Benjamin J. Bates

Concentration in local television markets

This article asserts that the degree of economic concentration in markets is affected by the precise definition of the markets and that measurement is problematic because media firms operate in a number of markets and face competition from substitutes. The author builds several alternative market definitions for local television and shows that there are significant differences in the measured concentration levels using the market definitions.

Channel Diversity in Cable Television.

Deregulation in the cable industry has been based largely on the assumption of existing diversity and competition, and on the promise of promoting diversity. While anecdotal evidence supports these conclusions, empirical confirmation of either the assumption or promise of diversity in cable has been lacking. This study examined levels of channel diversity for a sample of cable systems over time, finding that although there have been significant increases in channel diversity, there is still considerable room for improvement.

THE IMPACT OF MESSAGES ON SURVEY PARTICIPATION IN ANSWERING MACHINE HOUSEHOLDS

This study investigated the impact of telephone an- swering machines on telephone survey participation. The study found that households with answering machines were more likely to be contacted, more likely to complete the interview, and less likely to refuse to participate in the study compared to house- holds where there was no answer on the initial call attempt. The study also investigated the utility of leaving messages on the an- swering machine as a means of encouraging participation. While leaving messages did result in higher participation rates, there were no significant differences among the types of messages tested.

Uses and Values for News on Cable Television.

Cable subscribers who are regular users of television news indicated that broadcast stations were the dominant source of news across all dayparts. Cable news dependent subscribers were more likely than broadcast news dependent subscribers to use cable news on a regular basis and tune to cable in a national crisis. They were younger, compared cable news more favorably to broadcast news, and placed a higher dollar value on cable news.

The impact of deregulation on television station prices

This study explores how the dropping of the “trafficking” rule, expansion of ownership limits, and other deregulation have affected sale prices of television stations. It reveals that when inflation and other control factors are considered, deregulation has not had a significant impact on the value of the stations.

Perceived Value of Scholarly Articles

When faced with an abundance of articles, readers must weigh the relative importance of various characteristics to select which articles to read. Over 400 researchers in 12 countries responded to a questionnaire that asked them to rank seven article characteristics and rate 16 article profiles. After article topic, the next most highly ranked characteristics were online accessibility and source of article. Conjoint analysis revealed the highest rated profiles to be (i) article written by a top‐tier author, in a top peer‐reviewed journal, available online at no personal cost to the reader; and (ii) article written by a top‐tier author, in a peer‐reviewed journal not in the top tier, available online at no personal cost to the reader. There were significant differences in characteristic rankings by discipline and geographic location.

Breaking the structural logjam: The impact of cable on local TV market concentration

The author considers the effect of cable on market concentration in local television markets using different types of market definitions for the analysis. He concludes that cable has introduced competition and that it has lowered concentration levels in local markets, thus altering the structure of television markets put in place by FCC television allocation plans and limits of local economies.

Station trafficking in radio: The impact of deregulation

Critics of the revocation of the “anti‐trafficking” rule in 1982 argued that traffickers would seek and obtain supranormal profits from the purchase and resale of stations, while proponents suggested that competition would prohibit such behavior from being successful. Using a census of open‐market radio sales from 1988 to 1990, this study finds somewhat different results for the AM, FM, and AM/FM combination segments of radio broadcasting. Trafficking appears to be most successful in the market for FM stations.

Influence of Cable on Television News Audiences

A comparison of television viewing in the 1982–1989 years shows a steady decline of network news viewers, especially among those with pay television. A comparable decline is not found for local broadcast news. The increase in viewing of CNN and the related Headline News was steady, but mostly accounted for by the general expansion of cable, now in about 60% of American homes. One could argue that cable either merely diverts audiences from the traditional networks or that cable services actually win over audiences from the networks in head-to-head competition, and this study finds some evidence that cable is winning the competition.

Deregulation and Station Trafficking.

As part of its general deregulation efforts, the Federal Communications Commission rescinded its “Anti‐trafficking” rule permitting station owners to resell properties within three years of their initial acquisition. Critics argued that traffickers would be likely to behave to maximize short‐term profits and station values, and would thus earn higher returns on their investment than other station owners. Examining station sales over the period 1973‐1986, this study finds that “traffickers” have not been successful in achieving higher prices and returns to value than other station owners.