The deregulation of broadcast ownership in 1996 may have made for stronger broadcasting companies, but few would argue (esp. Jeff Jarvis below) that it made for better radio. There are signs now that mega-ownership is beginning to unravel. For example, in Radio Chain Is Said to Be in Sale Talks, Ken Belson and Andrew Ross Sorkin write:
The Mays family, which built Clear Channel Communications into the country’s largest network of radio stations through decades of acquisitions, is in negotiations to be taken private by a consortium of investors for more than $18.5 billion, people involved in the talks said yesterday. ...
... The negotiations come as family-controlled media companies across the nation explore the possibility of selling their companies or taking them private. Cox Communications, the cable company based in Atlanta, went private in 2004. Cablevision, which is controlled by the Dolan family, is in the middle of negotiations to become private. ...
Link: New York Times.
In the article which provided the title for this post, Siklos writes:
... It’s too bad we can’t skip months of table-thumping hearings over thousands of pages of studies and filings and just acknowledge that the media landscape is changing quickly. ¶ The reality is that even if media companies could own more TV stations and newspapers in the same city, they might not think that it’s such a brilliant idea any more. As the F.C.C.’s chairman, Kevin J. Martin, said recently: “We need to develop a rule for cross-ownership that reflects current market characteristics, including the struggling nature of today’s newspaper industry.” ...
Link: New York Times.
In The Radio Monster Falls, Jeff Jarvis writes:
... Clear Channel, the radio monster, is looking to sell itself to go private, according to the Times. Why? Because the radio business sucks. ¶ This is why I have not feared media consolidation. Clear Channel, the poster child for evil media conglomerates, bought up stations and sucked cash out of them but now there’s not much left to suck. Consolidation is the act of a dying industry. Well, broadcast won’t die. But it sure as hell won’t grow. ...
Link: BuzzMachine.
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