FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Releases Results Of Broadcast Ownership Diversity Research

On March 31, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal to restrict television broadcasters’ use of joint sales agreements (JSAs).

But the FCC currently doesn’t have the basic facts about JSAs. For example, the Office of Commissioner Ajit Pai (Office) asked how many JSAs there are in the United States among television stations and how many television stations owned by women and minorities participate in JSAs. Today, we still don’t have the answers to either of these fundamental questions. To partially fill this gap, the Office investigated whether there is a link between joint sales agreements and ownership diversity. Using publicly available sources, we estimate that:

• 43% of female-owned full-power commercial television stations currently are parties to JSAs.
• 75% of African-American-owned full-power commercial television stations currently are parties to JSAs.

“These findings raise serious questions,” Commissioner Pai said. “Why is the FCC targeting pro-competitive sharing arrangements that appear to disproportionately benefit female and African- American broadcasters? If the Commission forces broadcasters to terminate JSAs, how will that affect diversity? Why is the FCC rushing to a vote rather than taking the time to gather basic facts and study the effect of its proposal on ownership diversity? The Commission should not accelerate the troubling trend of declining minority ownership.”