Disney says to the FCC: No need to loosen ownership rules

Filed in archive Business Trends , Internet TV on October 25, 2006

company would have compared its current size to Jabba the Hut but realized it did not own that particular copyright

There's nothing like a large, bloated media empire saying to the FCC that it already has more than enough stations to deliver content and does not need more. That should give us a hint just how large a cap that current rules already permit.



Just for the record, Disney owns 10 stations that reach 24% of the country, well below the 39% cap the FCC imposes.

But the real business story here is less about the FCC ownership caps and more about what is happening to video distribution today. Disney does not need more stations because they are exploiting many new media strategies like iPod downloads, streaming video at ABC.com, and other set-top box VOD schemes.

The point is that the FCC is concentrating on how media power was measured in the past. It is not grappling with how media power will be understood in the future and Disney gets it.