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1 1 (October 31, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/govcgww0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 01;0i E.$~ & October 31, 2017 Media Ownership Rules, Diversity, and Sinclair-Tribune Merger On November 16, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote on whether to retain, relax, and/or repeal regulations that restrict the number of media outlets that a single entity may own or control within a local geographic market. The vote represents a reconsideration of rules the FCC adopted in August 2016, and marks a new phase in a long-running debate over the federal government's role in fostering competition, localism, and diversity in the media. Federal law (47 U.S.C. §257(b)) directs the FCC to promote policies favoring a diversity of media voices and vigorous economic competition. The FCC has sought to achieve these goals by limiting common ownership of television stations within the same geographic market and restricting common ownership of television or radio stations and newspapers within the same region. Since 2004, the law (47 U.S.C. §303(h)) has directed the FCC to review its media ownership rules every four years to determine whether they are necessary in the public interest as a result of competition, and to repeal or modify any regulation it determines to be no longer in the public interest. Under a separate statutory directive (47 U.S.C. §309(j)(3)(B)), the FCC, when awarding new broadcast licenses, must promote opportunities for businesses owned by members of minority groups and women. The U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, has repeatedly directed the FCC to review its broadcast ownership diversity and media ownership rules simultaneously. In August 2016, the FCC completed the 2014 Quadrennial Review of its media ownership rules. Following this review, the agency made narrow changes to its rules limiting the type and number of media properties a single entity may own (media ownership rules). In addition, the FCC adopted new rules related to the determination and disclosure of media ownership (attribution rules), as well as the enhancement of media ownership diversity. The changes to be considered on November 16 would repeal or significantly alter some of the media ownership and attribution rules. The debate over media ownership rules occurs against the background of sweeping changes in news consumption patterns. Table 1 illustrates these general trends. Based on surveys conducted by Pew Research Center, the percentage of adults citing local broadcast television as a news source declined from 65% in 1996 to 37% in 2017, and the proportion describing newspapers as a news source declined from 50% in 1996 to 18% in 2017. In 2017, for the first time in the survey's history, the percentage of adults citing online as a news source exceeded the percentage of adults citing local T.V. Table I. News Consumption Trends Percentage of Adults Who Get News from Each Platform Local Year T.V. T.V. Radio Newspaper Online 1996 59% 65% 44% 50% not available 2000 56% 56% 43% 47% not available 2004 59% 59% 40% 42% 24% 2008 57% 52% 35% 34% 29% 2012 55% 48% 33% 29% 39% 2016 57% 46% 25% 20% 38% 2017 50% 37% 25% 18% 43% Source: 1996-2012 data: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Biennial Media Consumption Survey 2012, September 27, 2012; 2016-2017 data: Jeffrey Gottfried and Elisa Shearer, Americans' Online News Use Is Closing in on TV News Use, September 7, 2017. Notes: Data from 1996 to 2012 show the percentage of adults who got news yesterday from each source, except that data on Local TV are based on the percentage of adults who regularly watch. Data from 2016 and 2017 are based on the percentage of adults who get news often from each media platform. T.V. includes broadcast and cable networks, as well as Local T.V. The FCC's draft proposal cites changes in radio listenership and newspaper readership as evidence that some ownership rules are no longer necessary to achieve the agency's goals of viewpoint diversity. In addition, the draft proposal states that while the video marketplace has changed substantially since the FCC adopted rules limiting common ownership of television stations in 1999, broadcast television stations still play a unique and important role in their local communities. For this reason, the draft proposal concludes that rules focused on preserving competition between stations are still warranted. The changes expected to be considered on November 16 would address several distinct media ownership rules and create a new program to enhance ownership diversity. Local television ownership rules limit common ownership of television stations serving the same geographic region. An entity may own or control two television stations in the same television market, so long as the overlap of the stations' signals is limited and the joint control does not violate the top four/eight voices test. K~:> gogn, q \pmpmm- , goo g , q aS ' X 11LULANJILiN,