Hispanics demand media ownership.(Growing Pains)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, May, 2004

Even as Washington moves to relax media-ownership rules, Hispanic TV stations are calling for more oversight. Smaller Latino media companies and consumer activists are lobbying the FCC and Congress to declare Spanish-language programming a separate market from the overall media market.

That would make it easier for antitrust regulators to block Hispanic media mergers. They're concerned with the size of two giants created by NBC's takeover of Telemundo and Univision's buyout of Spanish radio leader Hispanic Broadcasting. They also want to protect the carriage rights of Hispanic programmers in the digital era. The new Independent Spanish Broadcasters Association is ramping up operations, and it has 20 dues-paying members.