"Sorry Mister Powell"

I expect that I know why I derive so much pleasure watching the FCC Chairman get annoyed when so many of the Commission's rulings are overturned by Congress or the courts.

The buzzword of the late 20th, and early 21st centuries by the Commission is their insistence that their rulings support "competition, diversity, and localism".

Since the repeal of the financial interest and syndication rulings, what have we got now?

- Viacom/Paramount controls the CBS and UPN networks

- TimeWarner controls The WB network

- News Corp./Fox controls The Fox Network

- Disney/Buena Vista controls The ABC Network

- Universal/MCA/NBC controls The NBC Network

- That leaves Sony and MGM without networks

If one wanted to question that the five conglomerates that control the networks don't have enough power, lets look at syndication as well.

Share Of Syndication Audience
	2002-03	1998-99
King World (Viacom)	21.7%	15.5%
Warner Bros.	17.5%	15.0%
Paramount (Viacom)	13.8%	12.6%
Twentieth TV (News Corp)	11.8%	5.9%
Sony (Columbia)	9.2%	10.6%
Buena Vista (Disney)	7.9%	8.3%
Universal/MCA (NBC)	5.7%	1.1%
Tribune	5.2%	3.4%
MGM/NBC	4.3%	1.6%
WoWF (WWE)	1.4%	2.3%
Top 10 Syndicators	99.0%	76.0%
Source: Boston Media Consultants analysis, Nielsen and other data.

The studio companies control over 97 % of the syndication audience. When you add this to the national delivery of the six broadcast networks, the control of over-the-air broadcast is virtually complete. All of this does not include Pax, or Telemundo, or the innumerable cable channels owned and controlled by these companies, INCLUDING the five biggest Cable News Channels.

Is it possible for Chairman Powell to explain to the American public how the Commission's rulings have fostered "competition" (very important), "diversity" (very important), but most important of all "localism"?

It was predictable that once the Communications Act Re-Write of 1996 allowed the networks to own financial interest and syndication for their network content, which allowed the studios to merge with the networks, the opportunities for the independents would be eliminated or at best reduced. Did the Commission expect that if Paramount, the CBS Network and the CBS stations were to be owned by a single company (in this case Viacom) that they would allow independent producers access to their stations? I don't think so.

As and when Comcast flexes its muscles and buys something significant, will the FCC claim that this is good for "competition and diversity"? Now that News Corp. has purchased Direct TV, what will the FCC say about "competition and diversity" if NBC were to buy Echostar?

What can be done? Probably nothing, but someone should light a fire at the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department in advance of these deals so that the "Big" don't get any bigger. Apparently the FCC doesn't really care about competition, diversity, and localism.

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