Viewers in Markets with LMAs, JSAs and SSAs See Similar Newscasts on Multiple Stations, Study Finds
TV stations in markets where local stations have agreed to share resources often air the same news programming, a study of local news in eight markets found. “The obvious and unambiguous result was a reduction in the number of separate news voices in the market,” said the study by University of Delaware Professor Danilo Yanich. The stations shared resources including anchors, scripts, video, graphics and reporters, said the study filed with the FCC Monday (http://xrl.us/bmgxdy).
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Yanich said his examination of the effects of such local marketing agreements, joint services agreements (JSA) and shared services agreements is the first of its kind and fills a gap left by the FCC in the studies it recently commissioned in looking at media ownership trends. “They looked at cross ownership and did this very complex econometric model,” but the commission failed to account for shared programming, he said. “You have to look at the content to understand what it is.” Yanich said he hopes the study, partly funded by the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA, will help inform future FCC media ownership decisions.
The agreements have also resulted in some layoffs, said Jim Joyce, president of NABET-CWA. The study found some 30 layoffs in Peoria, Ill., and another 40 in Syracuse, N.Y., as a result of such agreements, the NABET-CWA said. But many stations that have entered into such agreements weren’t broadcasting local news previously, said an NAB spokesman. “The weaker stations, before there were these partnering agreements, they didn’t often have local news at all. If the end result is there’s an increase in local news and public affairs programming, it’s hard to see why that would be a bad thing."
The report, which identifies some stations that are sharing programming, wasn’t designed to provide support for other industries who want the government to reallocate spectrum away from the TV band, Yanich said. “That logic seems backwards: ‘We're doing it badly, so let’s get rid of it.'” Instead, the government should help set up better competition among local stations to provide for more diversity of viewpoints, he said. But stations could be doing more with their spectrum, he said. “They can certainly lose some spectrum and still carry out these responsibilities very easily.”