Report On Ownership Of Commercial Broadcast Stations

The Federal Communications Commission biennial commercial broadcast ownership report, FCC Form 323, is designed to obtain comprehensive data on racial and ethnic minority and female broadcast ownership -- statistically valid broadcast ownership information data that can be compiled and aggregated and used as a source for further analysis.

The Commission requires full power commercial television and radio broadcast stations and low power and Class A television stations, including any of these stations owned by sole proprietorships and partnerships of natural persons, to file a biennial ownership report using the same “as of” date (October 1) for reported data during each filing cycle.

This report presents the results of the third data collection and reflecting attributable ownership interests as of October 1, 2013. These data represent three snapshots of broadcast ownership in a series of planned biennial data collections that, taken together, should provide a reliable basis for analyzing ownership trends in the industry, including ownership by racial and ethnic minorities and women.

Current Broadcast Ownership by Gender, Ethnicity, and Race.
The following summary uses only data from the 2013 FCC Form 323 biennial reports and thus represents information current as of October 1, 2013 (the most current biennial information available).

Broadcast ownership and gender.

• Women collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 997 broadcast stations, comprised of 87 full power commercial television stations (6.3 percent) of 1,386 stations; 217 low power television stations, including Class A stations(13.1 percent) of 1,651 stations; 310 commercial AM radio stations (8.3 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 383 commercial FM radio stations (6.7 percent) of 5,714 stations.
• Men collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,214 broadcast stations, comprised of 1,005 full power commercial television stations (72.5 percent) of 1,386 stations; 1,246 low power television stations, including Class A stations (75.5 percent) of 1,651 stations; 2,737 commercial AM radio stations (73.2 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 4,226 commercial FM radio stations (74.0 percent) of 5,714 stations.

Broadcast ownership and ethnicity.

• Hispanic/Latino persons collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 571 broadcast stations, comprised of 42 full power commercial television stations (3.0 percent) of 1,386 stations; 155 low power television stations, including Class A stations (9.4 percent) of 1,651 stations; 194 commercial AM radio stations (5.2 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 180 commercial FM radio stations (3.2 percent) of 5,714 stations.
• Non-Hispanic/Latino persons collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,879 broadcast stations, comprised of 1,052 full power commercial television stations (75.9 percent) of 1,386 stations; 1,271 low power television stations, including Class A stations (77.0 percent) of 1651 stations; 2,912 commercial AM radio stations (77.9 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 4,529 FM commercial radio stations (79.3 percent) of 5,714 stations.

Broadcast ownership and race.

• Racial minorities collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 499 broadcast stations, 41 full power commercial television stations (3.0 percent) of 1,386 stations; 64 low power television stations, including Class A stations (3.9 percent) of 1,651 stations; 225 commercial AM radio stations (6.0 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 169 commercial FM radio stations (3.0 percent) of 5,714 stations. Ownership of majority interests by racial group was as follows:
• American Indian/Alaska Natives owned 49 broadcast stations.
• Asians owned 184 broadcast stations.
• Black/African Americans owned 199 broadcast stations.
• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders owned 36 broadcast stations.
• Persons of two or more races owned 31 broadcast stations.
• Whites collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,919 broadcast stations, comprised of 1,070 full power commercial television stations (77.2 percent) of 1,386 stations; 1,386 low power television stations, including Class A stations (83.9 percent) of 1,651 stations; 2,893 commercial AM radio stations (77.4 percent) of 3,737 stations; and 4,570 commercial FM radio stations (80.0 percent) of 5,714 stations.