Key Points
- A new poll found overwhelming bipartisan opposition to loosening federal broadcast ownership rules that would allow greater local TV consolidation.
- Four in five likely voters said consolidation would raise cable, satellite and streaming prices and reduce local control.
- The survey comes as the FCC reviews potential changes to the 39 percent national ownership cap.
The majority of Americans on both sides of the political divide are opposed to a loosening of federal rules that would permit local television broadcast station owners to consolidate, according to a new poll released on Wednesday.
The poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners and commissioned by the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and Defend the Press Campaign, revealed four out of five Americans who identify as likely voters do not favor regulatory reforms that would allow local broadcasters to grow larger.
The poll found 89 percent of Democrats and 74 percent of Republicans opposed reforming media ownership rules, while 77 percent of independents said the same. The survey consisted of 1,000 Americans who are likely to vote in the upcoming midterm election, the organizations said.
A separate question found that 72 percent of voters oppose large national broadcast corporations buying or merging with local TV stations, including 52 percent who said they are strongly opposed. Opposition remained consistent across political affiliations, with 75 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 70 percent of Republicans rejecting local station mergers.
Participants in the survey felt allowing broadcasters to consolidate would lead to rising cable, satellite and streaming bills over the long run, with 76 percent of Americans feeling corporate mergers lead to higher prices in general.
“The bottom line is that Americans across the political spectrum simply do not want local TV station consolidation,” Brenda Victoria Castillo, the President and CEO of NHMC, said in a statement. “They expect it to drive up their prices and give billionaires even more power over what they see and hear, not to mention degrading the quality and authenticity of coverage in their communities.”
Instead of allowing broadcasters to consolidate, most Americans feel their local stations should be owned at the local level. Only two percent of Americans said they favor large corporations owning their local broadcast stations, while four out of five likely voters said they prefer local ownership instead.
Lake Research Partners President Celinda Lake said the breadth and intensity of opposition uncovered in the survey is unusual for a broadcast policy issue.
“When you see opposition this broad and this intense, it signals conviction among voters,” Lake said. “These opposition numbers to local TV station consolidation are more typical of what we see on questions of core values, not specific policy debates, and demonstrate that the American people are tired of never-ending corporate consolidation, rising prices and loss of local control.”
The poll was released just hours before Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee on his agency’s actions since the start of the year, including his influence on local TV broadcasters.
The debate about broadcast ownership rules did not receive as much attention during the hearing compared to other issues, like Carr’s influence on two corporate broadcasters to pull ABC’s late night program “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from more than 60 affiliates in September. The broadcasters, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair, Inc., have business-related transactions that require FCC approval.
Those transactions, if approved, would allow the two largest corporate owners of broadcast stations to grow even larger. It would also require significant reform to federal regulations that are meant to prevent mass consolidation among owners of licensed TV stations.
Carr has not explicitly affirmed a support for reforming those rules, but his FCC is currently examining a proposal that would raise or eliminate a long-standing cap that restricts companies from owning stations that reach more than 39 percent of the American viewing audience.
Broadcasters say the cap is outdated, because they primarily compete with streaming services that are allowed to scale without restrictions. In April, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) sent a letter to Carr urging him to eliminate broadcast ownership rules, claiming the move will lead to better investments in local news programming and allow broadcasters to super-serve their communities. One week later, Nexstar filed a 240-page document with the FCC with letters from its local TV station executives that supported those same arguments.
On Wednesday, hours after Carr wrapped up his appearance before Senate lawmakers, the NAB said it was encouraged by the hearing on Capitol Hill.
“Today’s hearing underscored what local broadcasters have been saying for years: the rules governing television and radio ownership are badly outdated and no longer reflect the competitive realities of today’s media marketplace,” Curtis LeGeyt, the CEO of the NAB, said in a statement. (The NAB has offered several interviews with LeGeyt over the past year; after accepting those offers, a representative of the agency has canceled each opportunity.)
LeGeyt continued: “Local stations are competing every day against unregulated global tech and streaming giants that face none of the constraints imposed on broadcasters. That imbalance makes it harder for stations to invest in local journalism, weather coverage, emergency information and the live sports programming that communities rely on.”
LeGeyt said he appreciated Carr’s “willingness to confront these issues head-on and his recognition that policymakers have the power to modernize the rules before more local voices are lost.”
