Who Wants To Own A TV Station?

How many mail-lists are you on?  I receive about a dozen, some daily, some less so.  One I read everyday is published by the National Association of Broadcasters (that’s the “NAB” in “NAB Show,” every video geek’s must-visit toystore.  It’s in Las Vegas in April. Go.)  So what is the headline for today, January 2, 2009?

Loosening ownership rules could be key to media’s recovery

The headline links to this article in Variety Magazine, written by Brian Lowery.  It is a very thoughtful piece on what the future of television broadcasting - both national and local - may turn out to be, absent intervention from the government.  And it points out once again a tightrope that I think the NAB does a very bad job of walking - balancing the desires of its largest members (especially Fox) for avaricious, unlimited ownership of broadcast stations across the US against the small owners, with one or five or eight or a dozen stations.  And it once again ignores the real losers in either a meltdown or a “one owner to rule them all” scenario - the local viewers, who often depend on local TV to be their primary news source, for good or ill.

So where do you stand?  Is local TV dead for you already?  For that matter, is broadcasting dead, drowned by the Internet wave?  I’d like to hear what the PVC community values in local TV.  Fire away!

PS:  While you are on the Variety site, be sure to read some of Brian Lowery’s other columns - he’s a really insightful, entertaining writer.  And he seems to agree with me on what the prime-time Jay Leno show means for NBC - and for production personnel.

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