ABSTRACT
Many of those who wished to put Low-power television stations (LPTV) stations on the air represented segments of the population that had generally been denied equal access to the television industry by reason of color, ethnicity, or gender. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to give preference for LPTV licenses to racial minority and women applicants. One reason was that these groups' constituencies were not being fully served by the existing broadcast industry. As early as 1980 a number of minority groups began planning for LPTV operations. In Washington, DC, for example, a group of former FCC lawyers and engineers who were African-American formed an organization to apply for an LPTV license. As the millennium approaches, the tensions between the full-power and cable TV industries and LPTV operators have decreased only slightly, if at all.
