tensorust/broadcast-ownership-graph-sample

Broadcast Station Ownership Graph: free sample (Tensorust LLC)

26,553 live US TV and radio stations traced through FCC ownership reports to 5,698 ultimate parents.

Headline: The licensee on a station's FCC record is often a holding LLC; the company that controls it sits one or more Form 323 ownership filings up the chain, and the FCC never rolls those chains up.

This repository is a free teaser, not the dataset. It holds 25 example rows and a summary table with no names in it. The full file has 26,553 rows and is sold by Tensorust LLC: https://tensorust.com/datasets/broadcast-ownership-graph/.

Files here

file	what it is
sample.csv	25 rows of the full file (the same sample shown on tensorust.com)
summary_by_community_state.csv	row counts by community state across the full file, no entity names (groups with fewer than 3 rows are folded into "Other")

Summary by community state (largest groups)

Community state	rows
TX	1,774
CA	1,688
FL	1,069
NY	973
PA	864
NC	833
CO	752
GA	747
TN	719
OR	714
MN	710
MI	708
TOTAL	26,553

Full table: summary_by_community_state.csv.

What the full file has

• 26,553 rows
• Key fields: facility_id, call_sign, service, service_desc, channel, frequency, community_city, community_state, nielsen_dma_rank, network_affiliation
• Parquet and CSV, a README with sources, method and limits, and the build script
• Free 25-row sample (no personal contact data)

Coverage: Live (licensed, CP or experimental) AM, FM, translator, LPFM, full-power TV, Class A, LPTV and DTS facilities that appear in at least one current ownership report: 11,277 FM, 5,392 FM translator, 4,285 AM, 1,779 full-power digital TV and the rest LPTV, Class A and other services. FCC LMS data as of Aug 16 2026; built Nov 6 2026.

Columns in the full file

column	meaning
facility_id	FCC LMS facility
call_sign	FCC LMS facility
service	FCC LMS facility
service_desc	FCC LMS facility
channel	FCC LMS facility
frequency	FCC LMS facility
community_city	Community of license
community_state	Community of license
nielsen_dma_rank	Market rank and network as reported in LMS
network_affiliation	Market rank and network as reported in LMS
licensee_name	Licensee of record
licensee_frn	Licensee of record
license_expiration_date	Licensee of record
ownership_report_count	Respondents whose current Form 323 reports name the station, narrowest to broadest
ownership_chain	Respondents whose current Form 323 reports name the station, narrowest to broadest
ultimate_parent	Top respondent not controlled (50%+ voting) by another entity
ultimate_parent_key	Top respondent not controlled (50%+ voting) by another entity
entity_holders_10pct	Entity interest holders with 10%+ voting or equity (individuals never named)
foreign_entity_citizenship	Non-US citizenship codes reported for entity holders (self-reported, noisy)
individual_holder_rows	Count of individual interest-holder rows (names withheld)
latest_report_as_of	Latest ownership report as-of date
parent_station_count	Live stations under the same ultimate parent
ontology_org_id	Tensorust Ontology Organization match for the ultimate parent

Get the full file

tier	price	includes
Market or group file	$750	Every station in up to 5 DMAs or under up to 10 ultimate parents, with ownership chains, 10%+ entity holders and the foreign-citizenship flag. CSV and Excel.
National ownership graph	$3,900	All 26,553 stations and the 5,698-parent roll-up, plus one refresh once FCC LMS publishes a current dump.
Yearly license with quarterly refresh	$9,600 a year	The national graph rebuilt each quarter from new ownership reports, with changes in control and new foreign-citizenship flags marked. Internal use, unlimited seats.

Email mattbusel@tensorust.com with the tier and a billing contact, and we will send a proper invoice (ACH or card). The file is delivered once the invoice is paid. Details and the live sample: https://tensorust.com/datasets/broadcast-ownership-graph/. All datasets: https://tensorust.com/datasets/

Method and limits

Map each current ownership report in the FCC LMS dump to the facilities it names. For each respondent, check whether an entity holds 50% or more of the votes. The ultimate parent is the broadest uncontrolled respondent in the station's chain. Entity holders with 10%+ voting or equity are listed; individual holders are counted, never named. parent_rollup.csv groups stations by ultimate parent with TV, radio and state counts. Ultimate parents are matched to Tensorust Ontology organizations by name (17,743 stations matched).

Not a list of individual owners (individual interest holders are never named). Not current to the day: the LMS snapshot is Aug 16 2026. Stations that file no ownership report, many LPFM and translators among them, are absent. The roll-up is algorithmic: insulated interests, LMAs, JSAs and sharing agreements are not modeled. Citizenship codes are self-reported and noisy. Not legal advice on attribution or foreign ownership limits.

Sources

• FCC Licensing and Management System (LMS) public database files, Form 323 / 323-E ownership reports and facility tables: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/lmsDatabase.html
• Internet Archive capture of the LMS files, Aug 16 2026 (LMS was in maintenance on Nov 5 2026): https://web.archive.org/
• Tensorust Ontology organization objects (name match for ultimate parents)

License

The sample and summary here are free to view, analyze and cite with attribution to "Tensorust LLC, https://tensorust.com/datasets/broadcast-ownership-graph/". The full dataset is licensed separately per tier. No resale or redistribution of Tensorust data without a written license.

Tensorust LLC, Tuckahoe NY. mattbusel@tensorust.com | https://tensorust.com