Byron Dorgan: “in 1996, the Congress passed the Telecommunications Act. I was involved in the passage of that act. I served on the…”

“in 1996, the Congress passed the Telecommunications Act. I was involved in the passage of that act. I served on the Commerce Committee, and we wrote the first rewrite of the telecommunications law in some 60 years. One of the contentious areas in that debate was the ownership limits on television and radio stations. The ownership limits on television and radio stations in this country were established over the years because we wanted to promote localism in radio and television stations, local ownership, local control, so that people living in an area would have some notion that those who were distributing information over their television and radio stations would have some idea of local responsibility. It is interesting what has happened since 1996. When we had that debate in 1996, the Commerce Committee took all the limits off radio stations. You could own as many as you want. They took the limits that existed on television stations and increased it. I authored an amendment on the floor of the Senate to change what happened inside the Commerce Committee. I offered an amendment saying I didn't think that was the right way to go. We didn't need bigger ownership groups owning the radio and television stations. The amendment would have restored the ownership limits on television stations in this country. We had a rollcall vote, and I won with Senator Dole leading the opposition. It was a surprise to everyone, but I won.…”