Rogers / 2 Senator Riveong

S.S._____

A BILL
To amend the FCC Deregulation Act of 1996 to regulate broadcasting ownership across different media platforms.
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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 Media Regulation Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) In a span of twenty years, the household television subscriber population has increased by 500 percent and is
steadily increasing.
2) Media ownership concentration restricts democratic and political safeguards in the communications, broadcasting,
and all other media markets.
3) Mass media is a crucial institutional structure of the public sphere that shapes public opinions on government
policies and laws.
4) Media ownership concentration allows for an oligopoly of companies to exercise enormous amounts of power
across several media markets.
5) Media ownership concentration affects the likelihood of companies pursuing goals other than profit maximization.
6) The D.C. Appeals Court notes, diversity of ownership is a critical aspect of diversity of information.
7) The Supreme Court states that public accessibility to multiple information sources is a governmental purpose of
the highest order, for it promotes values central to the First Amendment.
8) Public media is meant to promote advocacy and entertainment which adhere to a large societal norm.
9) Ownership policies determine whether or not media companies reach a size and corporate structure that is
conducive to exploiting the economy.
10) Minority groups create one third of the nations population but own no more than 4.6 percent of television
stations and 7.24 percent of radio stations.
11) In 1999, the FCC further relaxed policies that combined radio and TV under conditions primarily involving the
existence of at least eight independently owned media voices.
12) The Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows for applicable media companies to be exempt from certain policies
and deregulated ownership policies.
13) Since the late nineteenth century, AT&T possessed franchise monopolies on the local services territories,
comprising about 80 percent of the population, 90 percent of the business activity, and 50 percent of the land area.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Media Regulation Act of 2015 shall amend Section 103 and 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to
make all telecommunication companies equal under the law, without exemptions to regulation in media ownership
restrictions. The Media Regulation Act of 2015 shall end the Federal Communications Commissions power to
determine which telecommunication companies are exempt to fees and regulations. Media companies shall no longer
be able to apply for special or exempt licenses. The Media Regulation Act of 2015 shall permit media companies to
own no more than two networks in each media medium. A network as defined by the Federal Communications
Commission is any connection of two or more computers that enables them to communicate. Networks may include
transmission devices, servers, cables, routers and satellites. The Media Regulation Act of 2015 shall enforce that at
least three local media companies shall function in every city.
B) This law shall be enforced and upheld by the Federal Communications Commission.
C) All companies not following The Media Regulation Act of 2015 will be prosecuted according to statutes in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996 Title 6 Section 601. The Media Regulation Act of 2015 shall be enacted on January
1, 2017. This bill expires on December 31, 2019.