Cross-Ownership Deregulation

[TheBigA]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-media-ownership-rules-20121106,0,1083140.story

The fact is that in the markets where cross-ownership rules have been waived, such as with the Chicago Tribune and WGN, there have been no complaints about consolidation. The broadcast properties owned by newspaper companies have been among the leaders in the industry. Opponants say companies like Comcast will buy newspapers. But I don't expect technology-driven companies like Comcast or Disney to enter a dying industry like newspapers.

 

[willdav713]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-media-ownership-rules-20121106,0,1083140.story

The fact is that in the markets where cross-ownership rules have been waived, such as with the Chicago Tribune and WGN, there have been no complaints about consolidation. The broadcast properties owned by newspaper companies have been among the leaders in the industry. Opponants say companies like Comcast will buy newspapers. But I don't expect technology-driven companies like Comcast or Disney to enter a dying industry like newspapers.

Wasn't Comcast part of Storer which also owned Television stations? Which also owned Northeast Airlines, and KEYL TV-5 San Antonio now KENS, and for a brief time the San Antonio Express News owned KENS-TV thus meaning of said call letters K Express NewS.

Deregulation means Comcast would likely purchase San Antonio Express News from Hearst Corporation plus petition San Antonio City Council to change the cable franchise. Express News is a huge fan of Mayor Castro.

Because Newspapers seem to be a dying agency one mega corporation could use them as a "lightweight"

Reminds me of their Digital Phone service bundle "TV, Internet, and Home Phone, all on one bill"

Introducing "New Xfinity package for the Alamo City, Cable, Internet, Home Phone, and now the Express News."

I think we need to begin to tighten the limits, rather than increase them.

Many Houstonians are irate about Comcast taking over their cable system.

 

[TheBigA]

Deregulation means Comcast would likely purchase San Antonio Express News from Hearst Corporation plus petition San Antonio City Council to change the cable franchise. Express News is a huge fan of Mayor Castro.

I have no reason to believe Comcast has any interest in buying any newspapers. It's not a business it has ever been in. Why would a profitable business want to buy a boat anchor? They can't even benefit from the tax write-off any more. There's no advantage.

It's far more likely that newspapers will buy broadcasting to provide revenue to keep the newspapers afloat. Don't you think newspapers are worth saving? Right now, they're likely to be gone by 2020.

But if you're worried about Comcast buying a dying industry, the law could be written in such a way that only newspapers could buy broadcasting, and not the other way around.

 

[willdav713]

Deregulation means Comcast would likely purchase San Antonio Express News from Hearst Corporation plus petition San Antonio City Council to change the cable franchise. Express News is a huge fan of Mayor Castro.

I have no reason to believe Comcast has any interest in buying any newspapers. It's not a business it has ever been in. Why would a profitable business want to buy a boat anchor? They can't even benefit from the tax write-off any more. There's no advantage.

It's far more likely that newspapers will buy broadcasting to provide revenue to keep the newspapers afloat. Don't you think newspapers are worth saving? Right now, they're likely to be gone by 2020.

But if you're worried about Comcast buying a dying industry, the law could be written in such a way that only newspapers could buy broadcasting, and not the other way around.

And they have, Ever heard of KENS AM 1160? Now Radio Disney. But the first KENS-AM was on 680 now KKYX.

A year after its launch, Storer Broadcasting (which had good relations with CBS) bought the station. In 1954, Storer had to sell KEYL to the San Antonio Express-News, which also purchased what became the original KENS-AM (680 kHz, now KKYX), in order for Storer to complete its purchase of WXEL-TV (now WJW) in Cleveland, Ohio because the company would have been one VHF station over the Federal Communications Commission's new ownership limit of seven television stations, with no more than five of those on VHF, which went into effect that year. (At the time, newspapers could own television and/or radio stations in the same market provided that such ownership complied with the FCC-mandated ownership limits of each property in effect at the time.) The new owner changed KEYL's call letters to the present-day KENS-TV. KENS was the second station to begin broadcasting in San Antonio, three months behind WOAI-TV. DuMont ceased most network operations in 1955, but would honor network commitments until 1956; at that point, DuMont disappeared from the station's schedule. It lost ABC when KONO-TV (now KSAT-TV) signed on in 1957, leaving KENS as a full-time CBS affiliate. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[9]
In early 1962, the Express-News and KENS-AM-TV were purchased by Harte-Hanks Communications; the radio station was sold off a few months later since Harte-Hanks was not interested in radio station ownership at the time. When the FCC tightened its cross-ownership rules in the early 1970s, Harte-Hanks sought grandfathered protection for its San Antonio media combination. However, while the FCC granted such protection to several media combinations across the country, it would not do the same to the Harte-Hanks combination in San Antonio. Accordingly, in 1973, Harte-Hanks opted to keep KENS-TV and sell the Express-News to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Comcast acquired Storer.

Newspapers are only worth saving if the report the news accurately, and not have weak editorial boards that are swallowed in their own special interests.

I am 100% against monopolies. I wish CPS Energy were to divest as well.
If they shutter because they couldn't become a monopoly, so be it.

Doesn't China have a monopoly over it's Newspapers, Television, and Radio?

