Shared services agreements come under attack

Cheryl Leanza, Policy Director, The Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc., used a Federal Communications Commission media ownership workshop to set her sights on the increasing use of shared services agreements (SSAs) in local television markets. She noted that they are used to form virtual duopolies. The loophole that makes them possible, the rule stating that the service provider may program no more than 15% of the station's programming, allows it to control the only truly important portion of that station's programming - its local news. She was also not pleased that SSAs are frequently used to combine two of the top four stations within a given local market, something that is expressly forbidden in markets large enough to support an actually owned-and-operated duopoly. Media Access Project's Andy Schwartzman agreed that addressing television SSAs should be a major part of the FCC's review of ownership rules.