In a classic, text-book example of Bait & Switch the management of FOX 31, Nextstar Broadcasting Group, which also owns WROC channel 8, is urging viewers to contact their political leaders to “Help Preserve Local TV!” Naturally, their real goal is to persuade the FCC to loosen regulations on the number of TV stations a single company can own in a given market.

Nexstar wants to control even more stations in smaller markets like Rochester and they hope to dupe their audience into helping them.

Recently, FOX 31 has been broadcasting a plea to it’s viewers to go to their website and “Help Preserve Local TV.” This “commercial” includes a personal plea from the station manager who I understand doesn’t live in Rochester.

When one visits either the FOX or WROC websites there is a banner box across the top begging visitors to go to PreserveLocalTv.com with a sub-head, “We need your help!”

The first stop (http://preservelocaltv.com) explains the terrible threat to local television. This dire warning reasons:

There’s a battle being waged in Washington and it could lead to less local news. The war’s being fought over a simple issue. Should one company be allowed to own more than one television station? Opponents say no, media giants could swallow up stations and control the news. If this were 1935, that’d be a pretty good argument. Media was a lot different back then. Most towns across America had a radio station or two, maybe a couple of newspapers, but not much more. Today the world’s a much different place. There are hundreds of cable channels, thousands of radio stations and too many internet sites to even count. A media monopoly is simply impossible in today’s world.

But an overreaction to an unrealistic threat could have serious consequences. In medium and small television markets, the difference between profitability and loss can be thin. Operating two stations gives companies like ours the ability to deliver another news voice to the market. It means more local news not less. It means more local jobs. It’s good for our community.

These are categorical lies. Also, there is no such contraction that’d.

A brief, partial rebuttal: What does 1935 have to do with anything. What do ”hundreds of cable channels, thousands of radio stations and too many internet sites to even count” have to do with anything? In a classic faulty argument these red herrings try to throw us off before we encounter the central, and completely illogical assertion, “Operating two stations gives companies like ours the ability to deliver another news voice to the market. It means more local news not less. It means more local jobs.”

Rochester has already seen how well the consolidation method works. FOX 31, which is apparently still owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, is operated by Nextstar which owns and operates WROC Channel 8. When Sinclair signed FOX 31 over to Nextstar it promptly dumped the sales staff, the office/support people, production staff, reporters, most on-air personalities, bailed out of their offices and consolidated the news departments!

That’s why you see the same faces on the news shows of both 31 and 8. A glowing example of “the ability to deliver another news voice to the market. It means more local news not less. It means more local jobs.”

Also on this page is a roll-over button for the many markets Nextstar operates in. While you might have thought the menace of consolidation was a local issue apparently the effort to enlist support from viewers happens in every Nextstar market! Once you click Rochester there appears a list of news and public affairs shows both stations produce. This is an apparent attempt to show all the great things done in the community by the stations. It hopes to imply that all this selfless local programming in under threat. Naturally it doesn’t mention that most of this programing is mandated by their FCC licenses.

Now that you, the visitor, are engaged and enraged at the folly of the FCC repressing free enterprise, you should be moved to click the “How Can I Help” button. This takes you to a list your politicians by zip code. This list is interesting because it includes two buttons, one for email and one for “written letter.” It’s curious that such important politicians such as NY State Senators Clinton and Schumer have no email links! (Gosh, when will those backward Dems catch up to the electronic age?!) On this page you can read a BS letter that lists the various harms being done to the profit margins of Nextstar. You fill out the form, and some personal data, and off to DC it goes.

The good part is that you can send ANY message from this site, though there is no guarantee that opposing opinions it will be sent. There is an opt out bottom to withhold your letter from the “What others are saying “ page. If a negative opinion doesn’t show up there it won’t likely make it to your reps either.

Below I have written an alternative sample letter which I urge the audience of RochesterTurning to submit. *

If you would like to know more about the company which owns/operates 50% of Rochester’s TV network affiliates go here:

This is where you will discover the real motives of Nextstar because they are written in black and white. How does the Protect Local TV plan work?

Read “About Our Company” (http://www.nexstar.tv/nexstar/about.asp) where you’ll encounter this interesting statement:

We believe the medium-sized markets offer significant advantages over larger markets, most of which results from a lower level of competition. First, because there are fewer well-capitalized acquirers with a medium-market focus, we have been successful in purchasing stations on more favorable terms than acquirers of large market stations. Second, in many of our markets, there exists only two or three other local commercial television stations. As a result, we achieve lower programming costs, than stations in larger markets because the supply of quality programming exceeds demand.

And:

Over the past few years we have more than doubled the size of our portfolio, and including the recently announced acquisition of WTAJ in Altoona, PA, Nexstar will own, operate, program or provide sales and other services to 49 television stations covering 27 markets and reaching approximately 9.2 million of US television households or 8.25% of the US television market. In 17 of the 27 markets that we serve, we own or provide services to more than one station.

And:Â

Nexstar has an industry reputation for pioneering new initiatives, including establishing virtual duopolies in its markets, contracting retransmission consent agreements with satellite and cable providers and most recently, undertaking new media sales development.

(I think this means Nextstar makes it harder/more expensive for cable and dish companies to broadcast the local stations they operate! It’s all for the people…)

So WHO is Nextstar Broadcasting Group of Irving Texas and why do they care so much about protecting local news in our community?

Here is the bottom line from their financial statement for th 2nd qtr of 2006. Statement by Perry A. Snook CEO:

Nexstar’s focus on mid-sized markets and virtual duopolies with focused concentration on local news resulted in second quarter net revenue growth of 10.1%. Nexstar’s year-over-year gain in gross local and national advertising revenue produced a 9.3% increase. Retransmission consent agreements contributed cash revenues of $2 million as well as approximately $1 million of ad spends in the 2006 second quarter.

Let’s meet Perry! Perry earns $900,000 annually and lives in Texas. (Check out what the ONLY FEMALE on the Board earns vs the men!)

Though Perry is well compensated the company is…well…not so good– They need more monopolies in more markets. It’s better for local news!

To see a picture of Perry and a short bio see: http://www.tab.org/awards-broadcaster.php

He’s only concerned with preserving our local news I’m sure.

* If you believe that media monopolies are a bad thing, that consolidation of ownership, in any size market, reduces competition, cuts jobs, diminishes local news delivery and is a violation of various FCC mandates please use the following model letter and post it on the Nextstar website to be sent to our government reps. You may also send it own your own!

Dear Sirs and Madams,

Please deny the attempt to reduce the ownership limitations now in place in FCC regulations.

Increasing ownership limits, especially in mid sized markets, reduces jobs and is an unnecessary and intrusive interference in business competition.

Consolidation of news departments harms the community’s ability to get reliable, unfiltered and immediate news reporting. Less is not better when it comes to news reporting. Business efficiencies, implemented as they are to yield higher profits, is not an acceptable reason to diminish media competition and news gathering resources.

The FCC should be making tougher ownership regulations not loosening the existing ones.

Signed,