Opinion ID: 658298
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exclusion of Other Factors

Text: 24 Even if integration's claimed advantages were more plausible than we find them, they would not necessarily justify the extraordinary weight that the Commission assigns to integration. The Commission has identified two primary objectives for its comparative process: generating a maximum diffusion of control of the media of mass communications and securing the best practicable service to the public. 1965 Policy Statement, 1 F.C.C.2d at 394. In the typical case, the integration criterion is the most important element of best practicable service. Hassayampa Broadcasting, 92 F.C.C.2d 472, 475 p 7 (Rev.Bd.1982); cf. Northern Sun Corp., 100 F.C.C.2d 889, 891 p 3 (Rev.Bd.1985) (declaring that no more need be said about applicant once it was denied integration credit). In other words, the Commission generally deems an applicant's integration proposal [304 U.S.App.D.C. 107] more important than his past broadcast record, his proposed program service, or the efficiency of his proposed use of frequency. 5 25 Within the framework of the integration criterion, the Commission does take certain qualitative factors into account: an applicant's integration credit can be enhanced if the proposed owner-managers live in the station's service area, have participated in civic affairs, have broadcast experience, or belong to a minority group. But the quantitative portion of the integration credit tends to swamp the qualitative. 26 The Commission calculates the quantitative portion with a numerical precision that masks the fuzziness of the underlying facts (discussed below). It applies a formula conceived by analogy to the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index of antitrust law, under which a proposed owner-manager's integration score is 10000 X (ownership share) X (hours per week/40) 2 An applicant's overall quantitative score is the sum of the scores of each of its proposed owner-managers. Thus, applicants who get credit for full-time integration of all their owners receive the maximum score of 10,000. Because the formula squares the fraction representing the owner's proposed working portion of a 40-hour week, part-time management is discounted at a more-than-linear rate; a 100% owner who proposed to devote 30 hours a week to the station would get only 5625 points--(10000) X ( 3/4) 2 See Omaha TV 15, Inc., 4 F.C.C.Rec. 730, 734 p 30 (1988). 27 Qualitative factors cannot overcome a clear quantitative advantage--which the Commission defines as a difference of at least 1250. Miracle Strip Communications, Inc., 4 F.C.C.Rec. 5064, 5066 p 18 (1989). An applicant whose proposed owner-manager knows nothing about either broadcasting or the community but promises to work a 40-hour week, for example, will handily win an integration preference over one whose proposed owner-manager is a veteran broadcaster who has spent his whole life in the station's community but proposes to work a 36-hour week at the station (scoring only 8100). See also Cannon Communications Corp., 101 F.C.C.2d 169, 181 p 14 (Rev.Bd.1985) (acknowledging that quantitative predominance provides a 'leg-up' for the sole integrated proprietor over a multi-party applicant entity not proposing integration by all of its members, notwithstanding that the latter may bring more in terms of local residence and civic involvement as well as cultural diversity). All this occurs under a policy whose stated goal is to pick owners who are aware of and responsive to their communities' special needs. 28 Of course, comparative hearings turn on other issues when the applicants have similar integration proposals, and the integration preference itself can range from slight to substantial. But as the Review Board reports, Quite frequently, these days, the quantitative difference in the amount of ownership 'integration' credit awarded is all that dispositively separates the winning applicant from the also-rans. Religious Broadcasting Network, 3 F.C.C.Rec. 4085, 4087-88 p 7 (Rev.Bd.1988). An applicant that secures a clear quantitative advantage in integration (the 1250-point edge) will normally win the station, as long as it meets the Commission's threshold criteria and does not own other media interests. Given all the factors that affect a station's performance, the Commission faces a difficult task in justifying this remarkable system. 29 With these points in mind, we address the purported advantages of the integration criterion.