BRUSSELS -- The idea of harmonizing spectrum nationally, at the European level and even globally, is gaining ground but won’t be easy, speakers said Tuesday at a Forum Europe spectrum management conference. Europe and other regions are focused on the 700 MHz band, whose ultimate use will be a major topic at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015, but other bands may also be suitable candidates, they said. But some cautioned that harmonization must be better defined and that it isn’t always a good thing.
Notable CROSS rulings
A group of newspaper and radio cross-owners urged the FCC to repeal the ban on cross-ownership, said a letter filed with the commission last week (http://bit.ly/12lbDz3). “Competition from traditional media combined with intense Internet-based competition ... has significantly diminished the market power and influence of cross-owned daily newspapers,” said officials from West Virginia Radio Corp., LaSalle County Broadcasting, and WJAG -- all companies that own both radio stations and newspapers. In meetings with all three commissioners and FCC staff, the cross-owners cited high competition in media as evidence that the ban should be repealed, along with results from the recent Minority Media and Telecommunications Council study (CD May 31 p1) showing “that repeal will have no impact on minority or female ownership of radio,” the ex parte said. The group said the cross-ownership rule “has blocked upgrades of after-acquired radio stations, keeping them from reaching their full potential in terms of audience reach and revenue generation” and led to a “loss of quality” in local news reporting.
The FCC shouldn’t wait for the 2010 Quadrennial Review to review Raycom’s “defacto control” of three Honolulu TV stations, the Media Council Hawai'i told an aide to acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, according to an ex parte filed Tuesday (http://bit.ly/129yeOO). MCH urged the agency to take action on MCH’s 2011 application for review, which challenges the Media Bureau order denying MCH’s ownership complaint against Raycom. “Although MCH filed comments in the 2010 Quadrennial Review proposing a test for attributing sharing arrangements like those in Honolulu, the 2010 Quadrennial Review has not yet been concluded,” said MCH. “Nor is it clear when the proceeding will be concluded or whether it will address the issue of shared services.” MCH also said the situation couldn’t wait for a challenge to Raycom’s license renewal, because such a challenge wouldn’t be due until 2015. MCH said the services shared among the three Honolulu stations has led to “the loss of an independent source of news,” and that along with the stations, Raycom’s Hawai'i News Now is “sharing resources and cross-promoting stories” with the city’s one remaining daily newspaper. “And because of its location, Hawai'i is unable to receive broadcast stations from other states,” said MCH in the ex parte letter. MCH said the FCC should act quickly to “prevent the creation of new ‘virtual duopolies’ in other communities.” Clyburn and her staff were also urged to resolve the Quadrennial Review by representatives of the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, according to another ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/11pDiDq). Clyburn should “move forward on the broadcast ownership proceeding during her tenure, if possible, in order to resolve the issue before the new Chair takes office,” said PISC member Andrew Schwartzman, formerly of the Media Access Project, according to the filing. Schwartzman said relaxing ownership rules could encourage incentive auction-related speculation in broadcast licenses, driving up prices and lowering the returns from the auction, according to the letter. “It therefore makes sense to conclude what has now become a ten-year review and begin fresh with the next Quadrennial Review, scheduled for next year,” said Schwartzman.
Europe is on the “cusp of an amazing transition” but innovations from connected cars to 3D printing rely on fast, pervasive networks, said Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes Monday at a European Commission-hosted conference on a single European telecom market. Just 2 percent of EU homes have broadband speeds above 100 Mbps, and European mobile data speeds are half those of the U.S., she said. Combined, the U.S., Japan and South Korea have 88 percent of the world’s 4G connections, Europe 6 percent, she said. With current trends unsustainable, the EC is preparing to propose a single telecom market. Representatives from the telecom, consumer electronics, financial and consumer sectors agreed such a plan is necessary, but differed over its key elements and feasibility.
Gannett and Belo may have to get FCC waivers to get approval for their deal (CD June 14 p7), said several communications attorneys in interviews Friday. The companies have market overlaps in five cities, their executives said on a conference call with investors Thursday. In Louisville, Ky., and Phoenix, Gannett would be acquiring Belo TV stations in markets where it already owns newspapers, which would put the merger squarely afoul of FCC cross-ownership rules, noted lawyers who both back consolidation generally and those opposed to it. “They're taking a very aggressive approach that is very likely to spark a challenge,” said public interest lawyer Andrew Schwartzman, who has represented Free Press in the FCC’s media-ownership review.
