ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION No. 109

STATE OF NEW JERSEY 215th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Sponsored by: Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN District 20 (Union) Assemblyman UPENDRA J. CHIVUKULA District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)

SYNOPSIS Urges Federal Communications Commission to revoke broadcast license of WWOR-TV.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT As introduced.

AJR109 CRYAN, CHIVUKULA 2

1 A JOINT RESOLUTION urging the Federal Communications 2 Commission to revoke the broadcast license of WWOR-TV. 3 4 WHEREAS, WWOR-TV, Channel 9, is a television station licensed in 5 Secaucus, New Jersey; and 6 WHEREAS, WWOR-TV, as the only large, commercially-owned 7 station in New Jersey, is the source for New Jersey-centric 8 commercial television news coverage in this State; and 9 WHEREAS, With the exception of WWOR-TV, New York and 10 Philadelphia-based commercial television stations dominate the 11 airwaves in New Jersey, providing little or no coverage or analysis 12 of State issues and news; and 13 WHEREAS, As a condition of WWOR-TV’s license for the public 14 airwaves granted by the Federal Communications Commission 15 (FCC), WWOR-TV is required to focus its coverage on the news 16 occurring in the northern part of the State; and 17 WHEREAS, Studies show that WWOR-TV has continually diminished 18 its coverage of New Jersey news and public affairs in the last 19 decade; and 20 WHEREAS, Fox Television Stations, Inc., the licensee on behalf of 21 WWOR-TV, has done everything in its power to avoid any 22 commitment to WWOR-TV serving as a New Jersey-centric news 23 television station; and 24 WHEREAS, With no notice to its viewers, WWOR-TV recently 25 canceled its 10:00 p.m. half-hour news broadcast, the only newscast 26 WWOR-TV had operated; and 27 WHEREAS, WWOR-TV’s decision to cancel this newscast leaves 28 millions of New Jersey residents without a news source on the 29 issues and news that are important to people of this State; and 30 WHEREAS, The FCC is urged to revoke WWOR-TV’s pending 31 television broadcast license renewal application because WWOR- 32 TV failed to satisfy the conditions of its license by continually 33 diminishing its coverage of New Jersey news and public affairs in 34 the last decade and canceling its 10:00 p.m. half-hour news 35 broadcast; now, therefore, 36 37 BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate and General Assembly of the 38 State of New Jersey: 39 40 1. The Federal Communications Commission is respectfully 41 urged to revoke the broadcast license of WWOR-TV, Secaucus, 42 New Jersey. 43 44 2. Duly authenticated copies of this joint resolution shall be 45 transmitted by the Secretary of State to the Commissioners of the 46 Federal Communications Commission and each member of the 47 United States Congress elected from this State.

AJR109 CRYAN, CHIVUKULA 3

1 3. This joint resolution shall take effect immediately. 2 3 4 STATEMENT 5 6 This joint resolution urges the Federal Communications 7 Commission (FCC) to revoke the broadcast license of WWOR-TV. 8 WWOR-TV, Channel 9, is a television station licensed in 9 Secaucus, New Jersey. WWOR-TV, as the only large, 10 commercially-owned station in New Jersey, is the source for New 11 Jersey-centric commercial television news coverage in this State. 12 With the exception of WWOR-TV, New York- and Philadelphia- 13 based commercial television stations dominate the airwaves in New 14 Jersey, providing little or no coverage or analysis of State issues 15 and news. 16 As a condition of WWOR-TV’s license for the public airwaves 17 granted by the FCC, WWOR-TV is required to focus its coverage 18 on the news occurring in the northern part of the State. Studies 19 show that WWOR-TV has continually diminished its coverage of 20 New Jersey news and public affairs in the last decade. Fox 21 Television Stations, Inc., the licensee on behalf of WWOR-TV, has 22 done everything in its power to avoid any commitment to WWOR- 23 TV serving as a New Jersey-centric news television station. 24 With no notice to its viewers, WWOR-TV recently canceled its 25 10:00 p.m. half-hour news broadcast, the only newscast WWOR-TV 26 had operated. WWOR-TV’s decision to cancel this newscast leaves 27 millions of New Jersey residents without a news source on the 28 issues and news that are important to people of this State. 29 The FCC is urged to revoke WWOR-TV’s pending television 30 broadcast license renewal application because WWOR-TV failed to 31 satisfy the conditions of its license by continually diminishing its 32 coverage of New Jersey news and public affairs in the last decade 33 and canceling its 10:00 p.m. half-hour news broadcast.