Los Angeles - The Directors Guild of America joined a coalition of entertainment entities in filing documents with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) aimed at getting the regulatory agency to halt Washington's plans to loosen media ownership rules which would pave the way for more media consolidation and narrow the ownership of the airwaves.
Some of the present FCC rules that could erased by deregulation include:
- A national cap barring a broadcaster from reaching more than 35% of the national aud
- A cap on the number of TV and radio stations a company can own in the same market
- A cross-ownership rule blocking a broadcaster from owning a newspaper in the same major market
- And a rule blocking a major net from owning another major net
A coalition comprised of the Directors Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach LLC, Marian Rees Associates, Inc., and ad agency MediaCom, says 25% of a network's primetime lineup should be set aside for independently produced shows since the major networks already control the airwaves, and drown out independent voices by favoring their own programming.
The coalition believes that further media de-regulation will reduce diversity, make programming blander, raise advertising costs and put smaller companies out of business.
The filing also calls for the FCC to reintroduce some version of the financial-syndication rules, which barred a broadcast net from having a stake in the programs it aired.
The FCC's review, is likely to take at least another six months. At some point, the full commission will vote up or down on the rules.
Click here to download a copy of the FCC documents filed by the Coalition for Program Diversity. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view these documents.
