I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4882 

To ensure broadcast station licenses are utilized to serve the public interest. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2007 

Ms. ESHOO (for herself and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To ensure broadcast station licenses are utilized to serve 

the public interest. 

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 ‘‘Broadcast Licensing 

5 in the Public Interest Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The broadcast airwaves are an extremely 

9 vital and valuable public resource. If television and 

10 radio broadcast spectrum were to be auctioned for 


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1 commercial use it could generate several hundred 

2 billion dollars for the public treasury. 

3 (2) The Communications Act of 1934 requires 

4 the Federal Communications Commission and broad5 cast licensees to promote the public interest. As pub6 lic trustees, over-the-air television and radio broad7 cast licensees have been granted the unique privilege 

8 of using a scarce public asset—the airwaves—for 

9 free in exchange for their promise to serve the public 

10 interest, convenience and necessity. 

11 (3) In 1969, the Supreme Court declared in 

12 Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communica13 tions Commission that ‘‘it is the purpose of the First 

14 Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace 

15 of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather 

16 than to countenance monopolization of the market,’’ 

17 and thus, it is ‘‘the right of the viewers and lis18 teners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is 

19 paramount’’. 

20 (4) Drastic media consolidation over the past 

21 decade has greatly diminished the broadcast licens22 ees’ performance of public interest obligations and 

23 broadcast media’s ability to foster diversity, competi24 tion, and localism. 


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1 (5) An October 2003 analysis of seven media 

2 markets shows that just 0.4 percent of television 

3 programming is devoted to local public affairs. By 

4 contrast, 14.4 percent is paid programming such as 

5 infomercials, 9.9 percent is reality or game shows 

6 and 7.9 percent is sporting events. In addition, most 

7 of the local public affairs programming airs on week8 end mornings, at times with lower television 

9 viewership. 

10 (6) Independently produced programming now 

11 accounts for less than one-fifth of television prime 

12 time programming. On the four major networks, 

13 independent programming accounts for about one14 seventh. 

15 (7) A survey of evening television news broad16 casts of 44 local affiliates of broadcasters in 11 mar17 kets prior to the 2004 election showed that only 

18 eight percent of such broadcasts contained a story 

19 about local elections. By contrast, 8 times more cov20 erage went to stories about accidental injuries, and 

21 12 times more coverage to sports and weather. In 

22 2006, news about politics and government accounted 

23 for about 10 percent of stories on local television 

24 news while crime and traffic comprised nearly 50 

25 percent of the coverage. 


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1 SEC. 3. BASIS FOR PUBLIC INTEREST DETERMINATIONS. 

2 Section 309(k) of the Communications Act of 1934 

3 (47 U.S.C. 309(k)) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(5) BASIS FOR FINDING STATION HAS SERVED

6 THE PUBLIC INTEREST, CONVENIENCE, AND NECES7 SITY.— 

8 ‘‘(A) DEMONSTRATION REQUIRED.—The 

9 Commission shall not find for purposes of para10 graph (1)(A) that a station, through its pro11 gramming, has served the public interest, con12 venience, and necessity unless the applicant has 

13 fulfilled these obligations by demonstrating— 

14 ‘‘(i) a dedication to the civic affairs of 

15 its community; 

16 ‘‘(ii) a dedication to local news gath17 ering; 

18 ‘‘(iii) local production of program19 ming; 

20 ‘‘(iv) a commitment to providing the 

21 viewing public a presentation of the issues, 

22 candidates, and ballot items that are be23 fore voters during a local, statewide or na24 tional election, including coverage of can25 didate debates and forums, political con26 ventions, and ongoing news coverage; and 


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1 ‘‘(v) presentation of quality edu2 cational programming for children. 

3 ‘‘(B) REGULATIONS.—The Commission 

4 shall prescribe regulations to implement sub5 paragraph (A) that— 

6 ‘‘(i) require each licensee for a station 

7 to submit to the Commission an annual re8 port identifying with particularity the 

9 methods and actions taken to fulfill the ob10 ligations identified in subparagraph (A); 

11 ‘‘(ii) require each such licensee to as12 certain its compliance with such obliga13 tions with appropriate public input from 

14 the community of license for such station; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(iii) contain such exemptions from 

17 one or more of such obligations for par18 ticular classes or categories of such licens19 ees if the Commission determines that 

20 such obligation is inappropriate for such 

21 class or category.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. TERMS OF LICENSES. 

23 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 307(c)(1) of the Commu24 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 307(c)(1)) is amended 


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1 by striking ‘‘8 years’’ each place it appears and inserting 

2 ‘‘3 years’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 subsection (a) shall be effective with respect to any license 

5 granted by the Federal Communications Commission after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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