[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1563 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                S. 1563

To require the Federal Communications Commission to report to Congress 
regarding the ownership and control of broadcast stations used to serve 
              language minorities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               August 1 (legislative day, July 21), 2003

 Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Pryor) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Federal Communications Commission to report to Congress 
regarding the ownership and control of broadcast stations used to serve 
              language minorities, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Minority Media 
Opportunities Act''.

SEC. 2. BROADCAST OWNERSHIP.

    (a) Review of License Transfer.--Section 211(b) of the 
Telecommunications Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-538; 106 
Stat. 3545) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``Subsection 
(a) also applies to any person holding a broadcast license used 
primarily to serve a language minority. The hearing required by 
subsection (a) shall include record evidence, analysis, and Commission 
findings regarding the effects of the application on competition and 
diversity in the programming and distribution markets for the specific 
minority language at issue. For purposes of this subsection, the term 
`language minority' means persons who are American Indian, Asian 
American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage.''.
    (b) Broadcast Stations Serving Language Minorities.--Section 202 of 
the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-104; 110 Stat. 111) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(i) Report to Congress.--Not later than January 1, 2004, the 
Commission shall, after notice and comment, report to Congress 
regarding the ownership and control of broadcast stations (including 
AM, FM, and television broadcast stations) used to serve language 
minorities. The Commission shall consider the effects, with respect to 
both competition and diversity concerns, of multiple ownership and 
undue concentration in the programming and distribution markets 
specific to a language minority. For purposes of this subsection, the 
term `language minority' means persons who are American Indian, Asian 
American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage.''.
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