[opendtv] Weird local caps rules fallout - Sinclair buys Allbriton stations
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 01:07:31 +0000
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0724/DA-14-1055A1.pdf
This is the local ownership cap rule, for TV stations in the US:
"Under the local television ownership rule, two television stations licensed in
the same Nielsen Designated Market Area ("DMA") that have Grade B contour
overlap may be commonly owned if: (1) at least one of the stations is not
ranked among the top four stations in the DMA; and (2) at least eight
independently owned and operating, full power commercial and non-commercial
educational television stations would remain in the DMA after the merger."
So the "spirit" of that rule, I thought, was that one company can own two
stations in a market, but the two wouldn't be the real big draws, i.e. ABC,
CBS, Fox, NBC. Well ...
I've indicated in the past how I thought that FCC local ownership caps are more
important than national ownership caps, when it comes to guaranteeing a certain
amount of diverse points of view to be available over radio and TV.
Here's a story that shows how the focus on the broadcaster, vs the affiliated
TV network, can create (what I consider to be) really bizarre results. What
kicked this off was the sale of several Allbritton TV stations to Sinclair.
Here's an example of the mechanism at work, briefly: One station in a market is
owned by a company, make it Allbritton, and it's a major TV network affiliate.
Say, an ABC affiliate.
Another company in that same market, make this one Sinclair, already owns two
stations, one of which is affiliated with a second major TV network in that
market. So make it that Sinclair owns the Fox and the My Network TV affiliated
stations already.
Sinclair can't own three stations in that market. So it cancels the license of
one of these altogether. Make it that Sinclair cancels the license of the
station previously owned by Allbritton. Off the air.
Now Sinclair is the affiliate of two major TV networks and a smaller one, in
the same market. Say ABC, Fox, and My Network TV. It simply multicasts the
content of the previous Allbritton station on one of its two stations. So, to
force the point, perhaps ABC and Fox, transmitted as two subchannels of the
same station.
Keeping in mind that the local cap rule is written based on Nielsen ratings of
each STATION, rather than TV network affiliation, this works. The Sinclair
station with the two popular networks will now have a higher Nielsen rating,
but it still counts as one *station*. So all is good. The effect will be, a
station that was previously not in the "top four" will now become one of the
"top four," by default!
Here's what the FCC has to say:
"Our local TV ownership rule does not restrict the use of multicast capability
to form dual affiliations, and in the recently released 2014 Quadrennial Review
FNPRM & Report and Order, the Commission tentatively concluded that the record
did not support changing the ownership rule to restrict such arrangements.
Given these facts, we do not find that the multicasting proposal put forth by
Sinclair would disserve the public interest."
Totally weird, right? But it does reduce the amount of RF spectrum needed for
TV, in that market.
The cable companies object. Surprise.
This FCC DA 14-1055 is complicated by discussions of other stuff, like
"brokered station" agreements, but to me that's secondary.
Bert
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