Asians Only Demographic to Own Fewer TV Stations in Recent Years, Public Interest Figures Show

All groups other than Asian Americans increased the number of full-power TV stations they owned over a four-year period through 2011. Our review of analyses of FCC broadcast ownership data by nonprofits opposed to media consolidation also showed African Americans were the only demographic to see ownership declines in all other types of broadcast outlets, except for low-power TV. Calculations of data from the agency’s most recent biennial ownership forms, in some instances comparing statistics companies gave the FCC to earlier figures from nonprofits’ own efforts, show all groups other than whites owned a disproportionately low share of all types of radio and TV stations.

Public interest groups said the figures support their quest against further ownership deregulation, while broadcasters said law changes like tax breaks for companies selling assets to minorities would help diversity. Shortly after replies are filed by next Friday’s deadline in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bn77xe), the Media Bureau is expected to circulate new proposed rules (CD Dec 27 p1). Bahakel Communications and Media General supported the return of a tax deferral law, which they each said in similarly worded comments (http://xrl.us/bn77x9, http://xrl.us/bn77yb) led to 350 tax certificates being issued while the previous law was in effect from 1978 to 1995. The Newspaper Association of America backed the return of tax certificates, main-studio rule deregulation especially for stations with public websites, and tax credits to companies that donate stations to be used to train minorities and women in the business. “Of the 69 full-power commercial television stations that are owned by racial and ethnic minorities, only two would even be potential candidates for cross-ownership under the Commission’s proposal” to allow newspapers and TV stations to be commonly held in the top-20 markets when the station isn’t rated in the top-four, NAA said (http://xrl.us/bn77yq).

Asian Americans owned six full-power TV stations as of the agency’s most recent Form 323 data last October, a 54 percent decline from 2007, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said. Black ownership rose in those four years by a quarter to 10 stations, the conference said. But Free Press, which has in the past gathered its own data and said it adjusted for anomalies in the commission’s figures by making corrections, said black ownership has slumped. “There are now only five stations owned by African Americans, down 74 percent from the 19 black-owned stations in 2006,” the group said. That’s compared to the 13 percent of the U.S. population comprised of blacks, Free Press said.

All racial and ethnic minorities own 43 full-power stations, or 3.2 percent of the total in the U.S., said Free Press. Six of those, or 14 percent of the full-power TVs that are minority owned, were affiliated with the Big Four networks. Our review found Griffin Communications owns two CBS affiliates in Oklahoma, KWTV Oklahoma City and KOTV Tulsa, while Access.1 Communications owns WMGM(NBC) Wildwood, N.J. Raul Palazuelos owns KVIQ(CBS) Eureka, Calif., and Cadillac Telecasting has Michigan Fox affiliates WFQX-TV Cadillac and WFUP Vanderbilt/Gaylord, which are satellites of each other. Many public interest comments said the auction of broadcast-TV spectrum the FCC plans to hold will further reduce diversity. “During an incentive auction, some stations will cease broadcasting and exit the television market, creating a significant change in the present system,” said (http://xrl.us/bn77yy) eight groups led by the United Church of Christ. Changes to cross-ownership rules won’t necessarily make minority-owned stations more likely to sell, said the National Association of Media Brokers (http://xrl.us/bn77y2). “Even if some minority-owned stations do get sold, is this necessarily a bad thing?"

While Asians added stations beyond full-power TVs, blacks held less of other types of stations as of the October 2011 Form 323 figures, compared to 2007 figures Free Press itself compiled. That’s according to our review of Leadership Conference statistics. The number of black-owned FM stations fell 44 percent to 93 during those four years and AM holdings fell 41 percent to 106. In the two years through October 2011 and based on Form 323 data only, Class A TV ownership among blacks fell a third to 6, while all other low-power TV more than doubled to 16. Black full-power TV station ownership fell 59 percent to 0.7 percent of all such stations last year compared to 1992, the United Church of Christ and seven other groups said.

Growth for groups other than Asians and blacks in ownership didn’t keep up with their added population numbers in recent years, the church-led groups said. As Hispanics rose from 9 percent of the population in 1992 to 16 percent last year, their station ownership “has increased from less than one percent of the total in 1992 to 2.9 percent of full-power TV, 7.6 percent Class A TV, 9.6 percent LPTV, 4.5 percent AM and 2.7 percent FM in 2011,” said the groups, which also included the Communications Workers of America, Media Alliance and Prometheus Radio Project. Women’s share of FM station ownership fell 36 percent to 5.8 percent in 2011 from 1982, the groups said. Females hold attributable interests in 79 percent of full-power TV stations reporting such holders, and “a large number” are positional interests, or those likely to be senior executives, NAB said (http://xrl.us/bn7g9a). “The percentage of stations with a minority holder of a positional interest is also significantly higher than for minority ownership.” While Hispanics last year owned 3 percent of U.S. full-power TVs, they had positional stakes in 31 percent of the stations reporting such ownership, the association said. “As officers and directors, these positional interest holders have significant influence over the day-to-day operations of a broadcast licensee.”

The FCC needs to adopt policies making it “desirable for industry insiders” to find minorities to own stations, to increase diversity, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters said (http://xrl.us/bn77zz). “The minority tax certificate, distress sale and comparative hearing credit were all successful for one reason: they caused existing broadcast industry participants to seek out potential minority station owners.” Backers of long-pending deregulatory proposals to boost diversity said the report due to Congress this coming Monday under Section 257 of the Telecom Act on barriers to entry should address every such challenge in communications. The Section 257 report, which an FCC official who worked on it said recently wasn’t yet ready for a vote (CD Dec 13 p5), should “develop a policy framework that responds to each unique barrier and facilitates greater diversity in media ownership,” said (http://xrl.us/bn773g) a few dozen groups. They included the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and call themselves “diversity and competition supporters.”