FCC’s ADELSTEIN URGES CAUTION IN REVISING MEDIA OWNERSHIP RULES
FCC should think carefully before revamping its media ownership rules, Democratic Comr. Adelstein said Mon. Any changes agency makes in rules could “massively and irreversibly” alter media landscape and make it “difficult, if not impossible, to put the toothpaste back in the tube” if further consolidation turned out to be mistake, he said in his first speech since joining FCC last month. His keynote at Future of Music Coalition (FMC) summit followed his rousing accompaniment on harmonica of music legend Lester Chambers.
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FCC has received “huge volume of comments” as part of its review of media ownership rules, Adelstein said, devoting much of his address to radio industry studies. 1996 Telecom Act loosened radio ownership rules and sparked unprecedented wave of consolidations, he said. In 6 years since, he said, number of radio owners in U.S. dropped 34% despite 5% increase in number of commercial stations. Moreover, he said, in 1996, 2 largest radio group owners held fewer than 65 stations, but now largest group owns 1,200. FCC study showed that group owners accounted for growing share of radio advertising revenue in local markets. FMC report found that consolidation of radio stations had led to increasing amount of programming being handled at national, rather than local, level, he said. Radio consolidation contains several risks to public interest, Adelstein said, including loss of localism, homogenization of programming and loss of diversity of voices.
Radio is “just one of the many media outlets to which the FCC is paying attention,” Adelstein said. Congress’s relaxation of radio consolidation rules “has been the canary in the mine,” he said, with miners being all consumers affected by FCC rules governing ownership of TV, radio, cable and newspapers. “The FCC better carefully consider the health of that canary before we proceed further, because changes to the FCC’s media ownership rules potentially could alter the media landscape as much or more” than Telecom Act changed the radio industry, Adelstein said. Commissioner urged musicians to make their voices heard in debate.