[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONCERN ABOUT RELAXATION OF CROSS-OWNERSHIP RULES

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, the balanced budget agreement passed 
by the Senate today was an extraordinary and historical accomplishment. 
The American people can be proud that Congress took bipartisan action 
to provide not only the first balanced budget in a generation but also 
tax relief to working families, health care for uninsured children, 
financial relief for those seeking a college education and the promise 
of long-term solvency for Medicare.
  In another historic yet less worthy act, the conferees quietly 
included in the bill a provision to, for the first time, relax the 
cross-ownership rules that prevent television stations or newspapers 
from owning a television station within the same city. The FCC has 
rightly enacted and enforced cross-ownership prohibitions for 50 years 
to ensure diversity of opinion and views on our local airwaves.
  But the provision in the reconciliation bill would allow newspaper 
owners and broadcasters to bid on licenses within the same market 
during the 2002 auction of analog broadcast signals in markets with 
populations greater than 400,000. These signals will be made available 
as the current analog stations convert to digital transmission.
  This action could have a seriously detrimental effect on the 
diversity of the current mosaic of broadcast entities. Broadcast 
television remains the most prolific form of local broadcast news and 
it is critical that this diversity is continued. Indeed, I am deeply 
concerned by the effect that this provision could have on the FCC's 
current review of cross-ownership rules.
  Congress directed the FCC to review cross-ownership rules in the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the results of this review are 
pending. While I believe Congress should revisit the reconciliation 
relaxation provision on its own merits and free from the rush toward 
passage of the agreement, it is also critical that the FCC, during its 
own review of cross-ownership, does not interpret passage of this 
provision as unobjected Congressional support for repeal or relaxation 
of cross-ownership rules.
  Indeed, it is important to note that this provision is intended to 
provide cross-ownership only when there is a doubling of broadcast 
outlets within a particular market and only in markets of populations 
greater than 400,000. If Congress had wanted to take further action, it 
would have done so and therefore, the FCC should not.
  Our broadcast spectrum is one of our Nation's most valuable assets 
and one of the most powerful yet limited resource for the dissemination 
of ideas and free expression. It is critical that Congress work to 
protect rather than dilute this resource and I will fight for the 
integrity of our airwaves as Congress continues to address these 
issues.

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