NHMC To FCC: Auction Likely To Decrease Diversity

The National Hispanic Media Coalition has advised the Federal Communications Commission to monitor television station sales in the run-up to the incentive auction and be ready to deal with the auctions potential impact on diversity, which it says will not be good.

In a meeting with FCC staffers for Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, NHMC President Alex Nogales said he thought the auctions would reduce the number of minorities and women who own TV stations, both via the lure of the payout in the auction or from spectrum speculators in advance of the auction. The FCC will be looking for spectrum primarily in urban markets and most likely from independent stations since major market affiliates have mostly signaled they are staying in the business. In those major markets, those independent stations the FCC is most likely to woo are also more likely to be owned by minorities and women.