 

[TheBigA]

You want to place all these rules on TV & newspapers because you worry about monopolies, yet there are only 3 phone companies in this country. Do you realize that?

If you want to oppose something, start with the phone companies.

 

[willdav713]

You want to place all these rules on TV & newspapers because you worry about monopolies, yet there are only 3 phone companies in this country. Do you realize that?

If you want to oppose something, start with the phone companies.

Only 3 phone companies? Callcentric, VoipVoip, Vonage, Lingo, Broadvoice, ViaTalk, MajicJack
Wireless carriers like Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, AT&T, Cricket, Verizon, MetroPCS, Tracfone?

Broadband Internet? Clear, Earthlink, AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Comcast, DirecWay
Not counting Internet via Mobile Devices (except for Clear)

Not a monopoly or even a triopoly.

Even Greyhound has competition through Megabus and Texas State University's Bob Cat Tram.
Taxis have Jitneys in Houston such as "The Wave" which also competes with Houston METRO.

I would start with breaking up the Electric Company monopoly, as many still exist such as Austin Energy (horrible) and CPS Energy.

People always bring up Enron on this issue, but I feel the State of California had it's own unclean hands in that deal.

 

[TheBigA]

Do you want me to begin to list the number of cable companies in this country? The thousands of independent radio owners? Yet you want to force them to operate with dated ownership laws that aren't forced on other similar industries?

 

[TheBigA]

Here's the view from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/business/media/fcc-is-again-examining-looser-cross-ownership-rules.html?src=rechp&_r=0

 

[TexasTom]

Do you want me to begin to list the number of cable companies in this country?

So what? The fact that some small town somewhere has an independently owned cable operator doesn't change the fact that the overwhelming majority of viewers don't have a choice -- the cable operator in Plano, TX does not compete with a different operator in, say, Pasco, WA, after all. Same thing with all the phone companies you listed earlier -- the typical customer for broadband has exactly two choices: their local telco and their local cable company.

There's not a lot of competition.

 

[TheBigA]

There's not a lot of competition.

The thread is about newspaper-radio crossownership. There's lots of competition.

 

[willdav713]

Do you want me to begin to list the number of cable companies in this country? The thousands of independent radio owners? Yet you want to force them to operate with dated ownership laws that aren't forced on other similar industries?

Let's see you have TV via Cell Phone now, so there is Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, Cricket along with the other Pay TV services such as Time Warner, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, Dish, Grande, DirectTV.

And with VOIP you can hook it up to Clear which is 3G internet, also you can do the same thing with T-Mobile.

There's competition in the Cable and Telco industry, they just use different methods of retrieving said signal.

I'm sorry I do not want the Express News to own Comcast, or vise versa. Such a move would allow such.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm sorry I do not want the Express News to own Comcast, or vise versa. Such a move would allow such.

It's not the kind of thing that's decided by popular vote. If the Commission decides to change the rule, and the Congress doesn't oppose, the rule gets changed.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

So tell me BigA... make a prediction... an observation for me.

The original change that allowed the "consolidation" move drove station selling prices up as the consolidators went hunting for game.

The number of transactions that could open up with the "Cross-Ownership Deregulation" change has to be very few in number, but it could have some affect on station prices for awhile.

It could cause owners in the metro markets affected to think it is a sellers market so they will try demanding higher prices than has been the trend lately. Or, a lot of owners with the second or third best frequencies in town might decide this is the best chance in my life-time to unload my turkey... If will cut the price a bit, take the money, and run.

My guess is very wish-washy. There will be some of each. Why would an owner fill up their limits/quota of stations allowed with 2nd or 3rd rate dogs so some will pay the premium price for the best dial location.

Others "ain't that smart".

 

[TheBigA]

The number of transactions that could open up with the "Cross-Ownership Deregulation" change has to be very few in number, but it could have some affect on station prices for awhile.

I don't know. The main thing that we know is that the newspaper business is dying. Companies that only own newspapers are seeing declining subscriptions and ad revenues. But the newsgathering process they do is very valuable and is very useful for radio, TV, and internet. So the goal regulators have is to keep newspapers alive by allowing them to also own broadcasting. It's similar to the laws that allowed stations to own more FMs, but they also had to own some AMs. In major markets like NY, Chicago, LA, and Dallas, you already have cross-ownership with waivers. All this would do is eliminate the need for waivers. There are also small markets like Gettysburg PA and Fredericksburg VA where newspapers own radio with waivers. In every case, the cross-ownership has meant local owners with a lot of community interest.

It could lead to some short term price increases, but the requirement and cost of owning a declining medium like newspaper might be too much of a stipulation for a lot of technology oriented companies. I don't see companies like Comcast, Time-Warner, or Disney buying radio stations and newspapers together. The newspaper aspect is too far outside their current business. But I do see the Washington Post or other major dailies getting back into the local broadcasting business as a way to spread out the cost of gathering news.

 

[TexasTom]

There's not a lot of competition.

The thread is about newspaper-radio crossownership. There's lots of competition.

That being the case, why did you originally post all the names of those cable and telecom companies?

 

[TheBigA]

That being the case, why did you originally post all the names of those cable and telecom companies?

If you go through the thread you'll see that willdav713 is who posted all those cable and telecom companies, not me.