I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 942
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reduce restrictions on media
ownership, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 2, 1999
Mr. STEARNS (for himself, Mr. FROST, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. MCCOLLUM, Mr.
FOLEY, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, and Mr. SESSIONS) introduced the follow-
ing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to reduce
restrictions on media ownership, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadcast Ownership
for the 21st Century Act’’.
SEC. 2. REVISION OF DUOPOLY RULES.
Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 338. REVISION OF DUOPOLY RULES.
‘‘(a) LIMITATION ON DUOPOLY RULES.—The Com-
mission shall not prohibit a person or entity directly from
owning, operating, or controlling or having a cognizable
interest in—
‘‘(1) two stations with overlapping coverage
contours if each station is located in a separate tele-
vision market, or
‘‘(2) two television stations within the same tel-
evision market, if at least one of such stations is a
UHF television station.
‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF EXISTING LOCAL MARKETING
AGREEMENTS.—All local marketing or time brokerage
agreements between two broadcast television stations, lo-
cated in the same television market, that were signed prior
to the date of enactment of the Broadcast Ownership for
the 21st Century Act, shall be exempt from the television
duopoly rule. The Commission shall take no action that
impairs the renewability or transferability (or both) of
these arrangements by either the parties or their succes-
sors or assigns.
‘‘(c) VHF STATIONS.—The Commission, in unusual
and compelling circumstances, may permit a person or en-
tity to directly or indirectly own, operate, or control or
have a cognizable interest in, two VHF television stations
within the same television market, if the applicant dem-
onstrates to the satisfaction of the Commission that per-
mitting such ownership, operation, or control will not sig-
nificantly harm competition and will not significantly
harm the preservation of a diversity of media voices in
the local television market.’’.
SEC. 3. CROSS-OWNERSHIP LIMITATIONS.
(a) RULE CHANGES REQUIRED.—The Federal Com-
munications Commission shall modify section 73.3555 of
its regulations (47 C.F.R. 73.3555)—
(1) by eliminating any provisions limiting the
granting or renewal of an AM, FM, or TV broadcast
station license to any party (including parties under
common control) on the basis of the ownership, op-
eration, or control by such party of a daily news-
paper; and
(2) by eliminating the one-to-a-market rule in
section 73.3555(c) of such regulations.
(b) PRESERVATION
OF
COGNIZABLE
INTEREST
RULE.—In modifying such section 73.3555 of its regula-
tions, the Commission shall not treat a minority voting
stock interest as a cognizable interest if there is a single
holder of more than 50 percent of the outstanding voting
stock of the corporate broadcast licensee, cable television
system, or daily newspaper in which the minority interest
is held.