications Commission, Office of Policy and Plans Working Paper), Jonathan Levy and Marcelino Ford-Livene, Office of Policy and Plans, Federal Communications Commission; Anne Levine, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (available only in Word).

On the Substitutability of Local Newspaper, Radio and Broadcast Television Advertising in Local Business Sales, C. Anthony Bush, Administrative Law Division, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Communications Commission.

Radio Industry Review 2002: Trends in Ownership, Format and Finance, George Williams and Scott Roberts, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (available only in Word).

Consolidation and Advertising Prices in Local Radio Markets, Keith Brown and George Williams, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission.

Radio Market Structure and Music Diversity, George Williams, Keith Brown and Peter Alexander, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission.

A Theory of Broadcast Media Concentration and Commercial Advertising, Brendan M. Cunningham, Department of Economics, U.S. Naval Academy, and Peter J. Alexander, Industry Analysis Division, Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission.


Okay, so the press release and the notice for this came out today; I haven't read a word of any of the studies yet, but I will, and once I do, I'll let the LawMeme readers know what I think (and I'm betting some other LawMeme regulars will kick in with their two cents as well). I'm actually not even sure where I'll start; the last one listed above is intriguing: "A Theory of Broadcast Media Concentration and Commercial Advertising." The mix of FCC and private/business folks who undertook these reports is also interesting. Nielsen, economists (and economists pretty much run the FCC, don't they?), a few academics . . . it's quite a mix.

But I think in the end I won't be able to resist starting with "Consumer Substitution Among Media," which, according to the Public Notice, concludes that the clearest evidence of "substitution between the Internet and broadcast TV both overall and for news consumption; between daily and weekly newspapers; and between daily newspapers and broadcast TV news." Again (sorry, I'm getting repetitive), interesting.

If you have any initial thoughts or comments on the studies, on the FCC's current "Biennial Regulatory Review of Broadcast Ownership Rules," or any related matters (including requests for which study I should read next), post them here. I'll start reading and when I have something to report, or something to say, I'll post it.

Stay tuned.

 
Related Links
· More about Media Regulation
· News by Robert Heverly


Most read story about Media Regulation:
TiVo is ''God's Machine''

Options

 Printer Friendly Page  Printer Friendly Page

 Send to a Friend  Send to a Friend

Threshold
  
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.

Leges humanae nascuntur, vivunt, moriuntur
Human laws are born, live, and die

Contributors retain copyright interests in all stories, comments and submissions.
Everything else copyright (c) 2002 by the Information Society Project.

This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions
set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later.
The latest version is currently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/.

You can syndicate our news with backend.php

Page Generation: 0.194 Seconds