WASHINGTON—The vast majority of broadcast station ownership in the U.S. is still made up of white men, per the most recent data from the FCC’s fourth biennial report on broadcast station ownership, which represents how things looked in 2017. Prior to this report, the last bit of information available was from 2015.

The reports detail station ownership among full-power TV stations, Class A TV stations, low power TV stations, and AM and FM radio stations, both commercial and non-commercial.

For commercial TV stations, as of Oct. 1, 2017, only 6.2% of the 2,725 stations were owned by women—73 full power (5.3%), 19 Class A (5.8%) and 76 low power (7.4%). Numbers were slightly better with non-commercial stations, with women owning 13.2% of the 429 stations, but no Class A stations among them. These numbers are actually down across the board for women from 2015.

Hispanic/Latino persons owned 8.8% of commercial stations— 58 full power (4.2%), 45 Class A (13.6%) and 137 low power (13.4%)—but only 8 non-commerical stations (five full power, no Class A and three low power), for 1.8%. Levels were generally flat between 2015 and 2017 for Hispanic/Lations.

Other racial minorities—which include American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asians, Black/African-Americans, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islanders and persons of two or more races—owned 2% of commercial stations and 3% of non-commercial stations.Black/African-Americans own the most commercial TV stations among racial minorities with 239 of the 2,725 (8.8%); American Indian/Alaska Natives’s 58 non-commercial TV stations (13.5%) lead the way in that category. Full power and low power TV station numbers were down in this group, but slightly up with Class A stations.

The full report on broadcast ownership is available online.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Stark called the results “striking—but not surprising” in an official statement.

“I have said it before: America’s broadcasters must look like America,” said Starks. “We have much work to do—and it starts with us fulfilling our direct order from the Third Circuit to implement a data program that would help understand the impact of our regulatory efforts on the ability of women and people of color to own stations.”

He also said that it is unacceptable that in 2020 we are operating off of data that is more than two years old, and they must be better at gathering this data in a timely manner.

WASHINGTON—While the total number of U.S. broadcast stations at the end of 2017 was up compared to the end of 2016, this was driven mostly by activity in the FM band, according to the FCC’s end-of-year “Broadcast Station Totals” report.

In total, there are now 33,006 broadcast stations in the U.S., 609 more than in 2016. The total includes broadcast radio and TV licenses of all types.

Significant year-over-year happened predominantly with FM translators and low-power FM stations. FM translators/boosters grew to 7,585 by the end of 2017, up from 7,253, as commission regulatory policy continued to encourage proliferation. Low-power FM stations, meanwhile, jumped from 1,678 in 2016 to 2,077 in 2017, as the expansion of the LPFM service continued to play out.

Other areas that experienced growth, though less dramatic, were FM educational stations (up by 19 stations to 4,120) VHF Commercial TV (up 13 to 364), VHF Educational TV (up nine to 114), Class A VHF stations (up three to 27) and VHF low power TV (up nine to 375).

Elsewhere, the categories for UHF TV and AM stations saw declines, though in most cases not overly dramatic. The most stations lost among a single category was UHF low-power, which lost 37 over the last year, bringing the total to 1,563; the count of AM stations fell by 30 stations to 4,639 at end of 2017, continuing a trend of recent years for AM.

To see the full report, click here.

WASHINGTON—While viewers may have more options than ever on what to watch on TV, the number of TV stations providing content continues to decline, per the latest FCC report on total broadcast stations in the U.S.

The new report, which covers 2017 up until Sept. 30, tallies the total of TV broadcast stations at 7,890. That is down from the 2016 report at the same time of 7,963 and more than 500 less than what it was in 2012 (8,402). Part of the decline comes from the spectrum repack, which has results in 12 stations in the process of going off the air since selling their spectrum. 

The overall numbers may be decreasing, but the type of stations have proven to be fluctuating over that five year period. UHF Commercial TV stations have decreased from the 2016 number of 1,035 to 1,019; meanwhile, VHF Commercial TV stations have seen a slight uptick from 352 to 359. On the Educational TV side, UHF have netted a loss of two stations since 2012 (288 down to 287) and VHF has gained two (107 to 109).

Class A UHF and VHF stations have both seen a decrease in the five years, but VHF experienced a slight recovery in 2017, adding eight stations to bring its total to 24; UHF dropped from 401 in 2012 and 2016 to 379 in 2017.

A similar case occurred with UHF/VHF translators. While down from the 1,162 operating in 2012, VHF translators bumped up to 864 in 2017 from 501 in 2016. UHF translators actually grew from 2012 (3,013) to 2016 (3,292), but dropped to 2,886 in 2017.

For UHF low power TV stations, however, 2017 marked an overall growth from its 2012 numbers. FCC reported that 1,595 UHF low power stations are operational, up from 1,583 in 2012 and the 1,422 in 2016. VHF was the inverse; there were 397 VHF low power stations in 2012 and after totaling 553 in 2016, that number came back down to 369 this year.

In total, including radio stations, the FCC reported that 32,975 broadcast stations are currently operating in the U.S. The full statistics are available here.