LAST BLACK-OWNED TV STATIONS SOLD

With the decision by black-owned Roberts Broadcasting to sell its three remaining full-power TV stations to ION Media Networks, there no longer exists a single black-owned full-power TV station in the United States, the Detroit Free Press observed on Saturday. Seven years ago, the newspaper noted, 18 such stations existed, representing just 1.3 percent of all stations in the U.S. However, with the massive drive toward industry consolidation that began with the deregulatory policies of the Reagan administration in the 1990s, station ownership has fallen into the hands of a select few. “This policy shift crowded out existing owners of color and ensured that it would be nearly impossible for new owners to access the public airwaves,” the Free Press commented, while adding, “It’s hard to fathom the sorry state of broadcast ownership during the administration of our nation’s first black president. After all, during his first presidential campaign, President Obama pledged to ‘encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media.’ But that hasn’t happened.”