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 STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  KEVIN  J.  MARTIN 
 Re:  Broadcast  Localism,  Notice  of  Inquiry  (June  7,  2004) 
 I  support  this  Notice  of  Inquiry  into  the  manner  and  extent  to  which  broadcasters  are  serving  their  local  communities.  I  write  separately  to  address  an  issue  critical  to  a  broadcaster’s  ability  to  serve  its 
 local  community:  an  affiliate’s  right  to  reject  network  programming.  Three  years  ago,  the  Network  Affiliated  Stations  Alliance  filed  a  motion  for  declaratory  ruling  asking  us  to  clarify  that  our  rules  protect 
 an  affiliate’s  ability  to  refuse  to  air  network  programming  when,  for  instance,  the  licensee  believes  it  is  unsuitable  for  the  local  community,  or  when  another  program  is  of  greater  local  importance.  Since  that 
 time,  I  have  been  calling  on  the  Commission  to  resolve  this  and  other  questions  contained  in  that  motion.  This  Commission  states  in  this  Notice  today  that  we  “intend  to  issue  the  requested  declaratory  ruling 
 expeditiously.”  I  hope  we  resolve  this  issue  soon. 
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