Re: this week in review....

["Dan Billings" <dib9@gwi.net>]

There is nothing in statute that limits station ownership by audience share.
The Telecom Act simply limits the number of stations owned.  The Clinton
Justice Department used the anti-trust laws to challenge station transfers
where one company would control more than 40 percent of the market.  I do
not believe that standard was ever upheld in court, but pragmatic business
people went along with it because fighting it in court would have been very
costly.  I'm not sure if the Bush administration is enforcing the 40 percent
standard, but I think they are just sticking to the limits in the Telecom
Act.

IMHO, using the percentage of audience to limit station ownership is a silly
standard.  Using that standard a company that operates their stations poorly
and does not gain a large audience could own more stations than a successful
company that gains a large audience.  Why does that make sense?  I also have
a problem with any administration making up their own limits when the law
enacted by Congress already estavlishes a standard.

As for Citadel's current lead in the Portland market: Saga controlled a
larger share of the ratings a couple of years back.  Things are now actually
more competitive than a couple of years ago.  I do not think that it is a
good thing that just two companies dominate the market in Portland.  There
are certainly enough signals to put together a third competitive group.
Competition would be enhanced if a more competent operator controlled the
WMTW stations.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine




----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Igo" <Chuckigo@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu>
Cc: "Boston Radio Interest" <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2001 8:32 AM
Subject: RE: this week in review....


.  it's hard enough for a station to stake out a claim,
> which is why the concerns were initially raised about group ownership.
> wasn't the ceiling set at 30 percent of available audience ratings?