228 Survey submitted by station that has requested anonymity.

 

229 The survey instrument was sent to all 30 television licensees identified by the U.S.

Department of Commerce in 1997 as owned by minorities. Thus, the survey results are based upon

completed questionnaires submitted by 36.6% of the sample universe. 

III. Minority-Owned Television

As noted earlier, the medium of television is not targeted to narrow audience demographics in

the same way as radio. Consequently, efforts to analyze any linkage between televised minority-oriented

programming and advertising practices bore evidence only with regard to such Spanish-language

television stations. In response to questions concerning discriminatory advertising practices related to

programming, one station wrote in the margin of the survey, “radio maybe, not television.”

Problems related to researching the relationship between television programming and

discriminatory advertising practices are compounded by the fact that a significant number of stations

owned by African-Americans are Home Shopping Network affiliates that air continuous

advertisements. Therefore, complaints about lack of advertiser support coming from these stations

may stem from the unique nature of their program format and not from the racial or ethnic

composition of their viewing audience. 

Excluding the responses of the Home Shopping stations to the survey questions, CRF found

only one Spanish-language station that alleged negative advertiser support due to its Spanish-language

format and the minority composition of its viewing audience. A Spanish-language station located in a

different market responded in just the opposite way—that it had not experienced lack of advertiser

support for Spanish-language programming or its minority viewing audience. 

The one Spanish-language station that reported negative advertising support for its

programming noted that racial discrimination had been encountered in other forms as well. According

to the General Manager of a television station in the south-west region, comments from advertisers

such as the following are frequently heard:

Mexicans have bad credit, Mexicans cannot afford our product.

228

With regard to the issue of whether minority sales staff or status as a minority owner have any

bearing on the decision-making of advertisers, the response of the stations was divided and could not

form the basis of any broad generalizations.

A. Results of the Survey Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire was completed by eleven stations.229 While this number may be

insufficient to support broad generalizations, the survey results contain widely varied responses

regarding advertiser support. Station characteristics that account for some of the range of experiences

with advertisers include Spanish-language format, continuous advertisement format, and market

location. Further research in this area should attempt to control for these factors. 
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

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230 Univision is the largest programmer of Spanish-language television in the U.S. The Univision

Network is publicly-traded and non-minority-owned. Univision owns several stations, while other

affiliates are independently owned but air Univision’s programming. 

 

231 Granite Broadcasting is a minority-owned company that owned 12 television stations in 1997. 

See, BIA MasterAccess database, 1998. The majority of its programming is “general market”

format.

1. The Relationship Between Minority-Oriented and Spanish Language Programming and

Advertiser Support.

Of the eleven stations that responded to the survey, only two indicated that more than half of

their programming is targeted to minority viewers. Both of these stations were Univision affiliates230

that program a significant portion of their programming in the Spanish language. 

In response to questions concerning discriminatory advertising practices related to

programming, only a few stations noted that such practices might be related to programming in a

language other than English or programming targeted to minority viewers. The two Spanish language

stations provided opposite responses to this issue. Specifically, KLDO indicated that advertisers do not

withhold support due to minority viewership or non-English programming. The other Spanish language

station, KINT, responded just the opposite—that advertisers do withhold support due to minority

viewership and also because of non-English programming. 

Two stations owned by Granite Broadcasting,231 neither of which air Spanish language

programming or devote over half of their programming to minorities, provided responses that were

consistent with KINT— that foreign language and minority targeted programming will adversely affect

advertising performance. Granite Broadcasting station agreed that advertisers are less likely to

patronize minority programming and non-English language programming. WTVH disagreed with those

statements. 

In summary, the response to the questions was as follows:. 

Q. Does your station target more than half of its programming to

minority viewers?

A. Yes (two stations)

A. No (nine stations)

and...
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

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232 One Home Shopping Network affiliate indicated that its programming targets the general

population and that no specific efforts are directed toward minority viewers. 

Q. If your answer to question #1 is “no,” is there another socioeconomic audience segment toward which a majority of your

programming is targeted? 

A. Yes. (one station232)

A. No (eight stations)

and...

