From the earliest days of commercial radio, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission, have encouraged diversity in broadcasting. This concern has repeatedly been supported by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has affirmed that "the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public," and that "assuring that the public has access to a multiplicity of information sources is a governmental purpose of the highest order, for it promotes values central to the First Amendment." The FCC's policies seek to encourage four distinct types of diversity in local broadcast media: diversity of viewpoints, as reflected in the availability of media content reflecting a variety of perspectives; diversity of programming, as indicated by a variety of formats and content, including programming aimed at various minority and ethnic groups; outlet diversity, to ensure the presence of multiple independently owned media outlets within a geographic market; and minority and female ownership of broadcast media outlets. In addition to promoting diversity, the FCC aims, with its broadcast media ownership rules, to promote localism and competition by restricting the number of media outlets that a single entity may own or control within a geographic market. Localism addresses whether broadcast stations are responsive to the needs and interests of their communities. In evaluating the extent of competition, the FCC considers whether stations have adequate commercial incentives to invest in diverse news and public affairs programming tailored to serve viewers within their communities. In contrast, antitrust authorities primarily consider the prices stations charge advertisers to air commercials during programming, and, in the case of television stations, the prices they charge cable and satellite operators for the retransmission of broadcast programming. Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the FCC to review its media ownership rules every four years to determine whether they are "necessary in the public interest as a result of competition," and "repeal or modify any regulation it determines to be no longer in the public interest." Section 257(b) of the act directs the FCC to promote policies favoring the diversity of media voices and vigorous economic competition. In 2004, 2011, and 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, directed the FCC to review its broadcast ownership diversity policies in conjunction with the media ownership rules. The FCC must balance this mandate with the requirement that its rules withstand the U.S. Supreme Court's scrutiny of any rules selectively applied to organizations based on the race or gender of their owners. In August 2016, the FCC completed the 2014 Quadrennial Review of its media ownership rules. The final decision contains rules related to (1) the determination and disclosure of media ownership (attribution rules); (2) limits on the type and number of media properties a single entity may own (media ownership rules); and (3) rules designed to enhance media ownership diversity. Three months earlier, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals admonished the FCC for failing to complete the congressionally mandated quadrennial media ownership review, noting that as of May 2016, both the 2010 and 2014 reviews remained open. The new media ownership rules became effective December 1, 2016. The National Association of Broadcasters filed a petition with the FCC requesting that the agency reconsider its 2016 decision by repealing and/or relaxing the rules. The News Media Alliance (formerly known as the Newspaper Association of America) appealed the FCC's rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, claiming that the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rules in particular (described in " Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rules ") are "antiquated" and "no longer serve the public interest," and that the FCC's decision "violates the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996." Prometheus Radio Project has appealed the FCC's rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, arguing, among other things, that the FCC's modifications to the rules "permit increased concentration of ownership," and that its decision "violate[s] the Administration Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 551." These cases have been consolidated in the District of Columbia Circuit. The debate over media ownership rules is occurring against the background of sweeping changes in news consumption patterns. Figure 1 illustrates these general trends. Based on surveys conducted by Pew Research Center, the percentage of adults citing local broadcast television as a news source declined from 65% in 1996 to 46% in 2016. Nevertheless, local television still outranks other local news sources. The percentage of respondents who stated that they "got news yesterday" from online sources grew from 2% in 1996 to 38% in 2016. In contrast, those citing printed newspapers as a source they "read yesterday" or use regularly declined from 50% in 1996 to 20% in 2016. These trends raise questions as to whether common ownership of multiple media outlets in the same market might limit diversity of viewpoints as much today as two decades ago. Two characteristics of broadcast television and broadcast radio stations determine whether or not the media ownership rules described in later sections of this report are triggered: (1) the geographic range (or contours ) of their signals, and (2) the limits of their media markets as determined by the Nielsen Company, a market research firm. In the past, the FCC employed analog broadcast television signal contours as one criterion in determining whether television licensees were complying with media ownership rules. On June 12, 2009, however, full-power television stations completed a transition from analog to digital service pursuant to a statutory mandate, thereby rendering the analog contour criteria obsolete. In 2016, the FCC modified the media ownership rules to reflect two digital television service contours: 1. The digital "principal community contour" (digital PCC). This contour specifies the signal strength required to provide television service to a station's community of license. The FCC sought, when defining the digital PCC, to provide television stations with flexibility in siting and building their facilities while still preventing stations from straying too far from their respective communities of license. 2. The digital "noise limited service contour" (digital NLSC). The FCC designed this contour to define a geographic area in which at least 50% of residents can receive the signal a majority of the time. The FCC wanted to ensure that after the digital transition, broadcasters would be able to reach the same audiences they served previously with analog transmissions. The 1 millivolt-per-meter (1 mv/m) contour for FM radio represents a signal that will result in satisfactory service to at least 70% of the locations on the outer rim of the contour at least 90% of the time. In its rules for AM radio stations, the FCC delineates three types of service areas: (1) primary, (2) secondary, and (3) intermittent. Some classes of radio stations render service to two or more areas, while others usually have only primary service areas. The FCC defines the primary service area of an AM broadcast radio station as the service area in which the groundwave is not subject to objectionable interference or fading. The signal strength required for a population of 2,500 or more to receive primary service is 2 millivolts-per-meter (2 mv/m). For communities with populations of fewer than 2,500, the required signal strength is 0.5 mV/m. When the FCC first proposed incorporating AM contour signals in its media ownership rules, it noted that "a one mv/m AM signal is somewhat less than the signal intensity needed to provide service to urban populations, but somewhat greater than the signal at the outer limit of effective non-urban service." The FCC uses Designated Market Areas (DMAs), created by the Nielsen Company, to define local television markets. Nielsen has constructed 210 DMAs by assigning each county in the United States to a specific DMA, based on the predominance of viewing of broadcast television stations licensed to operate in a given Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. The FCC also relies on the Nielsen Company to define local radio markets. These markets, called "Metros," generally correspond to the metropolitan statistical areas defined by the U.S. government's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), but are subject to exceptions based on historical industry usage or other considerations at the discretion of Nielsen. In contrast to television markets, radio markets do not include every U.S. county. To determine the number of radio stations within a radio market, the FCC uses a database compiled and updated by BIA Kelsey, another market research firm. Many owners of commercial broadcast stations have relationships that fall short of the FCC's definition of common ownership, yet allow the owner of one station to exert substantial influence over the operation and finances of another station. To minimize such behavior, the FCC has developed attribution rules "to identify those interests in or relationships to licensees that confer a degree of influence or control such that the holders have a realistic potential to affect the programming decisions of licensees or other core operating functions." The following summarizes the media attribution rules, as described and modified in the 2014 Quadrennial Review Second Report and Order, and related FCC policies. Joint sales agreements (JSAs) enable the sales staff of one broadcast station to sell advertising time on a separately owned station within the same local market. In 2014, the FCC adopted rules specifying that television JSAs allowing the sale of more than 15% of the weekly advertising time on a competing local broadcast television station are attributable as ownership or control. Congress subsequently twice extended the period by which parties must comply with these rules, ultimately extending the deadline to September 30, 2025. In May 2016, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC's initial adoption of such rules in 2014 was procedurally invalid. The court determined that media ownership attribution rules are inextricably linked to media ownership rules. The court ruled that the FCC could not adopt new attribution rules without deciding whether or not to retain its media ownership rules.