FCC's Copps Blows Whistle: Calls On Industry To Police Consolidation

Likening the issue of media consolidation in fewer hands to the days of John D. Rockefeller's dominance of the oil industry, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps denounced the decisions of his fellow commissioners on the issue of capping the ownership media.

Speaking at the National Association Of Television Program Executives in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Copps called upon the industry to oppose greater consolidation among media companies.

"Fewer companies own and control more media properties," Copps said in his prepared remarks. "Big companies already control radio, television, newspapers, and cable--cable systems and cable channels. They own the production of programming. They own its distribution. Increasingly, they control creativity itself. "Many of you not directly affiliated with a conglomerate have felt the pain--the closing off of distribution channels, the inability to bring creative programming to a viable audience, watching good people lose their jobs and even their careers--artists, technicians, and all kinds of workers who were once part of a thriving, independent industry."

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Copps added that he did not mean to single out television, emphasizing that he sees a crisis in media "across the board."

"But it tells a story that the media conglomerates that own the networks control approximately three-quarters of the prime-time audience," Copps said. "That audience share of households is approaching--and could soon surpass, according to some analysts--the share the three networks had during the 1960s and 1970s. And today, these huge companies are far more vertically integrated than they were then, controlling the production of most of the programs as well as the distribution. History shows us that combining distribution with production was how John D. Rockefeller built his stranglehold. I'm not saying that history repeats itself exactly, but often there are enough similarities that we ought to at least pay attention to it. This is one of those times."

Copps also highlighted the issue that, before the past decade, two-thirds of prime-time programming was independently produced, compared to the three-fourths of prime-time programming produced by the networks and affiliated studios today. He expressed frustration with what he sees as a cannibalizing attitude among those in the TV industry.

"Why has this happened? Is it because the major studios affiliated with conglomerates have a lock on the creative genius in this country? I don't think so. Is it because independent producers can no longer come up with hit programs like "The Cosby Show" or "All in the Family?" No. Is it rather that we have allowed a few media conglomerates to wield gatekeeper control over the content and distribution of the entertainment that we get?

"Whatever the cause, the effects are pernicious," he continued. "Most observers tell me that the doors of opportunity are closing fast, and that we won't have a new generation of Norman Lears and Marcy Carseys and Ted Turners because the opportunities they had are gone."

Copps also complained that too much of today's network menu is geared to the 18- to-34-year-old age demographic, and called for the industry--including advertisers--to reach out more to older demos.

"So it is time--it is long past time--for the FCC to consider and approve a set-aside, like 25 or 35 percent of prime-time hours, for independent producers and creators," he said. "Diversity, localism, and competition are necessities for a thriving American media, and we can't afford not to have them. They are essential for the quality of entertainment our citizens enjoy, and they are essential for the vitality of America's civic dialogue--a civic dialogue that I think is in serious, serious trouble--but that's another speech. We need these building blocks across our entire media landscape. And your FCC ought to be nourishing these all-American traits. Instead, it has been busy subverting them."

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