Review of Barry R. Litman, The Vertical Structure of the Television Broadcasting Industry

Book excerpt: Barry Litman's book kits comfortably within the Federal Communications Commission's traditional view that the dominance of the television industry by the three major networks can be reduced by regulating their commercial practices. Although Litman recognizes that FCC spectrum allocation policies for broadcasting and policies affecting television systems that use alternative technologies have been responsible for the high degree of concentration in network television, he nevertheless remains sanguine about the prospects for improving industry performance by placing limits on contractual arrangements between the networks and other industry participants. Thus, as he examines the dealings of the networks with affiliated stations, with program producers, and with advertisers, he is continually searching for new rules that might lessen the role played by the three dominant networks and facilitate the growth of new program sources within the existing broadcast system. Throughout, Litman's concern is to establish that the power of ABC, CBS, and NBC stems from the manner in which they deal with their local distributors, their suppliers, and their customers and to find ways to reduce that power by regulating their practices.