I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1556

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reduce the restrictions on

ownership of broadcasting stations and other media of mass communications.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 3, 1995

Mr. STEARNS (for himself, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. WHITE, Mr.

KLUG, and Mr. HASTERT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reduce the

restrictions on ownership of broadcasting stations and

other media of mass communications.

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

3 SECTION 1. BROADCAST OWNERSHIP.

4 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title III of the Communications

5 Act of 1934 is amended by inserting after section 335 (47

6 U.S.C. 335) the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 336. BROADCAST OWNERSHIP.

8 ‘‘(a) LIMITATIONS ON COMMISSION RULEMAKING

9 AUTHORITY.—Except as expressly permitted in this sec-
2

•HR 1556 IH

1 tion, the Commission shall not prescribe or enforce any

2 regulation—

3 ‘‘(1) prohibiting or limiting, either nationally or

4 within any particular area, a person or entity from

5 holding any form of ownership or other interest in

6 two or more broadcasting stations or in a broadcast7 ing station and any other medium of mass commu8 nication; or

9 ‘‘(2) prohibiting a person or entity from own10 ing, operating, or controlling two or more networks

11 of broadcasting stations or from owning, operating,

12 or controlling a network of broadcasting stations

13 and any other medium of mass communications.

14 ‘‘(b) TELEVISION OWNERSHIP LIMITATIONS.—

15 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AUDIENCE REACH LIMITA16 TIONS.—The Commission shall prohibit a person or

17 entity from obtaining any license if such license

18 would result in such person or entity directly or indi19 rectly owning, operating, or controlling, or having a

20 cognizable interest in, television stations which have

21 an aggregate national audience reach exceeding—

22 ‘‘(A) 35 percent, for any determination

23 made under this paragraph before one year

24 after the date of enactment of this section; or
3

•HR 1556 IH

1 ‘‘(B) 50 percent, for any determination

2 made under this paragraph on or after one year

3 after such date of enactment.

4 Within 2 years after such date of enactment, the

5 Commission shall conduct a study on the operation

6 of this paragraph and submit a report to the Con7 gress on the development of competition in the tele8 vision marketplace and the need for any revisions to

9 or elimination of this paragraph.

10 ‘‘(2) MULTIPLE LICENSES IN A MARKET.—

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall

12 prohibit a person or entity from obtaining any

13 license if such license would result in such per14 son or entity directly or indirectly owning, oper15 ating, or controlling, or having a cognizable in16 terest in, two or more television stations within

17 the same television market.

18 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION FOR MULTIPLE UHF STA19 TIONS AND FOR UHF-VHF COMBINATIONS.—

20 Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Com21 mission shall not prohibit a person or entity

22 from directly or indirectly owning, operating, or

23 controlling, or having a cognizable interest in,

24 two television stations within the same tele25 vision market if at least one of such stations is
4

•HR 1556 IH

1 a UHF television, unless the Commission deter2 mines that permitting such ownership, oper3 ation, or control will harm competition or will

4 harm the preservation of a diversity of voices in

5 the local television market.

6 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION FOR VHF-VHF COMBINA7 TIONS.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (A),

8 the Commission may permit a person or entity

9 to directly or indirectly own, operate, or control,

10 or have a cognizable interest in, two VHF tele11 vision stations within the same television mar12 ket, if the Commission determines that permit13 ting such ownership, operation, or control will

14 not harm competition and will not harm the

15 preservation of a diversity of voices in the local

16 television market.

17 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONAL REGULATIONS PERMITTED.—

18 The Commission may prescribe regulations—

19 ‘‘(1) providing for the treatment of any persons

20 or entities under common ownership or control as a

21 single person or entity for purposes of this section,

22 except that the Commission shall not change the at23 tribution rules in effect on the date of enactment of

24 this section;
5

•HR 1556 IH

1 ‘‘(2) specifying procedures for the determina2 tion of markets and audience reach; and

3 ‘‘(3) defining direct or indirect ownership, oper4 ation, and control, and cognizable interest, consist5 ent with the purposes of this section.

6 ‘‘(d) TRANSITION PROVISIONS.—Any provision of

7 any regulation prescribed before the date of enactment of

8 this section that is inconsistent with the requirements of

9 this section shall cease to be effective on such date of en10 actment. The Commission shall complete all actions (in11 cluding any reconsideration) necessary to amend its regu12 lations to conform to the requirements of this section not

13 later than 6 months after such date of enactment. Nothing

14 in this section shall be construed to prohibit the continu15 ation or renewal of any television local marketing agree16 ment that is in effect on such date of enactment and that

17 is in compliance with Commission regulations on such

18 date.’’.

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 613(a) of

20 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 533(a)) is

21 repealed.

Æ