Media Consolidation – Media & Communications Policy

June 5, 2026June 3, 2026 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

Who Can Save Local Television? The Merger Main Street May Need

By most accounts, America’s local television stations are in trouble. Declining viewership, diminished advertising revenue, and devastating competition from streaming services have left local broadcasters facing a dire future, and their fate now rests with a federal court in California.

Against this backdrop, Nexstar, America’s largest television station owner, moved to acquire Tegna in a $6.2-billion merger. The deal would establish the combined company as the undisputed leader of local television and promises to serve hundreds of cities with local news, weather, emergency information, sports, and community content.

March 4, 2026March 3, 2026 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

Making TV Great Again – Better Than Ever

Television is experiencing its most consequential and captivating period of the year, a span of several weeks that began with the Golden Globe Awards, Grammy Awards, the Super Bowl – the most watched event in the world – and continues through the Winter Olympics, March Madness, the Academy Awards (Oscars), and the World Cup.

It is a time when millions of Americans and those across the globe gather in front of their TV sets for must-see communal rituals, while thousands more have spent the last few weeks seeking the best buys on big-screen TVs to upgrade their home theaters. The annual January surge in TV sales is more than a seasonal trend; it is a tangible vote of confidence from consumers who see television as the undisputed hearth of the modern home.

October 16, 2025October 16, 2025 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

TV Consolidation – A Moat Against Extinction

Broadcast television, once the unquestioned center of American life, now stands at the edge of obsolescence. What was once a cultural hearth has been pushed to the margins by streaming, cord-cutting, “cord-nevers,” and the algorithmic dominance of Big Tech. Viewers have migrated, advertisers have followed, and revenue models that once sustained thousands of stations are eroding at an accelerating pace.

The uncomfortable truth is that fragmentation has become fatal. American broadcasters, still bound by ownership rules written for another era, are ill-equipped to compete against digital behemoths that operate without limits. Unless policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders embrace consolidation, the medium that has long been free, universal, and trusted risks being reduced to a relic of a bygone era.

March 13, 2025March 13, 2025 By Guest Author Curtis LeGeyt

Local Broadcasters Need Level Playing Field To Compete, Innovate, Serve the Public

America’s broadcasters are beacons of our democracy. Every day, they exercise their First Amendment right to report, inform, and help citizens understand the issues that affect their daily lives.

And let’s face it: This is a challenging time to be a broadcast journalist. As the truth competes with falsehoods on social media and political polarization gets the headlines, exercising our First Amendment right to inform the public and provide the facts has never been more challenging – or essential.

December 4, 2024December 3, 2024 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

A New Era at the FCC: What’s Ahead

Media have become more important and invasive in our lives than ever. Whether online, TV, video, wireless, or wearable devices, Americans can’t seem to survive more than a few minutes without them.

It thus stands to reason that a newly established Federal Communications Commission led by incoming Chairman Brendan Carr will expand the agency’s reach into areas where more and more Americans are engaged. As such, it could become as important and involved in our lives as the very media it regulates.

May 29, 2024May 28, 2024 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

American TV Is Changing for Better or Worse

The American TV market is changing before our very eyes, presenting viewers, creators, and advertisers an unprecedented degree of choice, convenience, and competition. We are witnessing a platinum age of television, where an alluring array of movies, sports, and specials is accessible on our phones, tablets, and computers, available anytime and anyplace, on demand. Though we now refer to it as “video,” at its essence it remains television, and we just cannot get enough of it.

But, for traditional TV broadcasters, these changes are both a blessing and a bane. A blessing because more people are watching more video than ever before. A bane because more people are viewing that video through non-traditional media, which represents an evolving societal shift.

March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 By Richard T. Kaplar

Who Will Keep the Sun Shining?

The news media’s annual celebration of Sunshine Week, which takes place March 10-16, has always called to mind the importance of access to government information, transparency of public records, and the idea that the free flow of information is an essential element of “good government.”

Created by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) in 2005, the event was timed to coincide with the March 16 birthday of Founding Father James Madison, a strong supporter of the Bill of Rights. It has always been envisioned as a celebration of the Freedom of Information Act signed into law on July 4, 1966, which outlined mandatory disclosure provisions for federal documents and records.

November 19, 2018November 21, 2018 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

Conflict and Compromise Await New Congress in Telecom, Media, Tech

A new era of American history begins when the 116th Congress convenes in January 2019 with one of the most partisan classes in modern history. Depending on which side of the aisle they sit, the members’ mission will be either to balance the ship of state or continue full steam ahead.

Conventional wisdom suggests there will be conflict. Optimists hope there will be compromise. The reality will be somewhere in between as the new Congress will have the opportunity to forge a unified path on things that matter to all Americans. With so many pressing policy issues facing the republic – immigration, healthcare, homeland security, and more – it is a stretch to think telecom, media, and technology (TMT) issues will top the agenda or lead the day.

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February 19, 2018June 7, 2018 By Adonis Hoffman, Esq.

The Judge Who Holds Key to Future of Media

Federal Judge Richard Leon is not a household name, but he is one of the most powerful men in Washington. As senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Leon’s past decisions have altered the fate of some of America’s biggest companies, and his upcoming decision holds the key to the future of the media industry itself.

Leon made history in 2011 by approving the $38 billion Comcast-NBCU merger, positioning the new company as the largest cable and broadcast entity in the U.S. More importantly, his ruling established a hard-to-overlook legal precedent, which has influenced antitrust law and competition policy ever since.

Today, Judge Leon presides over yet another ground-breaking case with similar themes: United States v. AT&T and Time Warner. A mega merger valued at $108.7 billion, the deal seeks to marry a major content distributor (AT&T) with a leading video content producer (Time Warner). Beyond the litigants, the media and communications sector anxiously await the judge’s ruling, and with good reason.

First, the case marks the first time since the Carter administration (1977) that the U.S. Department of Justice has sued to block a vertical merger (i.e., between two companies that do not compete)…..

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February 9, 2016January 30, 2017 By Patrick Maines

Progressives’ Anti-Merger Mania

The proposed merger between the cable systems of Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks has brought out the usual poseurs in opposition. I speak, of course, of such as Common Cause, Consumers Union, and Public Knowledge (all of which are wrong in their usual and tiresome way, but not certifiable), and their more extreme kin, Media Alliance and Free Press.

As it happens, there exists a bridge between these armies of progressivism in the person of former FCC commissioner Michael Copps. Since leaving the FCC, Copps has flocked to the aid of those organizations he favored when he was a commissioner. So it is that the gentleman is now on the board of Free Press and a “special adviser” to Common Cause.

Which, of course, is why it’s important to know the kinds of things he’s saying about the merger. Writing in Common Dreams (“Breaking News and Views for the Progressive Community”), Copps relieves himself of opinions like these:

This merger would create a new Comcast – a national cable giant with the ability and the incentive to thwart competition, diversity, and consumer choice…. >> Read More

The opinions expressed above are those of the writer and not of The Media Institute, its Board, contributors, or advisory councils. The full version of this article appeared in The Hill on Feb. 9, 2016.