RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

Two-thirds of the black station purchases were made in the top 50 markets, regardless of whether incentives were used or not, Soley and Hough reported that one half of the stations purchased between 1972 and 1976 were in the top 50 markets anđ the other half in the smaller markets . This may suggest that mcentives contribute to further growth in the top 50 markets although it is impossible to confirm at the level of analysis here . The percentage of blacks purchasing stations relative to overall purchases in the marketplace remained virtually the same before and after incentives , It may be that the use of incentives was keeping blacks at the same level of purchase activity in ап industry which experienced explosive growth in the late 1970's and early 1980's, or it may be that this level of purchase activity would have remained the same for blacks with or without mcentives . It does seem clear that incentives were not contributing to black ownership growth relative to the industry overall. Overall average station price is another area in which the use of incentives did not appear to be strengthening the position of blacks in broađcasting . Before incentives the average black station price was 52/ higher than white station prices whereas after incentives, black station prices were 13/. lower than whites . Looking at purchase prices within market categones , however , black purchase prices did increase relative to whites' in certain markets . White purchase prices in the top 20 markets were higher on the average before and after the mtroduction of mcentives . In the 2 1-50 market range , white purchase prices were higher than blacks' before incentives , but after incentives were introduced , black purchase prices are 32Х higher than whites'. Whether this is due to incentives is unclear at this level of analysis . Again, it is not necessarily a bad sign that purchase prices are increasing for blacks m the middle market range rather than in the top 20 because it may be that stations in medium sized markets offer good opportumties for people starting out or expandmg their mterests in the mdustry. When comparing the ownership structures of blacks and whites the đifferences are nominal which may suggest that the differences in ownership lie not in the way blacks own stations nor in the number of stations they own, but m the топеу available to them for purchasing both more stations m the top 50 markets and stations of higher value m these markets . One агеа m which mcentive users differ from non-users te in

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