Tate Stumps for Diversity with Must-Carry, Other Proposals

FCC Comr. Tate offered an ambitious set of steps the FCC should take to boost diversity in broadcast ownership, which she called a priority. Commissioners can speed investment in small TV stations by relaxing an ownership attribution rule, and help minority-owned AM stations by letting them use FM translators, Tate told a Media Institute lunch. Other ways to boost minority and female participation in the industry include seeking Congressional restoration of a minority tax credit rescinded in 1995 and giving small businesses limited must-carry status on cable systems (CD Feb 15 p7), she said.

A notice of proposed rulemaking circulating on the 8th floor would let AM stations use translators so entire regions can get all AM signals, Tate said. Tate added she has been involved with the issue for some time. NAB has backed that step, as have most public comments to the Commission, she said. The action is separate from a digital radio multicasting rulemaking also circulating on the 8th floor (see separate item this issue), said another FCC official.

Minorities may have an easier time getting financing for stations now that rules voted on in Nov. make it easier for broadcasters to change the community of license, said Tate. Restoring a tax credit given large broadcasters for selling stations to minorities would spur TV ownership diversity, she said. But it may make more sense to have a tax credit for all sales to small businesses in a race-neutral action, Tate suggested. Minorities would benefit if the FCC let investors hold more station equity and debt before requiring that the property be attributed to the shareholder for ownership attribution purposes, she said.

Tate is gauging support for FCC Chmn. Martin’s plan to give must-carry status to broadcast multicast streams leased to small programmers, she said. Consistent with Martin’s wishes, Tate wants race- and sex-neutral ways to “promote the diversity of media voices” with such a rule. That may mean making some types of small business eligible for multicast carriage, rather than restricting it to minorities, as some advocacy groups prefer.

Testimony at all 3 FCC media ownership field hearings has reinforced the importance of diversity in ownership and not merely programming, Tate said in response to our question. “We continue to hear about that while we are out on the road,” she said. But public and industry comments at field hearings haven’t yielded new ideas that Tate wants to pursue. Instead, they show wide support for broad goals, she said. At Fri.’s Harrisburg, Pa., hearing, she said, people “commented on the lack of diversity” there. - Jonathan Make