II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2686 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 1, 2006 

Mr. STEVENS (for himself and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Communications, Con5 sumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 

6 2006’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934. 

8 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 

9 this title an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 

10 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other proviVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 

2 section or other provision of the Communications Act of 

3 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 

4 SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

5 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Amendment of Communications Act of 1934. 

Sec. 3. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—WAR ON TERRORISM 

Subtitle A—Call Home 

Sec. 103. Telephone rates for members of armed forces deployed abroad. 

Sec. 102. Repeal of existing authorization. 

Subtitle B—Interoperability 

Sec. 151. Interoperable emergency communications. 

TITLE II—UNIVERSAL SERVICE REFORM; INTERCONNECTION 

Sec. 201. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Contributions to Universal Service 

Sec. 211. Stabilization of universal service funding. 

Sec. 212. Telecommunications services for libraries. 

Sec. 213. Modification of rural video service exemption. 

Sec. 214. Interconnection. 

Subtitle B—Distributions From Universal Service 

Sec. 251. Broadband requirement. 

Sec. 252. Establishment of broadband account within universal service fund. 

Sec. 253. Eligible telecommunications carrier guidelines. 

Sec. 254. Primary line. 

Sec. 255. Phantom traffic. 

Sec. 256. Random audits. 

Sec. 257. Waste, fraud, and abuse. 

TITLE III—STREAMLINING FRANCHISING PROCESS 

Sec. 301. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Updating the 1934 Act and Leveling the Regulatory Playing 

Field 

Sec. 311. Application of title VI to video services and video service providers. 

Sec. 312. Purpose; franchise applications; scope. 

Sec. 313. Standard franchise application form. 

Sec. 314. Definitions. 


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Subtitle B—Streamlining the Provision of Video Services 

Sec. 331. Franchise requirements and related provisions. 

Sec. 332. Renewal; revocation. 

Sec. 333. PEG and institutional network obligations. 

Sec. 334. Services, facilities, and equipment. 

Sec. 337. Shared facilities. 

Sec. 338. Consumer protection and customer service. 

Sec. 339. Redlining. 

Subtitle C—Miscellaneous and Conforming Amendments 

Sec. 351. Miscellaneous amendments. 

Subtitle D—Effective Dates and Transition Rules. 

Sec. 381. Effective dates; phase-in. 

TITLE IV—VIDEO CONTENT 

Sec. 401. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Sports Freedom 

Sec. 401. Short title. 

Sec. 402. Development of competition and diversity in video programming distribution.

Sec. 403. Regulations. 

Subtitle B—National Satellite 

Sec. 431. Availability of certain licensed services in noncontiguous States. 

Subtitle C—Video and Audio Flag 

Sec. 451. Short title. 

Sec. 452. Digital video broadcasting. 

Sec. 453. Digital audio broadcasting. 

Sec. 454. Digital Audio Review Board. 

TITLE V—MUNICIPAL BROADBAND 

Sec. 501. Short title. 

Sec. 502. State regulation of municipal broadband networks. 

TITLE VI—WIRELESS INNOVATION NETWORKS 

Sec. 601. Short title. 

Sec. 602. Eligible television spectrum made available for wireless use. 

TITLE VII—DIGITAL TELEVISION 

Sec. 701. Analog and digital television sets and converter boxes; consumer education and requirements to reduce the government cost of the 

converter box program. 

Sec. 702. Digital stream requirement for the blind. 

Sec. 703. Status of international coordination. 

TITLE VIII—PROTECTING CHILDREN 


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Sec. 801. Video transmission of child pornography. 

TITLE IX—INTERNET NEUTRALITY 

Sec. 901. Neutral networks for consumers. 

TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

Sec. 1001. Commissioner participation in forums and meetings. 

Sec. 1002. Severability. 

1 TITLE I—WAR ON TERRORISM 

2 Subtitle A—Call Home 

3 SEC. 103. TELEPHONE RATES FOR MEMBERS OF ARMED 

4 FORCES DEPLOYED ABROAD. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications 

6 Commission shall take such action as may be necessary 

7 to reduce the cost of calling home for Armed Forces per8 sonnel who are stationed outside the United States under 

9 official military orders or deployed outside the United 

10 States in support of military operations, training exer11 cises, or other purposes as approved by the Secretary of 

12 Defense, including the reduction of such costs through the 

13 waiver of government fees, assessments, or other charges 

14 for such calls. The Commission may not regulate rates in 

15 order to carry out this section. 

