To direct the Federal Communications Commission to take certain actions to increase diversity of ownership in the broadcasting industry, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
The Broadcast VOICES Act aims to increase diversity of ownership in broadcasting, where women own only 5% of TV stations and minorities own less than 4%. It reinstates a modernized version of the FCC tax certificate program (discontinued in 1995) that provides tax benefits for sales of broadcast stations to women and minority owners. Sales up to million qualify for capital gains deferral if the station remains minority/women-owned for at least 2-3 years. The bill also creates a new tax credit for donating broadcast stations to charities that train disadvantaged individuals in station management. FCC must report biennially on ownership diversity and study the link between ownership diversity and viewpoint diversity. The tax provisions sunset after 16 years.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Increases diversity of ownership in the broadcasting industry by reinstating a modernized tax certificate program for broadcast station sales to socially disadvantaged individuals, creating a tax credit for broadcast station donations, and requiring FCC data collection and reporting.
Who Benefits
- Minority and women broadcast station buyers
- Sellers of broadcast stations to diverse buyers
- Charitable organizations training disadvantaged individuals
Who Bears Costs
- Federal treasury (foregone tax revenue)
- Existing broadcast station owners who do not sell to diverse buyers
Key Policy Areas
{'domain': 'Telecommunications', 'evidence': 'Amends Communications Act of 1934 to add Sec. 346 tax certificate program (Sec. 5), requires FCC biennial reports on broadcast ownership diversity (Sec. 4)'}, {'domain': 'Tax', 'evidence': 'Creates IRC Sec. 1071 gain nonrecognition for certified sales (Sec. 5(b)), new IRC Sec. 45BB credit for broadcast station contributions (Sec. 6)'}
Primary Purpose
Increases diversity of ownership in the broadcasting industry by reinstating a modernized tax certificate program for broadcast station sales to socially disadvantaged individuals, creating a tax credit for broadcast station donations, and requiring FCC data collection and reporting.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Use tax incentives to encourage sales and donations of broadcast stations to minority and women owners, increasing media ownership diversity"
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Peters (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Heinrich, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Donors of broadcast stations to qualifying charities, Minority and women broadcast station buyers, Minority and women broadcast station owners
Federal Communications Commission, Federal Treasury
Charitable organizations training disadvantaged individuals
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "Commission"
- → Federal Communications Commission
- "Commission"
- → Federal Communications Commission
- "Commission"
- → FCC
- "Commissioner of Internal Revenue"
- → IRS head
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
More than 50% owned by socially disadvantaged individuals with management control
A woman, or an individual subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology