The Writers Guild of America has brought in Public Strategies
to fight what the union calls a "programming oligopoly"
in the U.S. media as the Federal Communications Commission
considers relaxing ownership rules.
The guild, which represents 8,000 writers in the movie, broadcast,
cable and new media industries, says the conglomeration of
media has killed programming diversity.
Cindi Tripodi, former VP of congressional affairs for the
Motion Picture Assn. of America, and Wallace Henderson, former
VP of congressional affairs for the Cellular Telecom Industry
Assn., head the lobbying and public affairs efforts at Public
Strategies for the Guild.
"All too often indeed, virtually invariably
to get their work on TV, writers and producers must cede ownership
and creative control to the network or cable companies,"
WGA west president Victoria Riskin said at an FCC hearing
in late February, according to a transcript provided by the
Guild. "They must accept the network or cable company
as a partner and surrender their independence."
There are 91 "major" TV networks, by FCC definition
of a station that reaches 16 million homes. Of those, 73 are
owned by the six major conglomerates, five of which
Viacom, Disney, News Corp., General Electric and AOL Time
Warner run the broadcast networks
FCC chairman Michael Powell is a staunch advocate of deregulation,
which, critics say, could allow the Big Six to gobble up more
control. But the five-member commission is split on the issue.
It voted 3-2 last month to Powell's objections that regional
Bell companies had to lease some of their local networks to
smaller competitors.
An FCC decision on broadcast ownership could come in May,
according to news reports.
WGA communications director Cheryl Rhoden has not yet been
reached.
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