16 (b) FACTORS TO CONSIDER.—In taking the action 

17 described in subsection (a), the Commission, in coordina18 tion with the Department of Defense and the Department 

19 of State, shall— 


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1 (1) evaluate and analyze the costs to Armed 

2 Forces personnel of such telephone calls to and from 

3 American military bases abroad; 

4 (2) evaluate methods of reducing the rates im5 posed on such calls, including deployment of new 

6 technology such as voice over Internet protocol or 

7 other Internet protocol technology; 

8 (3) encourage telecommunications carriers (as 

9 defined in section 3(44) of the Communications Act 

10 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153(44))) to adopt flexible bill11 ing procedures and policies for Armed Forces per12 sonnel and their dependents for telephone calls to 

13 and from such Armed Forces personnel; and 

14 (4) seek agreements with foreign governments 

15 to reduce international surcharges on such telephone 

16 calls. 

17 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) ARMED FORCES.—The term ‘‘Armed 

19 Forces’’ has the meaning given that term by section 

20 2101(2) of title 5, United States Code. 

21 (2) MILITARY BASE.—The term ‘‘military base’’ 

22 includes official duty stations to include vessels, 

23 whether such vessels are in port or underway outside 

24 of the United States. 


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1 SEC. 102. REPEAL OF EXISTING AUTHORIZATION. 

2 Section 213 of the Telecommunications Authorization 

3 Act of 1992 (47 U.S.C. 201 note) is repealed. 

4 Subtitle B—Interoperability 

5 SEC. 151. INTEROPERABLE EMERGENCY COMMUNICA6 TIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3006 of Public Law 109– 

8 171 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by redesignating 

9 subsection (d) as subsection (g) and by inserting after sub10 section (c) the following: 

11 ‘‘(d) INTEROPERABLE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

12 EQUIPMENT DEPLOYMENT.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary 

14 shall allocate a portion of the funds made available 

15 to carry out this section to make interoperable com16 munications system equipment grants for equipment 

17 that can utilize reallocated public safety spectrum. 

18 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 

19 shall allocate the funds as follows: 

20 ‘‘(A) A portion to be equally distributed to 

21 each State. 

22 ‘‘(B) A majority to be distributed to the 

23 States based on the threat and risk factors used 

24 by the Secretary of Homeland Security for the 

25 purposes of allocating discretionary grants 

26 under the heading ‘‘OFFICE FOR DOMESTIC


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1 PREPAREDNESS, STATE AND LOCAL PRO2 GRAMS’’ in the Department of Homeland Secu3 rity Appropriations Act, 2006. 

4 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—A State may not receive 

5 funds allocated to it under paragraph (2) unless it 

6 has established a statewide interoperable commu7 nications plan approved by the Secretary of Home8 land Security. 

9 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use any 

10 funds received under this subsection for the pur11 chase of equipment and infrastructure that complies 

12 with SAFECOM guidance, including any standards 

13 that may be referenced by SAFECOM guidance. 

14 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION AND PLANNING GRANT INITIA15 TIVE.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary, in 

17 consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Secu18 rity, shall allocate a portion of the funds made avail19 able to carry out this section for emergency commu20 nication and coordination planning grants. The 

21 grants shall supplement, and be in addition to, any 

22 Federal funds otherwise made available by grant or 

23 otherwise to the States for emergency planning. 

24 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—The Secretary shall allo25 cate funds under this subsection as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(A) A portion shall be equally distributed 

2 to each State for use by State and local govern3 ments; and 

4 ‘‘(B) A majority shall be distributed to the 

5 States based on the threat and risk factors used 

6 by the Secretary of Homeland Security for the 

7 purposes of allocating discretionary grants 

8 under the heading ‘‘OFFICE FOR DOMESTIC

9 PREPAREDNESS, STATE AND LOCAL PRO10 GRAMS’’ in the Department of Homeland Secu11 rity Appropriations Act, 2006. 

12 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION AND PLANNING GUIDE13 LINES.—Except as provided in paragraph (4), a 

14 State shall use its emergency communication coordi15 nation and planning grant to establish a statewide 

16 plan consistent with the State communications inter17 operability planning methodology developed by the 

18 SAFECOM program within the Department of 

19 Homeland Security or a regional plan established 

20 pursuant to a regional planning agency consistent 

21 with this section. In establishing the plan, the Gov22 ernor or the Governor’s designee shall consult with 

23 the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Sec24 retary’s designee. A State shall submit its statewide 

25 plan to the Public Safety and Homeland Security 


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1 Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission 

2 for approval and the Secretary of Homeland Secu3 rity for approval. 

