FCC to Study Hispanic Television Viewing

Continuing its ongoing plans to encourage broadcast diversity, the FCC has announced that it will study the relationships among Hispanic television station ownership, programming, and viewing.  The study will mark the first time the FCC has studied the Hispanic television market, and will incorporate data from the FCC’s revised ownership report.

 The FCC’s notice cites to recent census data that 17 percent of the total US population is of Hispanic origin, the largest ethnic/racial minority in the country.  The study will focus on select markets, and will also examine digital multi-casting’s role in the availability of Hispanic-oriented programming.