Report Finds Slight Gains in Minority Broadcast Ownership
Washington
The U.S. Department of Commerce has released a report, titled Changes, Challenges, and Charting New Courses: Minority Commercial Broadcast Ownership in the United States, that provides the latest data on minority ownership, assesses the impact on minority ownership of the recent trends in industry consolidation and highlights the challenges facing minority owners as they seek to maintain or expand their broadcast properties.
Produced by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the report found that 3.8 percent of full power commercial radio and television stations are licensed to minorities, a 0.9 percent increase over 1998. The report also found that while minority broadcasters owned about 4 percent of commercial AM and FM stations — about 426 stations — minorities owned less than 2 percent of commercial television stations in the
United States.
“While minority broadcasters have made gains in ownership of radio stations, the number of full power television stations owned by minorities is at the lowest level since NTIA began issuing reports in 1990. We must maintain our nation’s traditional commitment to diversity in broadcasting,” said Gregory L. Rohde, assistant secretary of commerce and NTIA administrator.
The report can be accessed at https://ntia.gov/legacy/ntiahome/press/2001/minreport11601.htm.
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