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March 5, 2003
WGA HIRES PUBLIC STRATEGIES
 

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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