Mass Media Ownership and Concentration:
Has Technology or Regulation Made a Difference?

Benjamin M. Compaine, Temple University

Alarmed by the seeming parade of mergers being announced
among newspaper, books and magazine publishers, in 1978 the
Carter Administration's Federal Trade Commission held a two day
Symposium on Media Concentration. Media critics and media
representatives presented their positions and their data.
The public submitted their testimony. The Commission's report
ultimately found that, once past the headlines, there was no basis
for it to take any remedial action. In 1997, after a period of
another wave of headlines announcing mergers and acquisitions among
broadcasters, publishers, cable operators, and even telephone
companies, the question is again on the front burner.
An article in the January/February Columbia Journalism Review,
reviewing the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
asked "How is it possible for fewer and fewer owners to generate
greater and greater competition?" This paper takes a fresh look
at the topic. An empirical look. What is the universe of players
in the media? How has it changed from the late 1970s? Have the
relevant boundaries changed? Have the new information technologies
of online, CD-ROM or DBS affected the mix of players, the nature
of content, the accessability of outlets, the cost of information?
In 1997, as in 1978, emotion runs high, empirical data runs low.
Time merged with Warner and both with Turner. Disney acquired
Cap Cities/ABC. Westinghouse merged its broadcast group with CBS.
Viacom took over Paramount and Simon & Schuster. Bell Atlantic is
about to acquire NYNEX. Murdoch's News Corp seems to be everywhere.
Consolidation seems obvious. But in 1978, News Corp was not
even a player. CNN did not exist. Nearly 75% of cable system had
fewer than 20 channels. DBS: a dream. UHF broadcasting: a joke.
Videocassette distribution: didn't exist. What was Microsoft?
Telephone meant AT&T. The Internet? Just an obscure facility for
a few academic institutions. The subject of this paper is the
basic data on who are the players today, what do they control,
what does this mean for the cost and availability of content for
a residential consumer of information goods and services, and the
implications for government policy. Do we have more or less? Of
what?