RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION
As the radio industry slid into the Labor Day weekend, ahead of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), the NAB and a group of nine radio broadcasting companies each submitted comments with the FCC that essentially offer the same plea to the Commission.
They want a further loosening of the radio ownership rules, one that would allow one single company to own every AM radio station in a market, regardless of its size. They want one single company to be able to own every FM radio station in a market under No. 74 in rank. They want a company to be able to own up to eight FMs in markets No. 1-No. 74.
The reasons are replete with finger-pointing toward Facebook and Google, and Amazon, too.
But, is it fair? Given the consolidation the industry has seen in the last 30 years, are we ready to see more when the argument is clearly about dollars, and not about consumers?
