Columbia SC is the destination as the FCC takes the Quadrennial Review on tour. The forum will operate as a double-header, assembling one panel to dig into local radio issues and another for television. The meeting is on the calendar for 2/23/10. The panels will include local broadcasters, association members and media advocates.
The first panel, on television, will run from 1PM-4:30PM, and the second will look at radio issues from 6PM-9PM. The venue will be the South Carolina State Museum.
Here, from the FCC, are the topics that the workshop will explore.
Television:
* The state of the television industry and what changes, if any, have impacted the larger media marketplace;
* Whether the decline in broadcast television viewership is cyclical or permanent and how this trend has affected the financial viability of TV stations and their programming;
* How TV duopolies affect the diversity of voices and programming in local markets;
* What changes, if any, should be made to the ownership rules because of marketplace conditions;
* Whether broadcasters are adopting new programming strategies and if so, the impact of these strategies on the Commission’s ownership rules; and
* Whether the local TV and radio/TV cross-ownership rules continue to be necessary in the public interest.
Radio:
* The state of the radio industry and how new technologies have impacted the marketplace;
* Whether local radio markets have stayed the same or become more or less concentrated since the last quadrennial review;
* What changes, if any, should be made to the ownership rules because of marketplace conditions;
* How combined ownership of multiple radio stations in a single market affects the diversity of programming and localism in that market, if at all; and
* Whether the local radio and radio/TV cross-ownership rules continue to be necessary in the public interest.
RBR-TVBR observation: These tend to be a seen-one, seen-‘em-all affairs. Generally a balanced panel of witnesses appears before an audience of local citizens who almost to the last person have a bone to pick with broadcasters. That’s because the vast majority of citizens who are happy or at least indifferent about their over-the-air program choices are not motivated to show up.
