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Group Delivers Petition To Deny the Broadcast License of KGAN Channel 2
Group Delivers Petition To Deny the Broadcast License of KGAN Channel 2Iowans for Better Local Television to hold broadcaster to a higher standard of service
Iowans
for Better Local Television (IBLTV) are gathering at the offices of
KGAN-TV to deliver a copy of their Petition to Deny the License Renewal
to Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The petition requests that
KGAN-TV Channel 2’s application for license renewal not be granted
until a public hearing is held to ascertain whether the broadcaster has
met the “statutory public interest” standard.
Television
station licenses are granted by the FCC for an eight year term. The
deadline for Iowa television stations to apply for license renewal was
October 1, 2005. The public has until December 30, 2005 to file
petitions to deny these renewals, or informal comments to the
FCC. Thus, it will be another eight years before citizens have a
chance to examine the performance of their local stations. According to
IBLTV Co-Chair Trish Nelson, KGAN and its corporate owner, Sinclair
Broadcast Group, have failed to meet the FCC’s programming and
management standards required of all television license holders.
The
petition states that KGAN owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, appears to
have lied to the FCC, violates the FCC’s ownership rules, has a
technically inadequate signal, fails to meet standards for children’s
programming and does not do an adequate job of reporting local issues.
“Filing
a license challenge against a broadcaster is an enormous effort,”
Nelson said. “We’ve met to work on the petition twice a month for the
past year; we’ve visited KGAN nearly a dozen times; we’ve recorded,
watched and analyzed hundreds of hours of KGAN programming; we’ve read
hundreds of public comments; many of us have even taken vacation time
from our jobs to complete the project by the FCC’s deadline.”
In the
coming months the FCC will review IBLTV’s license challenge and report
back its findings to the group. “If the FCC is ever going to deny a
television station license renewal, this is the case,” IBLTV member
Arron Wing said. “Sinclair, honored by Business Week as one of the
worst managed companies in the country, manages to increase profits,
while its revenues decrease, by engaging in joint operating agreements,
cutting staff, and totally ignoring its statutory and moral obligations
to the community. If the FCC won’t deny a license renewal for one of
the worst television stations, and worst broadcasting companies in the
United States, perhaps there ought to be a congressional hearing on the
FCC’s performance as well.”
Iowans for Better Local TV –
IBLTV.Org
Thank you, Iowa!
10 more signatures needed
to reach 500 by Thursday noon!!
IBLTV.Org
Thank you, Iowa!
10 more signatures needed
to reach 500 by Thursday noon!!
Click here: There is still time to
sign
our petition to the
FCC
But sign now…Time
is running
out!
And the story makes the breaking news section of Broadcasting & Cable. 5pm. Hear it here first, folks!
is running
out!
And the story makes the breaking news section of Broadcasting & Cable. 5pm. Hear it here first, folks!
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Update as of 12/23/05 – the visit to KGAN was a huge success – IBLTV is already hearing from media reform-minded groups around the country who want to challgne the licenses of their local stations!
As soon as our webmaster has time to come up for air, watch our website, http://www.ibltv.org for text of the Petition – all 71 pages (without affidavits, declarations, exhibits which add up to about 500 pages).