Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, Congresswoman Watson, fellow panelists.
 
I'm Patric M. Verrone, President of the Writers Guild of America, west.
 
I will make my comments brief on this subject of vital importance to our industry, to our democracy, and to free speech and then return to my profession: writing cartoons about a crab monster from outer space.
 
On behalf of the community of 7,500 television, film, and new media writers who belong to our guild, thank you for holding this hearing.
 
We join the unanimous chorus of voices in Hollywood in affirming that media ownership has consolidated into far too few hands.
 
Twenty years ago, I entered this business - I was nine - there were 29 dominant entertainment firms, with 100 billion dollars in annual revenue.
 
Today, there are six, making nearly 400 billion.
 
Fifteen years ago, less than a third of writing employment was controlled by these firms.
 
Today, they control over 80% of it.

During this time frame, however, broadcast media, the daily bread of this commission, has only shown modest increases in revenue and employment for these companies.
 
The growth of these conglomerates has come through expansion into other media outlets: cable, publishing, print, Internet, etc.
 
I have included in my written comments a chart that indicates the vast accretion of these conglomerates and just how tightly our national media is trapped in six webs of control.
 
The ideas that are the vital raw material of our country's democratic process are mostly funneled through these few corporations.
 
As a result, the free speech of Americans on all sides of the political debate are stifled and both the artists we represent, and the viewers and listeners in our audiences, are left out.
 
As the commission has noted, a diversity of contributors is essential to our nation's vital marketplace of ideas.
 
Because control of the media is concentrated among a few similar corporations, the common interests of these corporations further reduces the range of perspectives and life experiences reflected in the media.
 
The palpable result of consolidation on TV writers has been to reduce them to only those ideas acceptable to the corporate voice.
 
Homogenization is good for milk, but bad for ideas.
 
The market failure we have observed is not limited to the figurative "marketplace" of ideas.
 
We see a failure of the literal economic marketplace, as well.
 
While star salaries make the headlines (and even those are being curbed), it is the middle class among the talent in Hollywood who do most of the work. And these are the folks who are being squeezed out.
 
Consolidation has led to tighter production budgets which lead to smaller writing staffs, lower earnings, and shorter careers.
 
This is especially true in children's and nonfiction programming which have all but disappeared from the prime time broadcast schedule, relegated to cable and other outlets where they are significantly

Underbudgeted but often reap vast rewards that somehow evade the talent and content providers who make them.

In the meantime, the shelf space of the broadcast television schedule has been filled with reality and so-called unscripted programming which refuses to even recognize the fact that it has writers and that those writers serve not the demands of storytelling or character development but of advertiser whim and product integration.
 
The commission has many options to address the consolidation of American media.
 
We certainly believe that no further loosening of ownership limits is warranted.
 
In fact, tightening the regulations is justified by the public interest in a vital and diverse media.
 
To the extent that the commission does not take action to tighten limits on ownership, the existing consolidation establishes a compelling argument for requiring that these few paths to the public must carry independent programming for a significant portion of their air time.
 
At this time let me quote another writer:
 
"The men of wealth who today are trying to prevent the regulation and control of their business in the interest of the public by the proper government authorities will not succeed, in my judgment, in checking the progress of the movement."
 
That was from Theodore Roosevelt who, though he made his living chiefly as a writer in his adult life, had other claims to fame. He spoke those words almost 100 years ago today in his "man with the muck rake speech."
 
He went on to say, "but if they did succeed they would find that they had sown the wind and would surely reap the whirlwind, for they would ultimately provoke the violent excesses which accompany a reform coming by convulsion instead of by steady and natural growth."
 
The talent community appears before you anxious to see the entertainment industry continue to thrive and succeed as no other American industry does today on the global stage.

But we want that steady and natural growth of which Roosevelt spoke. We urge the commission to consider its rules under review accordingly.

Normally, when I conclude panel discussions, I warn my listeners that i do not have time to read their screenplays. But for this group, I will make an exception.
 
Thank you for your attention.

WGAW President Patric M. Verrone addressing FCC on media ownership (5 min., 11-2-06)
Film and TV writers, directors, producers, and actors testify before the FCC on media ownership (6 min., 11-10-06)