Q. Do you believe that advertisers or their advertising agency

representatives engage in practices to withhold advertising support to

a station if they perceive the station’s programming is targeted to the

viewers described in questions 1 or 2?

A. Yes (two stations)

A. No (nine stations)

and...

Q. Do you believe that advertisers or their advertising agency

representatives withhold advertising support to a station because the

station’s programming is in a non-English language?

A. Yes (three stations)

A. No (seven stations)

and...

Q. Do you know of specific advertisers or advertising agencies that

view your programming and/or audience reached as negative factors

which prohibit them from using your station as an advertising

vehicle?

A. Yes (two stations)

A. No (nine stations)
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

Page 89

 

233 KINT is owned by Entravision Holdings LLC, an Hispanic broadcaster.

The two stations that responded in the affirmative to the last question also indicated that

advertiser support is either withheld or substantially discounted due to their programming. The Home

Shopping Channel indicated that 71% or more of its advertising support is either withheld or

discounted due to its programming. One of the Spanish language stations indicated that 25-30 percent

of its advertising support is lost due to the nature of its minority-oriented programming. 

These same two stations and an additional Home Shopping affiliate indicated that members of

their sales staff have had encounters with ad agencies or advertisers that would “lead [one] to believe

that [their] station’s programming was a negative factor in obtaining advertiser support.” In response

to a question about the level of decision-making within the advertiser community, one Home Shopping

affiliate attributed the lack of advertiser support to decision-making by ad agencies. The other Home

Shopping affiliate attributed the lack of support to ad agencies as well as advertisers. Ad agencies were

perceived as responsible for the lack of support, according to the Spanish-language station.

Only two stations estimated the amount of lost sales related to negative advertiser perceptions

about minority-targeted programming. One Univision affiliate estimated lost sales at 17 percent. A

Home Shopping affiliate estimated lost sales in excess of 60 percent. It should be noted that the

programming of both of the Home Shopping affiliates is not targeted to minority viewers. It is

presumed, therefore, that any negative perceptions on the part of advertisers are related to the

continuous advertisements that are aired by these stations.

2. The Relationship Between Ownership and Control by Minorities and Advertiser Support

The response was divided on the question of whether ownership or control by minorities

negatively affected advertiser support. Four of the eleven stations responded in the affirmative to the

question, “Do you believe that advertisers or their advertising agency representatives engaged in

practices to withhold advertising support to your station, if they perceive the station’s ownership and

control is by minorities?” WHSL, a Home Shopping affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri, and KINT,233 a

Univision affiliate in El Paso, Texas indicated that they knew of specific advertisers or agencies that

view their station’s ownership or control by minorities as negative factors that hinder advertiser

support.

Questions related to ownership were completed by the latter two stations as follows; the other

nine stations did not respond to these questions.
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

Page 90

Q. Has anyone on your station’s sales force reported or

discussed any encounters with advertisers or their advertising

agency representatives which would lead you to believe that

your station’s ownership and control by minorities as a

negative factor in obtaining 

advertising support? 

A. Yes (WHSL & KINT)

and...

Q. If you answered yes to question # 5, at which level in the

decision making process do you believe your station’s potential

to obtain advertising support from advertisers or their

advertising agency representatives was impaired?

A. Mostly from advertisers (KINT)

A. [Advertisers and ad agencies] evenly (WHSL)

and...

Q.Give an estimate of sales loss which can be attributable to

advertisers or their advertising agency representatives

perception of your station’s ownership and control by

minorities

A. 3% to 5% (KINT)

A. 61% or more (WHSL)

The next section summarizes the survey findings concerning minority sales personnel.

3. The Relationship Between Minority Sales Staff and Advertiser Support

Stations were asked to respond to questions concerning the experiences of minority sales staff

in relationship to advertiser support. Four of the stations indicated that the race or ethnic background

of their sales staff does have a bearing upon the decision-making of ad agencies or advertisers to support

their station. Seven of the stations indicated that the race of the sales staff was not a factor. The first

four stations also indicated that the minority status of their sales staff can have either a positive or a

negative impact on the decision-making of advertisers. Specifically, in some instances, status as a

minority sales person was a positive factor in encouraging sales, and in another set of instances the

impact was negative.
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

Page 91

The following questions were completed by only the four stations that indicated that the race

or ethnic background of sales personnel has a bearing upon advertiser support.