4 ‘‘(f) STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY RESERVES INITIA5 TIVE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary, in 

7 consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Secu8 rity, shall allocate a portion the funds made avail9 able to carry out this section to establish and imple10 ment a strategic technology reserve to pre-position 

11 or secure communications equipment in advance for 

12 immediate deployment in an emergency or major 

13 disaster (as defined in section 102(2) of Public Law 

14 93–288 (42 U.S.C. 5122)). 

15 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS.— 

16 A reserve established under paragraph (1) shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) be capable of re-establishing commu18 nications when existing infrastructure is dam19 aged or destroyed in a major disaster or other 

20 event; and 

21 ‘‘(B) include appropriate current, widely22 used equipment, such as Land Mobile Radio 

23 Systems, cellular and satellite telephones, Cells 

24 On Wheels, Cells On Light Trucks, backup bat25 teries, generators, fuel, and computers. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.—Portions 

2 of the reserve may be virtual and may include items 

3 donated on an in-kind contribution basis. 

4 ‘‘(4) CONSULTATION.—In developing the re5 serve, the Secretary shall seek advice from the Sec6 retary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland 

7 Security, as well as from communications providers, 

8 first responders, emergency managers, and State, 

9 local, and tribal governments. 

10 ‘‘(5) ALLOCATION AND USE OF FUNDS.—The 

11 Secretary shall allocate— 

12 ‘‘(A) a portion of the reserve’s funds for 

13 block grants to States to enable each State to 

14 establish a strategic technology reserve within 

15 its borders in a secure location to allow imme16 diate deployment; and 

17 ‘‘(B) a portion of the reserve’s funds for 

18 regional Federal strategic technology reserves 

19 to facilitate any Federal response when nec20 essary, to be held in secure locations around the 

21 country for immediate deployment to every re22 gion of the country including remote areas and 

23 noncontiguous States. 

24 ‘‘(g) COMMON STANDARDS; APPLICATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) COMMON STANDARDS.—In carrying out 

2 this section, the Assistant Secretary, in cooperation 

3 with the Secretary of Homeland Security shall de4 velop and implement common standards to the 

5 greatest extent practicable. 

6 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for assist7 ance under the programs established in this section, 

8 each State shall submit an application, at such time, 

9 in such form, and containing such information as 

10 the Assistant Secretary may require, including— 

11 ‘‘(A) a detailed explanation of how assist12 ance received under the program would be used 

13 to improve local communications interoper14 ability and ensure interoperability with other 

15 appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, and re16 gional agencies in a regional or national emer17 gency; and 

18 ‘‘(B) assurance that the equipment and 

19 system would— 

20 ‘‘(i) not be incompatible with the com21 munications architecture developed under 

22 section 7303(a)(1)(E) of the Intelligence 

23 Reform Act of 2004; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) meet any voluntary consensus 

2 standards developed under section 

3 7303(a)(1)(D) of that Act; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) be consistent with the common 

5 grant guidance established under section 

6 7303(a)(1)(H) of that Act.’’. 

7 (b) SEAMLESS MOBILITY.—Within 180 days of the 

8 enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Com9 mission shall establish a streamlined process to review and 

10 approve deployment of multi-mode devices that permit 

11 communication across multiple platforms, facilities, or 

12 networks notwithstanding any other provision of law. 

13 TITLE II—UNIVERSAL SERVICE 

14 REFORM; INTERCONNECTION 

15 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 

16 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Internet and Universal 

17 Service Act of 2006’’. 

18 Subtitle A—Contributions to 

19 Universal Service 

20 SEC. 211. STABILIZATION OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND21 ING. 

22 (a) ENSURING AN EQUITABLE CONTRIBUTION BASE

23 FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 254(d) (47 U.S.C. 

25 254(d)) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘(d) UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT CONTRIBU2 TIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) CONTRIBUTION MECHANISM.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each communications 

5 service provider shall contribute as provided in 

6 this subsection to support universal service. 

7 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission 

8 shall ensure that the contributions required by 

9 this subsection are— 

10 ‘‘(i) applied in a manner that is as 

11 competitively and technologically neutral as 

12 possible; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) specific, predictable, and suffi14 cient to sustain the funding of networks 

15 used to preserve and advance universal 

16 service. 

17 ‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENTS.—The Commission 

18 may adjust the contribution for providers for 

19 their low volume residential customers. 

