I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2052

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve localism, to foster 

and promote the diversity of television programming, to foster and promote competition, and to prevent excessive concentration of ownership 

of the nation’s television broadcast stations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 9, 2003

Mr. BURR (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. PRICE of 

North Carolina, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to preserve 

localism, to foster and promote the diversity of television 

programming, to foster and promote competition, and 

to prevent excessive concentration of ownership of the 

nation’s television broadcast stations.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preservation of Local5 ism, Program Diversity, and Competition in Television 

6 Broadcast Service Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) The principle of localism is embedded in the 

5 Communications Act in section 307(b) of the Com6 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 307(b)). It has 

7 been the pole star for regulation of the broadcast in8 dustry by the Federal Communications Commission 

9 for nearly 70 years. 

10 (2) In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 

11 Congress directed the Federal Communications 

12 Commission to increase the limitations on national 

13 multiple television ownership so that one party could 

14 not own or control television stations whose aggre15 gate national audience reach exceeded 35 percent. 

16 Congress did so because it recognized that—

17 (A) further national concentration could 

18 not be undone; 

19 (B) other regulatory changes, such as the 

20 repeal by the Commission of its financial and 

21 syndication regulations, would heighten the 

22 power of the national television networks; and 

23 (C) the independence of non-network24 owned stations would be threatened if network 

25 ownership exceeded 35 percent. 
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1 (3) If a limit to the national audience reach of 

2 television stations that one party may own or control 

3 is not codified at this time—

4 (A) further national concentration may 

5 occur whose pernicious effects may be difficult 

6 to eradicate; and 

7 (B) the independence of non-network8 owned stations will be threatened, placing local 

9 stations in danger of becoming mere passive 

10 conduits for network transmissions. 

11 (4) A cap on national multiple television owner12 ship will help preserve localism by limiting the net13 works ability to dictate programming aired on local 

14 stations. 

15 (5) The landscape of national ownership has 

16 changed dramatically over the past two decades 

17 since the time when the networks were limited to 

18 owning just seven television stations nationwide: 

19 (A) the Commission’s financial and syn20 dication regulations have been repealed; 

21 (B) the networks can own more than one 

22 television station in many local markets; 

23 (C) the networks have embraced program24 ming ventures from studios to syndication to 

25 foreign sales; and 
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1 (D) the networks own the most popular 

2 cable and Internet content businesses. 

3 Together these changes have strengthened the net4 works hands and given them strong incentives to 

5 override local interests. 

6 (6) Unlike non-network-owned stations which 

7 are only concerned with local viewers, network-owned 

8 stations have multiple interests they must consider: 

9 national advertising interests, syndicated program10 ming interests, foreign sales interests, cable pro11 gramming interests, and, lastly, local station inter12 ests. 

13 (7) The possibility of further nationalization 

14 threatens the current give-and-take between non-net15 work-owned affiliates and networks which can result 

16 in programming being edited, scheduled, or pro17 moted in ways that are more appropriate for local 

18 audiences. 

19 (8) As network power has grown in recent 

20 years, the networks have forced affiliation agree21 ments to tilt the balance of power even more in their 

22 favor. Contract provisions encroach on the ability of

23 non-network-owned affiliates to reject programming 

24 that local stations determine not to be in the best 

25 interests of their local communities, and local sta-
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1 tions are penalized for unauthorized preemptions (as 

2 determined by the network) and for exceeding pre3 emption baskets. 

4 (9) This Act will help to preserve localism in 

5 and to prevent the further nationalization of the tel6 evision broadcast service. 

7 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

8 (1) to promote the values of localism in the tel9 evision broadcast service; 

10 (2) to promote diversity of television program11 ming and viewpoints; 

12 (3) to promote competition; and 

13 (4) to prevent excessive concentration of owner14 ship by establishing a limit to the national audience 

15 reach of the television stations that any one party 

16 may own or control. 

17 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TELEVISION MULTIPLE OWNERSHIP LIM18 ITATIONS. 

19 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL TELEVISION

20 MULTIPLE OWNERSHIP LIMITATIONS.—Part I of Title III 

21 of the Communications Act of 1934 is amended by insert22 ing after section 339 (47 U.S.C. 339) the following new 

23 section: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 340. NATIONAL TELEVISION MULTIPLE OWNERSHIP 

2 LIMITATIONS. 

3 ‘‘(a) NATIONAL AUDIENCE REACH LIMITATION.—

4 The Commission shall not permit any license for a com5 mercial television broadcast station to be granted, trans6 ferred, or assigned to any party (including all parties 

7 under common control) if the grant, transfer, or assign8 ment of such license would result in such party or any 

9 of its stockholders, partners, or members, officers, or di10 rectors, directly or indirectly, owning, operating or control11 ling, or having a cognizable interest in television stations 

12 which have an aggregate national audience reach exceed13 ing 35 percent. 

14 ‘‘(b) NO GRANDFATHERING.—The Commission shall 

15 require any party (including all parties under common 

16 control) that holds licenses for commercial television 

17 broadcast stations in excess of the limitation contained in 

18 subsection (a) to divest itself of such licenses as may be 

19 necessary to come into compliance with such limitation 

20 within one year after the date of enactment of this section. 

21 ‘‘(c) SECTION NOT SUBJECT TO FORBEARANCE.—

22 Section 10 of this Act shall not apply to the requirements 

23 of this section. 

24 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—

25 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AUDIENCE REACH.—The term 

26 ‘national audience reach’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) the total number of television house2 holds in the Nielsen Designated Market Area 

3 (DMA) markets in which the relevant stations 

4 are located, or as determined under a successor 

5 measure adopted by the Commission to delin6 eate television markets for purposes of this sec7 tion; divided by 

8 ‘‘(B) the total national television house9 holds as measured by such DMA data (or such 

10 successor measure) at the time of a grant, 

11 transfer, or assignment of a license. 

12 No market shall be counted more than once in mak13 ing this calculation. 

14 ‘‘(2) COGNIZABLE INTEREST.—Except as may 

15 otherwise be provided by regulation by the Commis16 sion, the term ‘cognizable interest’ means any part17 nership or direct ownership interest and any voting 

18 stock interest amounting to 5 percent or more of the 

19 outstanding voting stock of a licensee.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 202(c)(1) 

21 of the Telecommunications Act of 1934 (Public Law 104–

22 104; 110 Stat. 111) is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘its regulations’’ and all that 

24 follows through ‘‘by eliminating’’ and inserting ‘‘its 

25 regulations (47 CFR 73.3555) by eliminating’’; 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of subpara2 graph (A) and inserting a period; and 

3 (3) by striking subparagraph (B).

Æ