Businesses in general are aware of the credit shortage as of last fall, but broadcasters have been on to it for years. The FCC wants to find out some of the facts, and will convene separate panels of small and large broadcasters, and financiers, to try to get at the answers.
The workshop is scheduled for 1/12/10 at 9AM. It is considered to be part of the quadrennial review of FCC ownership rules.
The FCC says it wants to find out whether:
* The media ownership rules affect the financial health of broadcasters
* Lending or investing institutions consider the rules in their funding practices
* Economic changes affecting the media marketplace are cyclical or permanent
* There is a need to balance financial conditions in the media industry with other policy goals when conducting the Commission’s ownership review and, if so, how that should be done
The first panel will be devoted to the smaller broadcasters and will also include members of the financial community that serves their needs; the larger broadcasters will also be joined by relevant financial services.
RBR-TVBR observation: We repeat – broadcasters have had trouble finding agreeable financial types for years now. We wonder how the FCC is going to find them.