20 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTIONS.—The Commission may ex21 empt a communications service provider or any class 

22 of communications service providers from the re23 quirements of this subsection— 


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1 ‘‘(A) if the services of such a provider are 

2 limited to such an extent that the level of its 

3 contributions would be de minimis; or 

4 ‘‘(B) with respect to communications serv5 ice provided pursuant to the Commission’s Life6 line Assistance Program. 

7 ‘‘(3) CONTRIBUTION ASSESSMENT FLEXI8 BILITY.— 

9 ‘‘(A) METHODOLOGY.—To achieve the 

10 principles in this section, the Commission may 

11 base universal service contributions upon— 

12 ‘‘(i) revenue from communications 

13 service; 

14 ‘‘(ii) working phone numbers or any 

15 other identifier protocol or connection to 

16 the networks; or 

17 ‘‘(iii) network capacity. 

18 ‘‘(B) USE OF MORE THAN 1 METHOD19 OLOGY.—If no single methodology employed 

20 under subparagraph (A) achieves the principles 

21 described in this subsection, the Commission 

22 may employ a combination of any such meth23 odologies. 

24 ‘‘(C) REMOVAL OF INTERSTATE/INTRA25 STATE DISTINCTION.—For the purpose of uniVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 versal service contributions, the Commission 

2 may assess the interstate, intrastate, or inter3 national portions of communications service. 

4 ‘‘(D) GROUP PLAN DISCOUNT.—If the 

5 Commission utilizes a methodology under sub6 paragraph (A) based in whole or in part on 

7 working phone numbers, it may provide a dis8 count for up to 3 additional phones provided 

9 under a group or family pricing plan. 

10 ‘‘(E) PRESERVATION OF UNIVERSAL SERV11 ICE FUNDS.—Nothing in this subsection pre12 cludes a State from establishing or maintaining 

13 State universal service pursuant to subsection 

14 (f). 

15 ‘‘(4) NON-DISCRIMINATORY ELIGIBILITY RE16 QUIREMENT.—A communications service provider is 

17 not exempted from the requirements of this sub18 section solely on the basis that such provider is not 

19 eligible to receive support under this section. 

20 ‘‘(6) BILLING.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A communications 

22 service provider that contributes to universal 

23 service under this section may place on any cus24 tomer bill a separate line item charge that does 

25 not exceed the amount for the customer that 


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1 the provider is required to contribute under this 

2 subsection that shall be identified as the ‘Fed3 eral Universal Service Fee’. 

4 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—If such a provider bills 

5 customers for administrative costs associated 

6 with its collection and remission of universal 

7 service fees under this subsection— 

8 ‘‘(i) the administrative costs shall be a 

9 separate line item charge on the bill and 

10 shall be identified as ‘Optional Company 

11 Administrative Fee’; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) the amount billed for such costs 

13 may not exceed the estimated direct costs 

14 attributable to such administrative costs. 

15 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

16 ‘‘(A) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 

17 ‘broadband service’ means any service used for 

18 transmission of information of a user’s choosing 

19 with a transmission speed of at least 200 kilo20 bits per second in at least 1 direction, regard21 less of the transmission medium or technology 

22 employed, that connects to the public Internet 

23 for a fee directly— 

24 ‘‘(i) to the public; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) to such classes of users as to be 

2 effectively available directly to the public. 

3 ‘‘(B) COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The 

4 term ‘communications service’ means tele5 communications service, broadband service, or 

6 IP-enabled voice service (whether offered sepa7 rately or as part of a bundle of services). 

8 ‘‘(C) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.—The 

9 term ‘IP-enabled voice service’ means the provi10 sion of real-time 2-way voice communications 

11 offered to the public, or such classes of users as 

12 to be effectively available to the public, trans13 mitted through customer premises equipment 

14 using TCP/IP protocol, or a successor protocol, 

15 for a fee (whether part of a bundle of services 

16 or separately) with 2-way interconnection capa17 bility such that the service can originate traffic 

18 to, and terminate traffic from, the public 

19 switched telephone network.’’. 

20 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

21 254(b)(4) (47 U.S.C. 254(b)(4)) is amended by 

22 striking ‘‘telecommunications services’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘communications services (as defined in subsection 

24 (d)(7)(B)’’. 