Q. What percent of cases has the minority race or ethnic background of your

sales representative had a negative bearing upon decision of an agency or

advertiser to place an ad with your station? 

A. 0% to 10% (two stations)

A. 11% to 30% (two stations)

and...

Q. What percent of cases has the minority race or ethnic background of

your sales representative had a positive bearing upon decision of an agency

or advertiser to place an ad with your station?

A. 0% to 10% (three stations)

A. 71% and above (one station)

Three of the television stations indicated that they knew of specific advertisers or ad agencies

that had not supported their station due to the minority status of the salesperson. The same three

stations also provided an indication of how frequently advertiser support is withheld due to the

minorities in the sales force. 

Q. If yes, please indicate the percentage of instances during the course of a year

that advertising support is either withheld or substantially discounted because of the

minority status of your salespeople.

A. 0% to 10% (one station)

A. 11% to 30% (three stations)

Four of the eleven stations also indicated that members of their sales force reported encounters

with advertisers or ad agencies that led them to believe that the race or ethnic background of the

salesperson contributed to the inability to obtain advertising. All four of the same stations reported

that those difficulties stemmed from the advertisers themselves, as opposed to the ad agencies.
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

Page 92

 

234 See, NTIA Minority Broadcast Ownership Report, 1997. The report listed 20 AfricanAmerican, 9 Hispanic, and 1 Asian owned television stations. Respondents to the survey included 9

African-American and 2 Hispanic-owned stations. 

Five of the stations indicated that they experience a 0% to 10% loss in sales that can be

attributed to advertiser or ad agency perceptions concerning the minority status of sales personnel

representing the station. 

As a summary question, the survey requested the stations to rate several factors that potentially

affect the decision-making of agencies or advertisers. Averages for the responses provided by the eight

stations that supplied answers to the question are as follows:

Question: To what extent do the following factors negatively

influence advertiser or advertising agency decisions to

advertise on your station?

Average Rate 

on a scale of 1 to 10

(1 denotes highest

level of importance)

programming targeted to minority audience 8

programming targeted to [other specific audience demographics] 9

station ownership and control by minorities 10

race/gender of the account executive representing the station 8

The next section suggests areas for further research.

B. Recommendations for Further Policy Analysis

The survey instrument for this study was sent to all 30 television stations listed as owned by

minorities by the U.S. Department of Commerce.234 The eleven stations that elected to participate

represent 36.6% of the sample universe. Given the small size of the survey response and the small

number of minority television owners, future research should endeavor to achieve survey participation

that is representative of the ethnic and network diversity that characterizes minority ownership.

In order to better understand the relationship between advertiser support and minority-owned

television stations, follow-up research should control for certain factors that this study found to

influence the findings: 1) non-English language (e.g. Spanish or Chinese) programming; 2) market

location, which may influence perceptions regarding minority ownership; and 3) affiliation with the

Home Shopping Network, which appears to cause reluctance on the part of some advertisers due to

lack of entertainment and informational programming. Future research should also examine the impact

of advertising practices on the choice of whether shows related to minorities are produced or aired, and
Section III. Minority-Owned Television When Being No.1 is Not Enough

Page 93

 

235 Of the 20 African-American owned television licences listed in the U.S. Department of

Commerce Minority Ownership Report for 1997, five were Home Shopping Network affiliates

compared to four ABC, five NBC, two CBS, one Fox, and one World Broadcasting affiliates. One

station was independent and the affiliation for one other was unknown.

on the advertising performance of such shows. It should also examine the impact of advertising with

regard to programming oriented toward women.

An additional issue that warrants further exploration is why so many African-American

television owners are affiliated with the Home Shopping Network. An estimated 19% to 25% of the

stations owned by African-Americans air 24-hour commercials.235 Questions to be explored include

whether capital market discrimination is preventing African-Americans from establishing affiliations

with the major networks and program syndications. The extent to which African-Americans been able

to migrate from HSN to the major networks should also be researched.