media deconsolidation – Technology Liberation Front

Media Deconsolidation (Part 25): The Series So Far

Adam Thierer — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:21:18 +0000

This is just a listing of the installments of my ongoing “Media Deconsolidation Series.” I needed to create a single repository of all the essays so I could point back to them in future articles and papers. For those not familiar with it, this series represents an effort to set the record straight regarding the many myths surrounding the media marketplace. These myths are usually propagated by a group of radical anti-media regulatory activists who I call the “media reformistas.” Sadly, however, many policymakers, journalists, and members of the public are buying into some of these myths, too.

In particular, I have spent much time here debunking the notion that rampant consolidation is taking place and that media operators are only growing larger and devouring more and more companies. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Over the past several years, traditional media operators and sectors have been coming apart at the seams in the face of unprecedented innovation and competition. The volume of divestiture activity has been quite intense, and most traditional media operators have been getting smaller, not bigger. As a result, America’s media marketplace is growing more fragmented and atomistic with each passing day.

Anyway, here’s the series so far…

Related reading:

What the Media Reformistas Really Want
Your Soapbox is My Soapbox! Thoughts on the Media Access Movement
BOOK: Media Myths: Making Sense of the Debate over Media Ownership (2005)
SPECIAL REPORT: Media Metrics: The True State of the Modern Media Marketplace (2008)
BOOK: A Manifesto for Media Freedom (with Brian Anderson, 2008).

Media Deconsolidation (Part 24): I Read the News Today, Oh Boy

Adam Thierer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:43:42 +0000

It almost seems pointless for me to continue my ongoing media DE-consolidation series, which has been an ongoing effort to debunk myths about the media marketplace (specifically, the notion that rampant consolidation is taking place and that operators are only growing larger and devouring more and more companies.) After all, even the kookiest of the media reformistas can’t deny the truth anymore: Traditional media operators are struggling to keep their heads above water, and markets are growing more atomistic by the day, not more concentrated.

The New York Times website seems to run a story per day about traditional media giants falling apart as consumers and advertisers disappear. For those of you with short attention spans, you can even follow the death of old media on Twitter now via “The Media is Dying.” If 140 characters per entry is still too much for you to read, here’s the cribbed version: Lots of downsizing, bankruptcies, and closing of doors. The Tribune’s bankruptcy has been the biggest news this week, but few noticed the amazing statement by CBS Corp. Chief Executive Les Moonves that within 10 years he thinks CBS may dump all its affiliated TV stations and just sell programming direct to cable and satellite operators (and the Net, too). Once other networks take that path, that’s pretty much the end of traditional broadcast local affiliates. (I wonder who the FCC will impose those “localism” regulations on then!)

For those working in the business, the news couldn’t be any worse. As Ad Week reported a few days ago:

The media industries have shed more than 30,000 jobs in 2008, according to an Ad Age analysis of Department of Labor employment statistics and news reports. That’s about 3.5% of the total media work force of 858,000. Since the bubble-inflated high-water mark in 2000, media has lost more than 200,000 jobs.

It’s difficult to have journalism without journalists. Yes, yes… I know all about the blogging revolution, the rise of “mass amateurization,” the wonders of peer-produced “We-dia” (we-media), and so on, but the fact is, professionals matter. I’m not about to go off on some Lee Siegel / Andrew Keen sort of rant here about the evils of the Internet and digital technology — in fact, I have repeatedly blasted those guys here for their Luddite-ish approach to saving media — but there are some serious questions about how investigatory journalism and local media are going to get funded going forward.

Most media operators are scrambling to adjust but most of them don’t really have any idea what to do. It’s easy for armchair critics to say “get online” and “reinvent your business model,” but most media operators have been trying to do exactly that for some time now, and failing (at least failing to make it very profitable). Even the venerable New York Times, with its wonderful online offerings, is struggling to make digital media work in the increasingly crowded online marketplace.

Regardless, none of this will likely subdue the media reformistas and their ongoing effort to regulate traditional media operators into oblivion. We’re going to spend the next few years bickering over the same old media regulations and new regulatory proposals that dominated the last few years. Meanwhile, as the FCC fiddles, old media burns. I don’t understand why we don’t just tear all the old walls down and give them a chance to save themselves.

Media Deconsolidation (Part 23): Cox Selling Most of its Newspapers

Adam Thierer — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:39:08 +0000

My ongoing media DE-consolidation series represents an effort to set the record straight regarding one of the leading myths about the media marketplace today: the notion that rampant consolidation is taking place and that operators are only growing larger and devouring more and more companies.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the past 3 to 5 years, traditional media operators and sectors have been coming apart at the seams in the face of unprecedented innovation and competition. The volume of divestiture activity has been quite intense, and most traditional media operators have been getting smaller, not bigger. “Traditional media’s numbers are shrinking,” argued FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell in a recent speech. “The ironic truth is,” McDowell continued, that “in many cases, media consolidation has actually become media divestiture. Companies… have been shedding properties to raise capital for new ventures.”

And so that trend continues today with the announcement from Cox Enterprises that it will be selling almost all its newspapers. According to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Cox Enterprises, the Atlanta-based media conglomerate that built a multibillion-dollar business from a single Ohio newspaper, announced Wednesday that it plans to sell all but three of its newspaper holdings. The company will retain flagship newspapers in Dayton, Ohio; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Atlanta — including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — but sell dozens of daily and weekly newspapers in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas. Company officials did not disclose an asking price for the properties but said revenue from the sales will be used to pay down debt and free up capital for other investments. Cox will also sell Valpak, the company’s nationwide direct-mail advertising division, officials said. Sandy Schwartz, the Cox president over the newspaper division, said the company has no plans to sell its newspapers in Atlanta, Dayton and West Palm Beach, which are moving aggressively to contain costs and establish strong online readerships. The sale comes amid slumping revenues and declining values for newspapers across the country as print media lose market share to the Internet.

Once again we see how life in the newspaper business can be a turbulent affair with grim long-term growth prospects. Nonetheless, let’s not lose sight of the fact that traditional media operations are once again growing smaller, just like all the media critics supposedly want. So, I eagerly look forward to the press releases from Free Press and Media Access Project noting that fact. But something tells me I shouldn’t hold my breath in anticipation of those statements since we know the media reformistas have a far more ambitious and radical “reform” agenda in mind.