Gannett’s agreement to buy Belo Corp. for $1.5 billion likely will be approved by the FCC, said analysts we asked about prospects for the deal disclosed Thursday. It will give Gannett control over 43 TV stations. CEO Grace Martore said in a conference call with investors that the deal will make the “super-group” the “largest player in the top-25 broadcast markets.” Though Gannett and Belo said there are potential overlaps in five markets, the companies said the ownership of those stations would be restructured to comply with those rules. Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvikker said in an email to investors that the restructuring would take the form of shared service agreements (SSA).
A spectrum of opinions is likely in the FCC proceeding on a study on the impact of cross-ownership of broadcast stations owned by minorities and women, a broadcast attorney said. The FCC is seeking comments on the study commissioned by the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council (CD June 11 p21). The agency needs to wait for public comment on the findings “before any decisions in the ownership proceeding are made,” said Wilkinson Barker’s David Oxenford on his blog (http://bit.ly/ZJO1Y2). The MMTC-commissioned report by BIA/Kelsey found there was little evidence of such cross-ownership as being the cause of financial concerns, he said. Already citizens groups, like Free Press, “have come out with comments challenging the conclusions reached by the study,” wrote Oxenford. It seems that there will always be those who object to any sort of consolidation, “even between newspapers struggling to maintain their place in the media mix in many markets and broadcasters,” he said. With the continued controversy and the possibility that the decision will be pushed aside until the next quadrennial review, the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule may outlive the newspaper industry itself, he added.
The Minority Media & Telecom Council urged the FCC to relax the foreign ownership of broadcasting stations restrictions. It also reiterated its stance supporting the adoption of a package of AM radio improvement proposals, like migrating AM radio to TV channels 5 and 6, it said in an ex parte filing about a meeting with staff of acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn (http://bit.ly/ZWbkAc). The commission also should adopt a rule waiver proposal allowing AM stations “to move FM translators farther away to rebroadcast stronger signals,” it said in several dockets including 09-182 and 07-294. MMTC continued urging the FCC to seek public comment on MMTC’s cross-ownership study (CD May 31 p1) and to direct SoftBank, Dish Network and Sprint Nextel to provide information showing how the proposed transactions to purchase Sprint “would benefit women and minorities and increase broadband access for underserved communities."
Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt was expected urge the FCC to eliminate the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule in a speech he was scheduled to give at UCLA Wednesday night, according to a Hundt spokeswoman, who provided a copy of the speech to us. In it, Hundt says the FCC’s enforcement of cross-ownership rules has become “an exercise in intellectual contortions that persuade on-lookers that the Commission is acting in an arbitrary fashion.” Hundt says the numerous other ways that consumers get access to media have made the rules outdated, and also said they don’t serve the goal of promoting minority media ownership. “Anyone who believes that a ban on print and broadcast combinations promotes minority ownership need only look to the bidding wars that arise among non-minority companies when a media property becomes available,” he said. Hundt says the rule has become “perverse” in denying struggling newspapers access to broadcaster capital. “If a profitable broadcaster wants to buy a newspaper in its city -- to expand the amount of attention it can obtain from an audience or just to have more impact on the way people think -- the FCC should welcome this extra support for the trouble-plagued newspaper industry.” In the speech, Hundt denounces the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch, but says he can’t imagine “any government in a truly free country” doing anything to stop them from buying “the Los Angeles Times, or any newspaper, or any media outlet of any kind.” Hundt says “the cure for awful speech is an awful lot of money,” and he advocates eliminating the cross-ownership rules as a way of increasing participation in the sale of newspapers like the Times. “I can imagine that some person as progressive in politics as I am, but of course vastly richer, might want to assemble a broadcast-TV combination that increased audiences for both, expanded news coverage on television, and built a better Web presence than either a newspaper or a TV station can do it on its own,” says Hundt. “One of the glories of the United States -- one of the many things that make our system better than the system in China or Russia -- is that we truly do believe in free speech,” he says in the speech. “When applied to media, that means we should honor the freedom to own the means of speech.”
Media cross-ownership has a “negligible” impact on minority and women broadcast ownership, said a Minority and Media Telecommunications Council Study submitted to the FCC Thursday (http://bit.ly/178iVhE). The commission delayed a vote on media ownership rules in February (CD Feb 27 p1) anticipation of the study’s completion. Several communications attorneys told us Thursday that even with the study done, it’s unlikely a vote will occur with a depleted commission and an acting chairwoman. Although MMTC President David Honig said the study satisfies a directive from 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to study the effects of cross-ownership rules, Free Press attacked the study for not being quantitative enough.