Calls to Bring Back Minority Tax Certificate Follow FCC Ownership Report
The FCC Media Bureau’s latest report on broadcast ownership, based on data from 2019, shows little change in minority and female ownership from the previous version, which was based on 2017 data but released in 2020 (see 2002140048). "It is essential that we identify ways we can encourage more diversity in this market, including reinstatement of the Minority Tax Certificate Program," said Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a release Friday. "Today's results from the FCC media ownership report scream that we need to reinstate the diversity tax certificate program." emailed Nicol Turner-Lee, of the Brookings Institution. Eight former FCC chairs echoed her.
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Rosenworcel said she has directed the Media Bureau "to launch an outreach campaign to ensure full compliance with submission of Form 323" for the upcoming filing window that opens Oct. 1. "This is important because there are small broadcasters who may not be included in the current data -- and it is essential we get an accurate count," she said. Addressing the issue is "complex" because of changes in the law, technology, and the U.S. Supreme Court's Prometheus IV decision, Rosenworcel said: "As has been the case for too long, this data makes clear that women and people of color are underrepresented in license ownership."
The newest report, released Friday, shows racial minorities holding a majority interest in 4% of commercial broadcast stations, while the previous report had that figure at just over 2%. According to 2019 U.S. population data included with the report, 40% of the U.S. population at the time belonged to a racial or ethnic minority group. The new report also shows women holding a majority ownership interest in 8% of commercial broadcast stations, vs. 4.9% in the previous version. “The data tell a story about how FCC policies have continued to exclude the Black community and other communities of color from owning broadcast stations,” said Free Press Senior Director of Strategy and Engagement Joseph Torres in a release. The latest report shows 1.3% of full-power commercial TV stations as being Black-owned, and 2% of FM stations. “The current system is unjust and FCC policies are a primary reason structural inequities exist in U.S. media,” Torres said.
The latest report does show a small improvement for Black-owned full-power TV stations, going from 12 in 2015 and 2017 to 18 in the latest report. The reports are based on data gathered from broadcaster Form 323 submissions, and the bureau said shifts in the data over time could be caused by several factors, including station transfers and differences between the actual entities that filed reports in the 2017 window versus the 2019 window. NAB and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council didn’t comment.
Meanwhile, Brookings Institution visiting fellow Tom Wheeler and eight other ex-FCC chairs urged Congress Tuesday to enact the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act (HR-4871) and Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Service Act (S-2456) to bring back the minority broadcaster tax certificate program. The House Commerce Committee advanced the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act in the last Congress, but the full chamber didn’t pass it (see 2009090068). “The greatest barrier to diversity is access to capital, which is why” the tax certificate program “was so important,” the ex-FCC chairs said. It provided that a licensee who sold his or her station to a minority entrepreneur could defer payment of capital gains taxes upon reinvestment in comparable property.” Minority ownership “quadrupled” between 1978 and 1995, when the program was in place, but “the frequency with which broadcast properties have been sold to minorities has fallen dramatically” since its repeal, the ex-chairs said. HR-4871 and S-2456 would “enable the FCC to reinstate and improve the policy.” The other ex-chairs backing the legislation: Mignon Clyburn, Michael Copps, Julius Genachowski, Reed Hundt, William Kennard, Newton Minow, Michael Powell and Dick Wiley. NAB, which published the ex-chairs’ statement, also backs the measures.
National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters President James Winston said in an interview the report had "few surprises" and the data indicates minority ownership is unlikely to change under the current rules. Winston also said the report could lead to misunderstandings because it contains tables showing not only majority ownership but "attributable" ownership, which can simply mean an entity has a racial minority as member of its board. That isn't a substantive change in ownership diversity, Winston said.
Turner-Lee, a former member of the FCC's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment said. "the numbers show that Blacks, Latinos, and other people of color have remarkably slow growth when it comes to broadcast ownership, which is a path that has continued since the obliteration of the program." "What gets played on our nation's broadcast channels and who gets seen rest on who is in charge."