Media Ownership
In July 2006, the FCC announced plans to re-examine parts of its 2003 media ownership rulemaking. Children Now therefore conducted Big Media, Little Kids 2 and examined eight media markets across the country: Atlanta, Georgia; Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; El Paso, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland-Auburn, Maine; and Spokane, Washington. As with the first study, Big Media Little Kids 2 found that as media companies are allowed to get bigger, it is children who end up feeling the growing pains. Across all eight markets, duopoly stations -- two or more stations in a market that are owned by the same company -- decreased their children's program offerings by five times more than did single stations.
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Children Now has been concerned about the effect of media consolidation on children's programming since 2002, when the Federal Communications Commission opened a review proceeding to analyze its broadcast ownership rules. In order to inform the FCC's 2002 rulemaking, Children Now conducted the first-ever study to examine the influence of media consolidation on children's television programming. The report, Big Media, Little Kids, showed that the creation of duopoly stations contributed to a serious decline in the availability and diversity of children's television programming in Los Angeles.
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On behalf of the Children's Media Policy Coalition, Children Now has also submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission regarding its 2006 Review of the Media Ownership Rules.
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Children Now has testified at a number of FCC hearings on the issue of media ownership, sharing our findings regarding the effect media consolidation on children.
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The following are Children Now press releases and statements on media ownership:
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Additional information:
