Broadcast Ownership Report Shows Stagnation on Diversity, Advocates Say

“We’ve basically been stagnant in terms of increasing diverse representation,” said Nicol Turner Lee of the Brookings Institution and vice chair of the FCC’s Communications Equity and Diversity Council. “Mostly things haven’t changed,” said Cheryl Leanza, policy adviser for the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry. Policies that would make a difference require congressional action, and that’s not likely with Republicans in control of the House and critical race theory a trending topic, said National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters President Jim Winston. That's the issue, said Turner Lee. When not enough stations represent diverse views, it has a direct impact on what's considered significant, she said: “There’s no responders; there’s no debaters.”

The latest biennial report shows the percentage of commercial broadcast stations in which racial minorities hold a majority interest at 4%, the same as the 2019 figure. The 2021 data shows female ownership at 9%, up from 8% in the previous report. Drilling down into specific broadcast services and minority groups, the numbers remain similar, with female owners in full-power TV dropping from 6% of stations in 2019 to 5% in 2021, Black owners growing from 1% to 3%, Asian from less than a percentage point to 1%, and Hispanic/Latino unchanged at 4%. In low-power TV, female owners went from 8% to 9%, Black owners 1% to 2%. Hispanic/Latino LPTV owners decreased from 14% to 10%.

Commercial FM radio is the only service where ownership diversity has markedly improved: Black ownership increased from 4% in 2019 to 19% in 2021, Asian owners went from 15% to 18%, and Hispanic/Latino from 20% to 25%. Female ownership in commercial FM radio changed little, but it's the service where women own the highest percentage of stations, at 69%.

FCC efforts to increase diversity don’t seem to have had an impact on broadcast ownership, said Turner Lee and Winston. The agency confirmed it hasn't received a single application for its broadcast incubator program, and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel reconfigured the agency’s diversity advisory committee to focus on broadband to coincide with massive federal investment in deployment. Examining diversity, “strictly through the lens of traditional media” is too narrow, she said at the CEDC’s first meeting in 2021. Turner Lee conceded that the CEDC has prioritized broadband but said the committee is still working on broadcast ownership. The CEDC plans a Media Diversity Symposium Feb. 7, she noted. The FCC didn’t comment.

FCC quadrennial review orders have also been perennial losers in the courts, complicating past efforts on ownership. The quadrennial reviews of ownership rules “don’t work,” said Leanza, who has been involved in legal challenges to several such orders.

The FCC doesn’t have the authority to “push the envelope” enough to spur ownership diversity because it can’t bring back the minority tax certificate, said Turner Lee. The tax certificate, which gave tax incentives to broadcasters for divesting to minority owners, was the only program that led to measurable increases in minority ownership, said Winston. Only Congress can bring the certificate back in some form, but Winston conceded that’s unlikely in the near term. The main legislator advocate for bills aiming to resurrect the certificate, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., resigned from Congress last month, and the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to look favorably on similar legislation, Winston said. “Without congressional champions, the [media ownership numbers] will stay flat,” said Turner Lee.

NAB also emphasizes the tax certificate. “One of the main obstacles is access to capital for many new entrants, especially minority owners," emailed a spokesperson. "That's why we support legislation that would reestablish the FCC’s Diversity tax certificate program, and we encourage the commission to publicly support the bill as well,” the spokesperson said. “The tax certificate program was hugely successful in expanding minority station ownership by during its lifespan, with minority station ownership growing by over 500%.”

The FCC’s efforts haven’t fallen flat because of a lack of authority -- they haven’t worked because the agency has rarely made them, said Leanza. “We haven’t tried anything in decades that would have an actual impact on diversity,” she said. “What you want is smaller station groups; what is not serving this country is larger station groups." She cited FCC policies allowing joint sales agreements and the UHF discount as aiding broadcast consolidation. If one large company sells to another large company, there’s no room for new entrants, Leanza said. NAB has said the FCC could increase minority ownership by taking the opposite tack and removing ownership limits. “We have long encouraged the FCC to modernize its broadcast ownership rules to make broadcast investment more attractive to all,” the spokesperson said. With a 2-2 commission, Leanza and others said, they don’t expect structural changes to FCC policy soon. Without a Democratic FCC majority, the agency is “hamstrung,” said Winston.