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Out of the Picture

Out of the Picture 2007 provides updated analysis of the impact of consolidation on minority and female television ownership in the United States.

The report updates the results from last year's Out of the Picture study -- the first complete assessment of minority and female ownership of commercial broadcast TV stations.

According to the study, minorities make up 34 percent of the U.S. population just 3.15 percent of all TV station owners. Thus, it comes as no surprise that content on local stations rarely serves the needs of minority audiences and their communities:

• African American-owned stations reach just 5.3 percent of African American households in the United States.
  
  
• Hispanic or Latino-owned stations reach just 21.7 percent of Latino households.
  
  
• Asian American-owned stations reach just 24 percent of Asian American households.
  
  

Minority ownership is much higher in other parts of the economy. In industries like transportation and health care, all minority groups own businesses at or near their proportion of the general population.

The percentages of businesses owned by minorities have increased over the past several years in nearly every sector of the economy except broadcast TV.

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More Consolidation, Fewer Minorities

The FCC is now attempting to drastically increase media concentration, by allowing one company to own both the major daily newspaper and a broadcast station in a single market.

This rule change would further diminish the number of minority-owned stations.

Out of the Picture 2007 found that:

• Minority station owners are particularly vulnerable to the effects of media consolidation.
  
  
• Minority owners thrive in more competitive, less concentrated markets.
  
  
• Minority production of local news is far more likely to occur in a competitive market than in markets with less competition.
  
  

Moreoever, the new data suggests that the future of minority TV station ownership is in jeopardy. From October 2006 to October 2007, the number of minority-owned commercial TV stations decreased by 8.5 percent -- and African American TV station ownership dropped by an astonishing 60 percent.

Yet despite the worsening crisis of minority ownership, the FCC has yet to even conduct an accurate count of minority-owned stations. The most recent FCC study on this issue failed to identify 69 percent of minority TV station owners.

Out of the Picture 2007 found that the best way to increase minority ownership is to roll back media consolidation.

>> Civil Rights Leaders Express Outrage
>> Take Action: Defend Media Diversity
>> Download Out of the Picture 2007
>> Learn more about Off the Dial, our study of radio station ownership