FCC: Large Spanish-Language Nets Dominate TV

The FCC's Media Bureau can't say for sure whether Hispanic ownership leads to more Hispanic programming or viewership.

That is according to a just-released study of the impact of Hispanic TV station ownership on a station's programming decisions and popularity with a Hispanic audience.

"While we find suggestive evidence, we cannot draw strong conclusions with regard to the viewing of Hispanic-owned stations," the report concluded.

But it did find that Hispanics favor the major Spanish-Language networks, particularly Univision, which is not Hispanic-owned, watch more Spanish-language news than English-language news, and like Telenovelas.

The FCC said one of the reasons it was hard to draw conclusions from the study was the small sample size--only 23 TV stations.

Ultimately, said the FCC, "this study cannot establish whether viewers respond to a change in ownership by adjusting their viewing habits, or whether a change in ownership corresponds to a change in the program lineup of a station that may, in turn, affect viewing decisions."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.