Mel girds for battle
Karmazin, affils to square off at Senate hearing
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Slated to testify for affiliates is Post-Newsweek Stations prexy Alan Frank, who also chairs the Network Affiliated Stations Alliance (NASA), industry execs said. Other names on the tentative witness list are Tribune Co. prexy Jack Fuller and Consumers Union co-director Gene Kimmelman.
July 17 hearing is being called by Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-N.C.), new chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. Hollings has not tried to hide his suspicion of deregulation, saying he will use his power to keep a close eye on further media/entertainment consolidation.
A commerce committee aide declined to confirm the witness list, or the date of the hearing, saying the agenda had not been finalized.
Topic of the day will be the future and viability of ownership regs, and whether they are still needed to ensure a diversity of voices on the public airwaves and, hence, a future for independent station groups.
Specifically, affils say they will be devastated if a federal appeals court strikes down a Federal Communications Commission rule barring any one broadcaster from reaching more than 35% of the national audience.
CBS, Fox and NBC brought the court case and are confident of success, considering that the same court recently vacated an FCC cable ownership cap.
NASA, meanwhile, has filed a voluminous complaint with the FCC, charging the nets of strong-arming them in regards to programming and even station sales. NASA represents the more than 600 ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates.
