They separated units that create music, movies, television programs and books from those that distribute programming on cable, on broadcast television and over the Internet.
In October two prominent cable networks — CNN and Comedy Central — began new programs that featured black hosts, a development that was notable because so few current programs on cable or broadcast channels have minority leads.
For a long time, the event was broadcast only on cable, but 2 years ago NBC bought the rights.
At the same time, broadcast programming that is carried remains the most popular programming on cable systems, and a substantial portion of the benefits for which consumers pay cable systems is derived from carriage of the signals of network affiliates, independent television stations, and public television stations.
The cable networks do not reach as many viewers as the broadcast networks — 2.6 million per night for prime-time news programs on cable compared with 23 million for broadcast — but their coverage runs in a continuous loop, is amplified by the Internet and is seen by many people involved in politics.
The legislation was benignly designed as a way to ensure that broadcast stations would be compensated for the retransmission of their programs on cable.
Following a pattern seen in entertainment viewing, Americans now watch news programs on cable television networks about as regularly as those on broadcast networks, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
SpongeBob SquarePants was ranked as the number-one program on broadcast and basic cable in April and scored the number-one telecast, "SpongeBob's Last Stand", with kids 2-11 for the month.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the amount of racial diversity among primetime broadcast networks and the percentage of characters who were white in programs on cable and streaming services.
L. 111 175, § 104(a)(1), inserted "of broadcast programming by cable" after "transmissions" in section catchline.
The "2017 Hollywood Diversity Report," set to be released by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, analyzed 168 theatrical films released in 2015 and more than 1,200 television programs released during the 2014-15 season on broadcast, cable, digital and via syndication.