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1 (b) PROPER ACCOUNTING OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE

2 CONTRIBUTIONS.— 

3 (1) FROM ALL BUDGETS.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of law, the receipts and disburse5 ments of universal service under section 254 of the 

6 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) shall 

7 not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, re8 ceipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of— 

9 (A) the budget of the United States Gov10 ernment as submitted by the President; 

11 (B) the Congressional budget; 

12 (C) the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

13 Deficit Control Act of 1985; or 

14 (D) any other statute requiring budget se15 questers. 

16 (2) ADDITIONAL EXEMPTIONS.—Section 1341, 

17 subchapter II of chapter 15, and sections 3302, 

18 3321, 3322, and 3325 of title 31, United States 

19 Code, shall not apply to— 

20 (A) the collection and receipt of universal 

21 service contributions, including the interest 

22 earned on such contributions; or 

23 (B) disbursements or other obligations au24 thorized by the Commission under section 254 


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1 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

2 254). 

3 (c) FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.—The Federal Com4 munications Commission and the Administrator of the 

5 Universal Service Fund— 

6 (1) shall account for the financial transactions 

7 of the Fund in accordance with generally accepted 

8 accounting principles for Federal agencies; 

9 (2) shall maintain the accounts of the Fund in 

10 accordance with the United States Government 

11 Standard General Ledger; and 

12 (3) may invest unexpended balances only in 

13 Federal securities (as defined in section 113(b)(5) of 

14 Office of Management and Budget circular OMB A– 

15 11). 

16 (d) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 180 days after the 

17 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communica18 tions Commission shall issue a rule to implement section 

19 254(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

20 254(d)) as amended by subsection (a). 

21 SEC. 212. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR LIBRAR22 IES. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 254(h)(4) (47 U.S.C. 

24 254(h)(4)) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN USERS NOT ELIGIBLE.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of this subsection, the fol3 lowing entities are not entitled to preferential rates or 

4 treatment as required by this subsection: 

5 ‘‘(A) An entity operated as a for-profit 

6 business. 

7 ‘‘(B) A school described in paragraph 

8 (7)(A) with an endowment of more than 

9 $50,000,000. 

10 ‘‘(C) A library or library consortium not el11 igible for assistance under the Library Services 

12 and Technology Act (20 U.S.C. 9101 et seq.)— 

13 ‘‘(i) from a State library administra14 tive agency; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) funded by a grant under section 

16 261 of the Library Services and Tech17 nology Act (20 U.S.C. 9161) from an In18 dian tribe or other organization.’’. 

19 (b) FUNDING.—Section 254(h)(1) (47 U.S.C. 

20 254(h)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(C) FUNDING.—The obligations under, 

22 and administrative costs of, this subsection for 

23 any funding year may not exceed the sum of— 

24 ‘‘(i) the annual program funding cap 

25 established by the Commission; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) any unobligated balances from 

2 prior funding years.’’. 

3 (c) AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY RESIDENTIAL

4 INTERNET ACCESS QUESTION.—The Secretary of Com5 merce, in consultation with the Federal Communications 

6 Commission, shall expand the American Community Sur7 vey conducted by the Bureau of the Census to elicit infor8 mation for residential households, including those located 

9 on native lands, as to what technology such households 

10 use to access the Internet from home. 

11 SEC. 213. MODIFICATION OF RURAL VIDEO SERVICE EX12 EMPTION. 

13 (a) RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES.—Section 

14 251(f)(1) (47 U.S.C. 251(f)(1)) is amended— 

15 (1) by striking ‘‘Subsection’’ in subparagraph 

16 (A) and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in subpara17 graph (B), subsection’’; 

18 (2) by striking ‘‘interconnection, services, or 

19 network elements,’’ in subparagraph (A) and insert20 ing ‘‘services or network elements,’’; 

21 (3) by striking ‘‘(under subparagraph (B))’’ in 

22 subparagraph (A) and inserting ‘‘(under subpara23 graph (C))’’ 

24 (4) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) and 

25 (C) as subparagraphs (C) and (D); 


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1 (5) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(B) INTERCONNECTION.—Notwithstand4 ing subparagraph (A), subsection (c)(2) of this 

5 section shall not apply to a rural telephone 

6 company until such company has received a 

7 bona fide request for interconnection.’’; 

8 (6) by striking ‘‘exemption under subparagraph 

9 (A).’’ in subparagraph (C), as redesignated, and in10 serting ‘‘exemption.’’; and 

11 (7) by striking subparagraph (D) as redesig12 nated. 

13 (b) OTHER RURAL CARRIERS.—Section 251(f)(2) (47 

14 U.S.C. 251(f)(2)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(other than 

15 subsection (c)(2))’’ after ‘‘subsection (b) or (c)’’. 

