Is concentration of media ownership at a regional level much of an
issue? The ITC obviously thinks so - witness its decision last week to
take a look at United News and Media. Aside from the fact that its
timing could be better, is this really a suitable case for ITC
treatment? reports
Last week, the Independent Television Commission decided it was high
time to take a look at the activities of United News and Media. Under
the provisions of the last Broadcasting Act, it is the ITC’s job to
monitor potentially dangerous concentrations of media ownership, either
at a national or a regional level.
United News and Media - the giant created when Lord Hollick’s MAI
acquired United Newspapers - has an interesting portfolio in the South-
east of England. MAI brought the Meridian and Anglia franchises to the
party, while the United portfolio included a clutch of newspapers in the
Anglia region. If you factor in the group’s national newspapers - the
Daily Star and the Express stable - then it might seem that the ITC has
a case to pursue.
Shame about the timing. When United sold its Welsh regional newspapers
recently, it indicated that it was going to concentrate its regional
activities in the North of England. Last week, United sources were
letting it be known that the sale of the Anglia region titles was
imminent.
But surely that’s neither here nor there. The whole issue of regional
concentration of media ownership is dead in the water, isn’t it? Last
month, the ITC looked into the acquisition of Caledonian Publishing -
which owns Glasgow’s Herald and Evening Times newspapers - by Scottish
Television. The verdict? The acquisition could not be deemed to be
against the public interest.
As far as this latest regional issue is concerned, the great and the
good at the ITC have invited observations from all interested parties by
13 December. Will there be a great clamour to get to the head of the
queue?
Darren Guy, the director of regional media at Zenith Media, doesn’t
think so. He says that conditional selling - the only real issue at
stake here - is an unlikely outcome. ‘When we use press, we use it for a
reason. When we use TV, we use it for a reason. It doesn’t come down to
coverage - it’s all about environment. We will not change strategy
because we can do deals across two media. I can’t see it, though - the
idea that we might be asked to run a TV ad because we want to use
regional press in a particular area is ridiculous. Let’s face it - in
this case, the Brentwood Yellow Advertiser is poles apart from Anglia
TV,’ he says.
On the other hand, Guy argues, there might be opportunities,
particularly when it comes to the peripheral or value-added areas of a
campaign. ‘There are joint promotions and PR opportunities that can
benefit the media owner as well as the advertiser. Media owners who own
a range of media are often better able to co-ordinate that,’ he adds.
Graham Milne, the managing director of Morgan CIA, says that there have
been few potential problems in Scotland - yet. He’s happy that the
watchdogs are paying attention but he’s not optimistic about their
ability to act. ‘With the STV acquisition of the Caledonian deal, one of
the benefits they talked about was joint selling on a ‘how can we help
you?’ basis. Those sorts of things are fine, provided the talks take
place at a suitably high level and the people dealing day to day don’t
get bogged down by it,’ he states.
‘So far, I don’t think anyone has been too bothered. But what happens if
it goes further? And at what point do we get concerned? There are
permutations involving the Mirror Group - which owns 20 per cent of STV
as well as the biggest-selling newspaper, the Daily Record, up here -
that could be worrying in the future.’
Milne argues that the point about regional advertising is that each
medium you deal with often has a regional monopoly. ‘It’s when all of
those monopolies are held by the one company that the big worries
begin,’ he says. ‘It’s good to know that bodies such as the ITC are
aware of activity at a local level. But when trading problems arise,
we’ll be the people to feel it first, not the ITC. It would then be up
to us to take the appropriate action.’
Chris Stanley, the director of marketing at the Newspaper Society, says
that the ITC is barking up the wrong tree. ‘By and large, regional
newspaper businesses haven’t been making moves into mainstream TV and
the TV big guns don’t have a lot of interest in regional press,’ he
points out.
But he is fundamentally opposed to anything that would stop the regional
press from diversifying: ‘Regional papers have wonderfully strong
franchises on a local basis and it would be a mistake to think that
putting ink on paper was the only way to exploit that franchise. The
vast bulk of their businesses will still be in print, of course, but
they have to look at other avenues and vehicles - things like radio,
niche publications, cable and even the Web. They must be given every
opportunity to exploit their franchises in those ways. In the broad
media landscape it isn’t really an issue whether there is one media
owner in, say, Leicester. Local newspapers are professional operators
and are eminently capable of conducting their business in a way that
will not cause concern to agencies or advertisers.’
Neil Hepburn, an associate media director of BMP DDB, is not so sure. He
says that he’s far more worried about regional newspaper publisher
involvement in radio than in TV. ‘There is a danger of people trying to
close up local markets but the point is that TV and regional press are
sufficiently far apart in the types of advertising they carry - there
isn’t really a problem there. Anyone trying to do a cross-sell would be
extremely foolhardy,’ he insists.
‘This isn’t going to be a problem area - but I think there are big
issues about ownership of regional media. There is the prospect of less
competition between publishing groups at a regional level and perhaps
it’s time to look at the whole sector again. When the Monopolies and
Mergers Commission looks at a deal, in my opinion, it will look at the
percentage of UK market involved rather than the percentage of the
regional market. It should be the other way around.
‘As for the ITC, I can’t see why it’s keen to get involved unless it is
merely trying to send out a message to the market. Maybe it is just
trying to keep everyone on their toes.’
