Broadcast Ownership Editorial Kit
Why Your Audiences Should Care About Broadcast Ownership Rules
Outdated regulations that limit the growth of your station may seem like just another example of Washington bureaucracy.
Here’s why it matters to your audience:
- Local TV and radio stations don’t simply compete with each other in a market for advertising dollars and audience share. Your station now competes with Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta and the like. While THEY can reach the entire country, your audience is limited because of outdated Washington rules.
- When Big Tech takes ad dollars out of your station, programming suffers. There are less resources for local news, airing sporting events, the latest weather technology and station jobs.
- When stations can’t grow, communities lose coverage. Outdated ownership rules make it harder for stations to stay viable in smaller or rural markets. That means less access to emergency alerts, local election coverage and community stories.
- Your station provides trusted local information that your audience cares about – no Big Tech company can or will do that.
- Netflix, Amazon and others are aggressively bidding for sports rights to air the big games behind a paywall. If they succeed, the sports Americans love will require a subscription (or several).
- Unless Washington updates these rules that prevent broadcasters from growing and innovating – giving Big Tech the advantage – stations will suffer and audiences will lose their local voice.
- Make your voice heard in Washington – take action now and educate your audience on this issue.
How can you educate your audience on broadcast ownership regulations?
- Include this issue in your local news reports. Produce news packages that include the following elements:
- Soundbites from your members of Congress and/or FCC commissioners
- Congressional offices contact info
- FCC Media Relations contact info
- Soundbites from NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt
- Curtis LeGeyt soundbites
- Urge your audience to text the word “TV” or the word “RADIO” to 39179 to ask Congress and the FCC to update the rules.
- See what others have done:
- FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on NewsNation
- NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt on NewsNation
- Article on Sinclair's Columbus, Ohio ABC 6 Website
- NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt on WMAL radio
- Use a sports hook: Use a timely sporting event to draw attention to how sports could move behind paywalls unless Washington updates the rules. Upcoming events include:
- The Masters, April 12-13
- NFL Draft, April 24-26
- Kentucky Derby, May 3
- U.S. Open (Golf), June 14-15
- MLB All Star Game July 13
- Get smart: read our background document on how outdated regulations are giving Big Tech a massive advantage over local stations.
- Share our website with your audience: nab.org/ModernizeTheRules
