‘Local, Local, Local’ Key to Broadcasters’ Success
LAS VEGAS -- “Local, local, local” programming and public service is the best way for a licensee to “retain your station’s value, John Gage of Sun Microsystems said on one of 6 panels of lawyers and other experts here Sun. at a pre-NAB legal forum to advise attorneys on “representing your local broadcaster.” But, he said broadcasters in attendance “are in a way 5 or 10 years behind what’s going on in other countries.” Ex-FCC Chairman Richard Wiley also stressed the importance of localism. He said there’s a lot more lobbying of FCC commissioners and staffers than there used to be. He called broadcasting the most regulated U.S. industry and said it “always will be.”
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Victor Miller of Wall Street firm Bear Stearns saw matters differently. “You guys… have to come up with one voice about what you want to do,” he said. “You guys have got to get off your duff… You guys let 3 people take over your industry.” He didn’t name names. Miller said: “I've been very downbeat on broadcasting for the past 4 years” because of “its inability to react to the marketplace.” Now, he said, he’s becoming more upbeat about the future of TV -- “but not radio” because of more fragmentation.
The station ownership issue is “much more a political question than anything else,” said former FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree, now in private practice. Asked where the TV industry will be in 25 years, he said “we'll still be talking about the digital transition.” Peter Pitsch, who was chief of the former FCC Office of Plans & Policy, said ownership restrictions are much more liberal today than 25 years ago but more relaxation is needed.
Margaret Tobey of Morrison & Foerster predicted the TV network-affiliate relationship will continue but be greatly affected by emerging media and face an uncertain future. She cited the ABC TV announcement this month that the network would put 4 of its most popular prime time programs online, commercials intact, the morning after they first air, saying the success or failure of the experiment will be closely watched by industry observers. Kurt Wimmer of Covington & Burling said TV has “innumerable opportunities with new types of platforms,” such as wireless operating in newly authorized spectrum, to showcase its programming.