Who Cares About Ownership Rules?

WHO CARES ABOUT OWNERSHIP RULES?
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Do broadcast media ownership rules matter anymore? With many media giants -- think CBS, Clear Channel and, possibly, Tribune -- selling stations, is the issue worth the big fight at the Federal Communications Commission? Two FCC commissioners -- Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein -- believe it is because most Americans say their local media is still their primary source of news and information. But even some public interest veterans, like Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, believe there needs to be a two-prong strategy that considers new media in tandem with broadcasting. “The corporate media interests—Silicon Valley, Hollywood, advertising—are defining our media future,” says Chester. “They have created a business model based on social networks [à la News Corp.’s MySpace] to evolve a series of key platforms in every community across the country that will be powerful forces in people’s lives. All content, programming and media use is being bundled together. You won't separate your video from where you get your [instant messaging] from where you get cellphones from where you post your photos from where you meet your friends. As a result, he says, the new dominant players are not going to be broadcasters but “phone, cable, a few technology companies and the advertising industry, including Google and Yahoo!, who are going to end up dominating.”
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