This study supports the conclusions of a 1993 study by Blankenburg and Ozanich that the degree of public ownership affects the financial performance of media groups. High levels of stock ownership outside the media group result in increased returns to stockholders. The current study included competition as an independent variable and found that groups had lower operating margins and spent a greater percentage of revenues on expenses when a higher percentage of newspapers faced newspaper competition. Overall, the impact of public ownership was slightly greater than that of competition.

This exploratory study of forty dailies found a negative relationship between the number of radio and television stations and daily newspaper ROP advertising. A weaker relationship was found between number of radio and television stations and total advertising linage in daily newspapers. The markets used here varied greatly in competition's impact on linage. It appears intermedia advertising is monopolistically competitive with some media being better at some types of advertising than others. These results hold implications for antitrust actions because the growth in newspaper clusters is basedon the assumption that intermedia competition is extensive in newspaper markets.

Adoption theory analysis of the e-publishing industry indicates that consumer acceptance of current technology is the greatest barrier to attaining a critical consumer mass. New electronic paper technologies will soon offer a superior consumer alternative. Publishers will be faced with new opportunities and nagging issues related to new competition, content control, and protection of revenue streams requiring strategies that stress rationalization of distribution systems, cross-promotion, strategic pricing, and leveraging of new revenue sources-particularly advertising.

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