Market competition, station ownership, and local public affairs programming on broadcast Television

This study examines the relationship between competitive conditions in television markets, ownership characteristics, and commercial broadcast television station provision of local public affairs programming. The results from an analysis of a random sample of 285 full-power television stations showed that half of the stations in the sample did not air any local public affairs programming during the 2-week sample period. Among the study's other findings are that competitive conditions and station financial resources do not necessarily increase the provision of local public affairs programming and that ownership characteristics bear little meaningful relationship to local public affairs programming provision. © 2006 International Communication Association.

Duke Scholars

Author Philip Michael Napoli Sanford School of Public Policy