commercial use it could generate several hundred 
billion dollars for the public treasury. 
(2) The Communications Act of 1934 requires 
the Federal Communications Commission and broad-
cast licensees to promote the public interest. As pub-
lic trustees, over-the-air television and radio broad-
cast licensees have been granted the unique privilege 
of using a scarce public asset—the airwaves—for 
free in exchange for their promise to serve the public 
interest, convenience and necessity. 
(3) In 1969, the Supreme Court declared in 
Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communica-
tions Commission that ‘‘it is the purpose of the First 
Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace 
of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather 
than to countenance monopolization of the market,’’ 
and thus, it is ‘‘the right of the viewers and lis-
teners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is 
paramount’’. 
(4) Drastic media consolidation over the past 
decade has greatly diminished the broadcast licens-
ees’ performance of public interest obligations and 
broadcast media’s ability to foster diversity, competi-
tion, and localism. 
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(5) An October 2003 analysis of seven media 
markets shows that just 0.4 percent of television 
programming is devoted to local public affairs. By 
contrast, 14.4 percent is paid programming such as 
infomercials, 9.9 percent is reality or game shows 
and 7.9 percent is sporting events. In addition, most 
of the local public affairs programming airs on week-
end mornings, at times with lower television 
viewership. 
(6) Independently produced programming now 
accounts for less than one-fifth of television prime 
time programming. On the four major networks, 
independent programming accounts for about one- 
seventh. 
(7) A survey of evening television news broad-
casts of 44 local affiliates of broadcasters in 11 mar-
kets prior to the 2004 election showed that only 
eight percent of such broadcasts contained a story 
about local elections. By contrast, 8 times more cov-
erage went to stories about accidental injuries, and 
12 times more coverage to sports and weather. In 
2006, news about politics and government accounted 
for about 10 percent of stories on local television 
news while crime and traffic comprised nearly 50 
percent of the coverage. 
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SEC. 3. BASIS FOR PUBLIC INTEREST DETERMINATIONS. 
Section 309(k) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 309(k)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(5) BASIS FOR FINDING STATION HAS SERVED 
THE PUBLIC INTEREST, CONVENIENCE, AND NECES-
SITY.— 
‘‘(A) DEMONSTRATION
REQUIRED.—The 
Commission shall not find for purposes of para-
graph (1)(A) that a station, through its pro-
gramming, has served the public interest, con-
venience, and necessity unless the applicant has 
fulfilled these obligations by demonstrating— 
‘‘(i) a dedication to the civic affairs of 
its community; 
‘‘(ii) a dedication to local news gath-
ering; 
‘‘(iii) local production of program-
ming; 
‘‘(iv) a commitment to providing the 
viewing public a presentation of the issues, 
candidates, and ballot items that are be-
fore voters during a local, statewide or na-
tional election, including coverage of can-
didate debates and forums, political con-
ventions, and ongoing news coverage; and 
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‘‘(v) presentation of quality edu-
cational programming for children. 
‘‘(B) 
REGULATIONS.—The 
Commission 
shall prescribe regulations to implement sub-
paragraph (A) that— 
‘‘(i) require each licensee for a station 
to submit to the Commission an annual re-
port identifying with particularity the 
methods and actions taken to fulfill the ob-
ligations identified in subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(ii) require each such licensee to as-
certain its compliance with such obliga-
tions with appropriate public input from 
the community of license for such station; 
and 
‘‘(iii) contain such exemptions from 
one or more of such obligations for par-
ticular classes or categories of such licens-
ees if the Commission determines that 
such obligation is inappropriate for such 
class or category.’’. 
SEC. 4. TERMS OF LICENSES. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 307(c)(1) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 307(c)(1)) is amended 
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by striking ‘‘8 years’’ each place it appears and inserting 
‘‘3 years’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall be effective with respect to any license 
granted by the Federal Communications Commission after 
the date of enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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