Media Consolidation

Media Consolidation

Preserving media ownership limits is critical to protecting media owners of color from being crowded out by rampant media consolidation. Broadcast licenses held by people of color remain far below 10 percent at a time when over a third of Americans are people of color. Latinos are severely underrepresented as media owners, despite being one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the US with $1.5 trillion in purchasing power.

Following media mergers, consumers are often left with fewer choices and higher bills while the quality of service, diversity in programming and innovation suffers. Current media ownership rules limiting cross-ownership of newspapers, radio and TV stations in the same market must be enforced and strengthen to ensure that all voices are heard.

For over a decade, the National Hispanic Media Coalition has worked to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission upholds broadcast ownership limits and consistently releases timely data to the public with a thorough analysis so remaining barriers to Latino ownership can be understood and addressed. The organization also works to oppose large media mergers where they negatively impact Latino consumers.