[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 2, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H833-H834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF THE BROADCAST OWNERSHIP FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mica). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to announce that I will be 
introducing the Broadcast Ownership for the 21st Century Act with the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Oxley).
  Our bill will broadly deregulate the confining ownership limitations 
imposed by the FCC on the television broadcast industry. As we approach 
the dawn of a new century, it is time to reform the antiquated rules 
and regulations of the FCC that they cling to in an effort to replicate 
the communications world of the 1950s.
  Mr. Speaker, today's entertainment choices are numerous and varied. 
There is cable. There is direct satellite broadcast. There is Internet. 
We are moving into high-definition television. Back in the 1950s, we 
had three, four, five channels; today we have over 200-plus channels, 
and many of them are digital.
  We must allow our American corporations in the broadcast industry to 
compete in the international area as well. So the objective of our bill 
is deregulate and allow competition.
  The FCC has failed to properly respond to a vastly different 
marketplace. This agency appears to be consumed with a regulatory model 
of government rather than the trimmed down, free-market approach that 
the American people would like and one that the rest of the world is 
beginning to embrace.
  The modern economics of free, over-the-air television is rapidly 
changing. The local broadcasters and networks continue to see steady 
decline in viewers who are attracted to cable and satellite 
programming, or who are using the Internet more and more as an 
entertainment option.
  In addition, the broadcasters and networks are faced with ever-
increasing costs for programming, especially sports programming. 
Profitability and success hinges on their ability to create and own 
more and more of their own programming.
  The broadcast industry has also begun their conversion to digital by 
beginning to deploy digital facilities. They have already begun 
delivering a digital signal in America's top markets. The industry will 
spend the better part of the next decade creating digital programming 
and transforming their facilities to an all-digital environment. The 
estimated cost of one digital television camera alone runs into the 
hundreds of thousands of dollars. When all is said and done, each 
individual broadcaster will have to spend millions and millions of 
dollars converting to digital.
  Mr. Speaker, if we deregulate this industry, they will be able to 
compete and succeed. As everyone can see, the economics of the 
broadcast industry today are based upon increasing costs and shrinking 
profits. Unless that formula is changed, the era of free over-the-air 
television will never be the same.
  What the American people have come to expect as quality network and 
local programming may be altered to a world of syndicated reruns and 
limited original programming. The heart and soul of America's favorite 
form of entertainment will become one based on pay services.
  The Telecommunications Act of 1996 attempted to provide relief for 
broadcast ownership. For instance, the Telecom Act asked the FCC to 
review all existing rules and regulations and eliminate those that were 
unnecessary. In addition, the act required the FCC to review the 
existing duopoly rules, which limit ownership to just one television 
station in a local market, in order to provide relief when needed. The 
act also specifically instructed the FCC to grandfather all television 
local marketing agreements, LMAs.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, three years later, the FCC has failed to act and 
we need to move forward. Let us get the FCC to act today. This bill 
will provide a great nudge. The Stearns-Frost-Oxley bill will revise 
the duopoly rules to allow UHF-VHF ownership combinations in the same 
local market and to allow UHF-VHF combinations in separate local 
markets that may have overlapping coverage contours, such as in the

[[Page H834]]

Washington, D.C. and Baltimore markets. This bill will also permanently 
grandfather all LMAs.
  But, Mr. Speaker, within this bill, it still allows the FCC to have 
unusual powers. If the applicant demonstrates to the satisfaction of 
the commission that permitting such ownership, operation, or control 
will not significantly harm competition or will not significantly harm 
the preservation of the diversity of media voices in the television 
market, then it will allow them to move forward.
  Mr. Speaker, many nations prevent American companies from owning any 
percentage of their domestic broadcast industry. We must institute 
reciprocity and this bill starts this process now. Our bill will allow 
only those nations that will allow reciprocal ownership arrangements 
for American companies or individuals to move into American markets.
  So this legislation will fundamentally change the economic dynamics 
of the broadcast industry to continue its vibrant tradition. To provide 
reciprocity. To help broadcasters to eliminate duplicative efforts. To 
make them more competitive and decrease regulation. That, Mr. Speaker, 
is the purpose of the bill.

                          ____________________