The FCC had public hearings on media consolidation where a number of Hollywood insiders, including actors, writers, producers, and musicians testified. This first day of hearings centered on “whether consolidation in the media has hurting the diversity of programming that Americans see and hear on the open airwaves.” CNET reports that “Of the producers and artists who testified in this first panel, the resounding answer to that question was a big ‘yes.’”

We’ll see what happens when representatives of the major studios and labels speak at future sessions. The article has some good background on how these hearings have come about.

I wonder if most Americans are aware of the extent to which consolidation has occurred in the marketplace. TV is pretty much completely owned by 4 companies: Disney, Viacom, NBC Universal (GE & Vivendi), and News Corp. Add a little bit of Time Warner and you’ve pretty much got every channel on my cable lineup. Movies and music are pretty much controlled by Vivendi, Sony, Time Warner. Disney and Viacom have some smaller holdings. It’s actually amazing how much these six companies control: Viacom/CBS, Disney, Sony, GE (with Vivendi), Time Warner, and News Corp.

If you’re interested in learning more, one of my favorite tools is Columbia Journalism Review’s Who Owns What. They have listings of just about every magazine, television station (e.g. WCAU, WPIX, etc.), cable and broadcast television network (ABC, CBS, FOX, HBO, etc.), radio station, radio network, record label, book publisher, and print journalism outlet and who owns them. Just look at the six companies I’ve highlighted above for some interesting reading. Although, they did break out CBS from Viacom for some reason that I can’t figure out yet.