The FCC today released its long-awaited report on the “Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age.” The lengthy report details the past, present and future of nearly every form of media, from for-profit TV outlets, and radio stations to public broadcasters and web-based journalism.
With regards to TV news, the report looks at the state of network and cable news, and the findings (PDF) are not particularly surprising. Network news has been steadily losing viewers for years, but it isn’t all bad:
For all their problems, each of the network news divisions still employs more than 1,000 people, and they continue to do extraordinary journalism. ABC and CBS News both won 2011 duPont-Columbia awards, the former for a series about sexual misconduct among swim coaches and the latter for an investigation of the causes of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.233 And despite their declining audience, the three network evening newscasts still draw 22 million viewers—five times the number tuning in to the three major cable networks (CNN, FOX, and MSNBC) during primetime.234 The truth is, network news is not a horrible business; it’s just not as robust as cable.
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As for the cable networks, the FCC notes their tremendous growth over the last few decades, and points out that while viewers declined in 2010, profits increased, and all three of the major cable news channels increased spending on journalism. The report also spent some time on C-SPAN, a section which would be a sign of things to come:
Though not a big moneymaker, the cable industry has contributed mightily to the flow of public affairs by sustaining C-SPAN (See Chapter 8, C-SPAN.), which, like most commercial cable channels, receives a fee based on the number of subscribers signed up by a local cable operator. Cable’s business model of bundling a package of programs for subscribers, rather than permitting them to choose individual programs a la carte, may be a factor in explaining how C-SPAN and the news networks were able to survive, and even thrive.
In its section (PDF) on “recommendations,” the FCC suggests that states and local communities should create their own versions of C-SPAN, and that perhaps the Corporation for Public Broadcasting shift some funds towards the creation of such networks:
We also would like to see public TV consider the potential of state public affairs networks (SPANs) as a possible form of programming on their multicast channels. Perhaps CPB could provide extra funding to public TV stations that provide carriage for such operations.
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We also believe that PEG channels should not necessarily resist local efforts to require a minimum amount of local programming. If community media centers cannot provide a minimum amount of original programming, it is possible that some other nonprofit entity that can do so should take over. We also encourage community media centers to work collaboratively with other nonprofit media, and vice versa. For instance, in some cases PEG channels could be used to carry state public affairs networks—or as a venue for local nonprofit websites to create local news shows. PEG channels should consider evolving into broader platforms for a broader range of nonprofit programming, including that created by local nonprofit websites, LPFMs, SPANs, public radio or independent video programmers.