Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) One of the main missions of the Commission, and a compelling governmental interest, is to ensure that there is a diversity of ownership and viewpoints in the broadcasting industry. (2) The Commission should continue to collect relevant data on the diversity described in paragraph (1), adopt improvements to that data collection and related studies, and make appropriate recommendations to Congress regarding how to increase the number of minority- and women-owned broadcast stations. (3) Data from 2023 shows that, of the nearly 1,760 full power commercial broadcast television stations in the United States, only 5 percent are owned by women and less than 4 percent are minority-owned. With respect to full power commercial radio stations, women owned approximately 10 percent of FM broadcast radio stations, and minorities owned less than 3 percent of those stations. (4) In the 17 years that a minority tax certificate program was in place at the Commission between 1978 and 1995, the Commission issued 287 certificates for radio stations, and 40 certificates for television stations, under that program.