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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 17646
Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
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 Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:25 am Post subject: FCC approves media conglomeration |
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I mean, more media conglomeration. Now the moguls can own both newspapers and television stations in the same city.
| Quote: | The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted limits on media ownership today, clearing the way for Rupert Murdoch and other magnates to buy newspapers and TV stations in the same city.
The FCC's vote fires the first shot in a high-stakes battle with members of Congress from both parties who have accused the agency of aiding the consolidation of US media, to the detriment of minority businesses and the public interest.
... Particularly alarming to many in Washington was the abbreviated period for public comment on the rules changes-30 days instead of the standard 90 - during which members of the public could raise issues relating to Murdoch's buyout of Dow Jones and his continued ownership of local TV stations in New York.
... The 25 senators vowed to immediately block the new ownership rules through denying congressional funding to enforce them or by other means. But the Bush administration has aligned itself with Martin, indicating a veto of any manoeuvre by Congress. The ownership rules were set in 1975 to prevent one company or individual from controlling the flow of information in a single city by taking over multiple media outlets. |
Guardian. |
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Hephaestion
Deeply Shallow
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 24243
Location: Where the Wild Things Are...
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| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:40 am Post subject: |
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Media concentration is one of those handful of areas -- like banking -- where the corruption and abuse is worse in Canada than it is in the States; they're just catching up to us.
_________________
"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin |
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Tehanu
More or less, more or less
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 17646
Location: Seceded from the Ford Nation
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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Looks like the CRTC is starting to do a teeny bit of a crackdown on media concentration, limiting ownership to two of three types of outlet per market. However, it ain't retroactive. Nor does it address the total number of outlets owned. (Doesn't apply to newspapers, either, presumably that would be outside the CRTC's scope.) So plus ça change ...
| Quote: | ... However, several unions including the Directors Guild of Canada, the Canadian Media Guild and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union - the country's largest media union - lined up against the decision.
The unions have in the past expressed concern about the implications of greater media concentration.
The Canadian Media Guild said the CRTC had "blown a chance" with its ruling to address media concentration in Canada.
"This decision that they've come out with doesn't change any of the status quo. It allows all of the status quo, and people have been complaining about the status quo for years," said guild president Lise Lareau.
"There's nothing new in this. This essentially embodies the status quo." |
Canadian Press |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5472
Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:28 am Post subject: |
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Yet the concentration of ownership continues. A week ago The Canadian Press officially finished becoming a private corporation
| Quote: | Three major Canadian media companies are investing in The Canadian Press, a move that will complete the 93-year-old news agency's transformation from newspaper co-operative to for-profit corporation.
Torstar Corp., publisher of the Toronto Star, CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc., which owns the Globe and Mail newspaper, and Square Victoria Communications Group, which owns seven French-language newspapers, including La Presse, have jointly invested in Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., a new entity that will take over the agency.
The Canadian Press will maintain its editorial independence and continue to provide news in both official languages under the new ownership structure, the agency said Friday. It will also maintain exclusive rights to distribute content from the Associated Press in Canada. |
And on the (satellite) radio front, the only two players in the market are looking to merge.
| Quote: | Satellite radio companies XM Canada and Sirius Canada on Wednesday announced plans to merge.
The move follows longtime speculation about the two combining their operations to save costs and build two audiences into one of about 1.7 million. |
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sparqui
Dog tired
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 5154
Location: Winnipeg
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| Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:11 pm Post subject: |
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Are Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France Press privatized as well?
Free market capitalism is such a farce - it only encourages enough competition to create attractive mergers and acquisitions.
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“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”
-- Gilles Duceppe |
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Raos
volatilis vir
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 5472
Location: Petropolis
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| Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2010 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Reuters is (and actually always has been) a private corporation, but the other two are still not-for-profit cooperatives. |
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