TV & VIDEO - July 28, 1988

Minority-owned broadcast stations are providing more programming of interest to minorities than non-minority-owned stations. That was the conclusion of a report by the Congressional Research Service, which also found that stations owned by women played best to female audiences. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications subcommittee, requested the study for use in a pending federal court case challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission’s policy giving preference to minorities and women in awarding broadcast licenses. The study analyzed data from an FCC survey of 8,720 U.S. radio and television stations.