Primary Investigators:

Catherine Sandoval and Allen S. Hammond, IV, Santa Clara University School of Law

Partnering Organization:

Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC)

A longitudinal follow-up to a previous SSRC small-grant sponsored survey on “Understanding Barriers to Entry for Minority and Female Broadcasters.” The survey will target minority broadcasters and provide extensive detail on their size, structure, and perceptions of barriers to entry and growth.  It will inquire into broadcasters’ perceptions of the effect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the consolidation of the radio and television industries on their ability to compete and serve the public. It will ask whether additional consolidation should be permitted and what public policies would assist minority and female broadcasters.

Finally, it will ask about the effect of other market forces (such as access to capital and advertising industry practices) on broadcasters serving minority audiences.  This work addresses an important and growing gap in our understanding of minority ownership.  In 2001 the National Telecommunications and Information Administration stopped conducting surveys of minority broadcasters, and the Federal Communications Commission has yet to conduct any systematic surveys of minority and female broadcasters. The proposed surveys, designed to become longitudinal, will fill this gap in the policymaking record, provide useful data for FCC media ownership proceedings, and shed light on media ownership policies and their consequences for ownership diversity