Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the House committee that oversees broadcasting issues, urged over-the-air television stations to “raise the bar” of public service by producing more programming about their communities.
Affiliate and independent stations need to create more local programming in order to differentiate themselves from national networks, Dingell said at an NAB leadership conference last week.
Dingell supported maintaining current broadcast ownership rules, but said the station owners need to do more to convince lawmakers of their relevance to the communities they serve.
Dingell heads the Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
