Subsidies, Not Consolidation, Will Save TV

A Q&A with Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver.

In trying to bend laws and regulations their way, television broadcasters and their Washington representatives often find themselves opposed by public interest advocates -- like Free Press -- who have very definite ideas of how broadcasting and other media should be handled by the government. Silver says he recognizes the trouble that broadcasting and newspaper publishing is in, but he doesn't see media ownership consolidation as the way out. A better approach, he says, is direct government subsidies for noncommercial media and indirect subsidies for commercial media. He also sides with those who believe that TV stations ought to give back some of their spectrum so that it can be put to better use for broadband access. As for Comcast's proposed takeover of NBCU, he says, don't even think about it.