Concentration and Diversity

Michael Hedges July 30, 2004

Concentration of media ownership in Europe is more than a pointless academic debate. Every regulatory agency takes it seriously. The EC takes it seriously. Measuring media concentration and analyzing the effects has rarely been systematic. Conventional wisdom, often from the public sector, charges concentration with metaphysical badness.

The Dutch regulator published a study two weeks ago, authored by David Wade, of media concentration in 10 European countries. It’s a herculean task to quantify media concentration in the three primary sectors - newspaper, TV and radio. It’s an excellent report. According to the study, France and Germany have the least concentrated – most diverse – radio ownership, for very different reasons. Luxembourg radio and TV is highly concentrated. RTL dominates. But in several countries, led by Switzerland, electronic media is concentrated among the PSBs.

One line in the report jumped out at me: “In Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK the closest competitor to the public radio stations is at best 50% below the market share of the public broadcaster and in most cases this is far more extreme.”

An economic and business argument can be made for concentration. And the PSB remit generally falls outside those constraints. Economists see concentration within any sector like the tides; it comes in, it goes out, back and forth, controlled by the moon. In Sweden, for example, economic survival of the commercial radio sector necessitated some concentration. A year ago SBS took controlling interest in Bonniers radio operations. Two weeks ago MTG took controlling interest in NRJs stations. And in the UK, rumors abound regarding a merger of Capital and GWR.

Saga of the meters

Maybe the recent piece about electronic measurement will be the last for a few months. (“New Devices Raise New Questions,” RWI, July 2004) When I send emails to the editor with “electronic measurement” in the subject line, they bounce back immediately as junk mail. GfK Praha tested Radiocontrol measurement this spring, results to be released shortly. And a report from Spain is out. I’ll summarize those in a few weeks. Mike Sainsbury pointed out that Joint Industry Committees (JICs, not to be confused with Joint Intelligence Committees) are well-regarded captains steering the good ship measurement through rough waters. RAJAR comes to mind, and there are others. Where JICs aren’t formed, navigation is difficult.

Radio from the ground up

About once a quarter for the past two years I’ve written about radio in developing and transitional regions. “Huge Mix for Sprawling Nation,” (RWI, July 2004) is the most recent. At a time when radio is degraded in the most developed Western countries it’s fascinating to hear from regions where it continues to move people. A piece on radio in Ivory Coast/West Africa will run next month and one on DR Congo/Central Africa the following month. After that I’ll be gathering information for two reports on media in conflict zones. One will focus on the Balkans and rebuilding the PSBs. The second looks at what happens to local media as hostilities erupt and support given, or not, to local media providers.

Further notes on American notes….

Several contributors noted that Clear Channel Radio announced its intention to reduce commercial time on its stations by the first of 2005. Several proprietary studies over the last 5 years in the US have indicated a possible connection between heavy spot-loads, which can exceed 20 minutes per hour, and lower listening levels. Every music programmer has nightmares about the iPod. CCs decision is also a business decision; rates are falling.

In the pre-deregulation days the NAB Codes served as industry-wide self-regulation of many program issues. That changed. Now the US regulator, the FCC, is under pressure from many sides to regulate where the Codes once stood.

Programming issues in Europe, certainly commercial content, are heavily regulated. In the UK, OFCOM is looking carefully, and hopefully, at self-regulation.

For more on ad self-regulation in the UK see: www.asa.org.uk