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Tag: US Congress

  • US media ownership capped at 39 per cent

    US media ownership capped at 39 per cent

    WASHINGTON: Following a settlement between the US Congress and the White House, media ownership by US television networks has now been capped at 39 per cent of the national audience.
     

    US television networks can now acquire local television stations that collectively reach not more than 39 per cent of the national audience.

    According to House and Senate aides, the bill ratifying the US media ownership rules to effect this recent development is likely be passed this week.

    Earlier this year in June, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had raised the ownership limit from 35 percent to 45 percent amidst a reaction by lawmakers and consumer groups whose main contention was that the move would cut the number of viewpoints in a community and reduce local reporting.

    According to a Reuters report, Viacom and News Corp. already own local stations that reach over 35 per cent of the national television audience. The feeling is that both corporations would accommodate the new media ownership limit without having to divest assets.

  • US Congress votes to block FCC media ruling

    MUMBAI: It is the sheer numbers that must have come as a shock to even the most hopeful – that somehow the 1 June ruling of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relaxing media ownership rules in favour of the big conglomerates would be overturned.
    The US House of Representatives’ vote of 400-to-21 was as near to unanimity as it could get. Congress has voted to back a bill that would deny funding to the commerce, state and justice departments as well as several agencies, including the FCC, rather than let those agencies use the money to enforce the new FCC rule that would allow America’s largest networks to own 45 per cent of local broadcast stations rather than the current 35 per cent ceiling. The US Senate has already shown strong support for a similar measure.
    Now it remains to be seen how US President George W Bush, who had earlier threatened to enforce a White house veto if Congress voted against the FCC. But the sheer scale of the resistance, might temper Bush’s bombast, especially when he has enough headaches to deal with over the Iraq quagmire.
    Opposition to the FCC vote has come from a wide and diverse cross-section, including the National Rifle Association and the National Organization for Women, as well as local broadcasters who are the most threatened by the onslaught that the big networks like Viacom and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox could get going.
    Senator Ernest Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat who is among the leading opponents of the FCC measure, was quoted by Reuters as saying in a statement: “Since the FCC’s ill-fated decision on June 2, we have seen a torrent of citizen outrage aimed at rule changes that will let big media get bigger, will allow programming decisions made in New York and Hollywood to trump community standards, and will reduce the number of diverse voices available in local communities.”
    Also read:
    US FCC relaxes media ownership limits