Deregulation
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On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission enacted changes that relax certain rules governing regulation in the media industry. The changes would permit a new wave of consolidation among newspaper, television and radio companies, which proponents say will increase competition and produce more and better news. The FCC voted to change the nation's media ownership rules, raising television ownership caps from 35 percent to 45 percent and permitting television-newspaper cross-ownership. While opponents fear the new rules place too much power over public opinion in the hands of a few giant media corporations. The major networks wanted the cap eliminated, while smaller broadcasters said a higher cap would allow the networks to gobble up stations and take away local control of programming. Critics of the rule changes cite potential abuses to the system and the possibility of decreased competition in media markets. They argue that consolidation will further undermine the expression of viewpoints that lie outside the mainstream or the agenda of network officials. Furthermore, with fewer sources of media competition on the local level, many people harbor concerns that there will be an effective decrease in quality of media due to the lack of alternatives for consumers.
If only a few networks are providing services to the public, deregulation does not guarantee that prices will be driven down, but rather that prices will be set at the level that maximizes profit. In the absence of local regulation, cable tv rates would shoot up all across the nation...