Abstract
The consolidation of local television stations in the USA has reached epic proportions and takes two forms: outright station purchases and the implementation of shared service agreements among stations within the same market. This research is directed at answering the crucial questions that the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Justice have raised about the impact of service agreements on the content of local news in eight markets where such agreements exist. The analysis reveals that the implementation of shared service agreements has had a profound effect on the distribution of stories across stations and the use of shared resources, such as the anchor, the reporter, the script, and video/graphics for news stories.
Note: Some of the findings in this chapter were originally published in an article in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 91 (1), 2014.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ariens, Chris. 2011. New year brings change to Idaho Falls. Adweek TVSpy, January 3. http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/new-year-brings-change-to-idaho-falls/5741.
Derderian, Jeff. 2011. Exclusive: Layoffs at channel 6 start. GoLocal, April 15. http://www.golocalprov.com/business/exclusive-layoffs-at-channel-6-start/.
Donald, Ralph, and Thomas Spann. 2000. The fundamentals of television production. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.
Eggerton, John. 2011. Small TV stations to FCC: We need shared services agreements. Broadcasting & Cable, December 21. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/small-tv-stations-fcc-we-need-shared-services-agreements/43236.
Federal Communications Commission. 2010. Quadrennial regulatory review (FCC 10-92). Washington, DC: GPO.
Federal Communications Commission. 2011. The information needs of communities: The changing media landscape in a broadband age. Report by Steven Waldman and the Working Group on Information Needs of Communities. Washington, DC: Federal Communications Commission.
Federal Communications Commission. 2014. Further notice of proposed rule making and report and order (FCC 14-28). Washington, D.C.: GPO.
Hamilton, James. 2004. All the news that’s fit to sell: How the market transforms information into news. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Jones, Clarence. 2005. Winning with the news media: A self defense manual when you’re the story, 8th ed. Anna Maria: Winning News Media, Inc.
Kohut, Andrew, Carroll Doherty, Michael Dimock, and Scott Keeter. 2012. Cable leads the pack as campaign news source: Twitter, Facebook play very modest roles. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, February 7. http://www.people-press.org/2012/02/07/cable-leads-the-pack-as-campaign-news-source/.
Malone, Michael. 2013. The rise of station super-groups. Broadcasting & Cable 143(5): 12–13.
Matsa, Katerina E. 2014. The acquisition binge on local TV. Pew Research Center, May 12. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/05/12/the-acquisition-binge-in-local-tv/.
McChesney, Robert W. 2008. The commercial tidal wave. In The political economy of media, 265–281. New York: Monthly Review Press.
McLeod, Jack M., Katie Daily, Zhongshi Guo, William P. Eveland, Jan Bayer, Seungchan Yang, and Hsu Wang. 1996. Community integration, local media use and democratic processes. Communication Research 23(2): 179–209.
Olmstead, Kenneth, Mark Jurkowitz, Amy Mitchell, and Jodi Enda. 2013. How Americans get their news at home. Pew Research Center, October 11. http://www.journalism.org/2013/10/11/how-americans-get-tv-news-at-home/.
Papper, Bob. 2015. The business of news: Newsroom profitability, budgets and partnerships. RTNDA/Hofstra University Survey, June 1.
Papper, Bob. 2016. Local news by the numbers. RTNDA/Hofstra University. http://www.rtdna.org/article/rtdna_research_local_news_by_the_numbers.
Pew Research Center. 2015. Local news in the digital age. Pew Research Center, March 5. http://www.journalism.org/2015/03/05/local-news-in-a-digital-age/.
Pickard, Victor. 2011. Revisiting the road not taken: A social democratic vision of the press. In Will the last reporter please turn out the lights: The collapse of journalism and what can be done about it, ed. Robert W. McChesney and Victor Pickard. New York: The New Press.
Potter, Deborah, and Katerina E. Matsa. 2014. A boom in acquisitions and content sharing shapes local TV news in 2013. Pew Research Center, March 26. http://www.journalism.org/2014/03/26/a-boom-in-acquisitions-and-content-sharing-shapes-local-tv-news-in-2013/.
Riffe, Daniel, Stephen Lacy, and Frederick G. Fico. 2005. Analyzing media messages, 2nd ed. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Turner, S. Derek. 2013. Cease to resist: How the FCC’s failure to enforce its rules created a new wave of media consolidation. Washington, DC: Free Press.
TVB Local MediaMarketing Solutions. 2013. The American conversation study: How local TV news drives consumer engagement. Retrieved October 21 from http://www.tvb.org/measurement/American_Conversation_Study.
United States Department of Justice. 2014. In the matter of 2010 quadrennial regulatory review – Review of the Commission’s broadcast ownership rules and other rules adopted pursuant to section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Ex parte submission of the United States Department of Justice, February. http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/atr/legacy/2014/02/24/303880.pdf.
Yan, Michael, and Philip Napoli. 2004. Market structure, station ownership, and local public affairs programming on local broadcast television. Paper presented at the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, Arlington, Virginia, October.
Yanich, Danilo. 2014. Duopoly light? Service agreements and local TV. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 91(1): 159–176.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Yanich, D. (2016). Same ol’, Same ol’: Consolidation and Local Television News. In: Lloyd, M., Friedland, L. (eds) The Communication Crisis in America, And How to Fix It. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94925-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94925-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-94924-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94925-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)