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Duopoly notwithstanding, FCC's household reach cap limits expansion of TV groups
The largest 25 TV station group owners now control nearly 42% of the country's commercial TV stations, up from 38.6% a year ago. That growth is in line with what has been happening over the past few years, despite the FCC's first attempt at TV deregulation some seven months ago. But instead of spurring the creation of TV megagroups, as radio deregulation did for that industry in 1996, the FCC's move to allow one company to own two TV stations in a single market has left little room to expand into new markets. By and large, duopoly has simply motivated broadcasters to buy second stations that they previously had managed in certain markets.
The creation of megagroups has largely been constrained by the...