16 SEC. 214. INTERCONNECTION. 

17 Title VII (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by add18 ing after section 714 the following new section: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 715. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF IP-ENABLED 

20 VOICE SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An IP-enabled voice service pro22 vider shall have the same rights, duties, and obligations 

23 as a requesting telecommunications carrier under sections 

24 251 and 252, if the provider elects to assert such rights. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DISABLED SERVICES.—An IP-enabled voice 

2 service provider shall have the same rights, duties, and 

3 obligations as a telecommunications carrier under sections 

4 225, 255, and 710. In revising the Commission’s regula5 tions under such sections to carry out this subsection, the 

6 Commission shall consider whether a service or equipment 

7 is marketed as a substitute for telecommunications serv8 ice, telecommunications equipment, customer premises 

9 equipment, or telecommunications relay services. 

10 ‘‘(c) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE DEFINED.—In 

11 this section, the term ‘IP-enabled voice service’ means the 

12 provision of real-time 2-way voice communications offered 

13 to the public, or such classes of users as to be effectively 

14 available to the public, transmitted through customer 

15 premises equipment using TCP/IP protocol, or a successor 

16 protocol, for a fee (whether part of a bundle of services 

17 or separately) with interconnection capability such that 

18 the service can originate traffic to, or terminate traffic 

19 from, the public switched telephone network.’’. 

20 Subtitle B—Distributions From 

21 Universal Service 

22 SEC. 251. BROADBAND REQUIREMENT. 

23 Section 214(e) (47 U.S.C. 214(e)) is amended by 

24 adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(7) BROADBAND SERVICE REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para2 graph (1), an eligible communications carrier 

3 may not receive universal service support under 

4 section 254 more than 60 months after the date 

5 of enactment of the Internet and Universal 

6 Service Act of 2006 if it has not deployed 

7 broadband service within its service area before 

8 the end of that 60-month period unless it re9 ceives a waiver under subparagraph (B). 

10 ‘‘(B) WAIVERS.— 

11 ‘‘(i) APPLICATION.—In order to re12 ceive a waiver under this subparagraph, an 

13 eligible communications carrier shall sub14 mit an application to the Commission. 

15 ‘‘(ii) COST OF DEPLOYMENT.—If an 

16 eligible communications carrier dem17 onstrates to the satisfaction of the Com18 mission that the cost per line of deploying 

19 such broadband service is at least 3 times 

20 the average cost per line of deploying such 

21 broadband service for all eligible commu22 nications carriers receiving universal serv23 ice support, the Commission shall waive 

24 the application of subparagraph (A) to 

25 that eligible communications carrier. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) OTHER FACTORS.—If an eligible 

2 communications carrier demonstrates to 

3 the satisfaction of the Commission that the 

4 deployment and provision of such 

5 broadband service is not technically fea6 sible or would materially impair the car7 rier’s ability to continue to provide local 

8 exchange service or broadband service 

9 throughout its service area, the Commis10 sion may waive the application of subpara11 graph (A) to that eligible communications 

12 carrier. 

13 ‘‘(iv) DEEMED APPROVAL.—If the 

14 Commission fails to act on a waiver re15 quest within 60 calendar days after it re16 ceives a completed application for the waiv17 er, the waiver shall be deemed to be grant18 ed. If the Commission requests additional 

19 information from the eligible communica20 tions carrier, the 60-day period shall be 

21 tolled beginning on the date on which re22 quest is received by the carrier and ending 

23 on the date on which the Commission re24 ceives the information requested. 


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1 ‘‘(v) TERM; RENEWAL.—A waiver 

2 under this subparagraph— 

3 ‘‘(I) shall be for a period of not 

4 more than 2 years; and 

5 ‘‘(II) may be renewed, upon ap6 plication, by the Commission if the 

7 applicant demonstrates that it is eligi8 ble for a waiver under clause (ii) or 

9 (iii). 

10 ‘‘(C) NOTIFICATION OF STATE COMMIS11 SION.—Whenever the Commission grants a 

12 waiver to an eligible communications carrier 

13 under subparagraph (B) that has been des14 ignated under paragraph (2) by a State com15 mission, the Commission shall notify the State 

16 commission of the waiver. 

17 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(i) BROADBAND SERVICE.—The term 

19 ‘broadband service’ means any service used 

20 for transmission of information of a user’s 

21 choosing with a transmission speed of at 

22 least 3 megabits per second in at least 1 

23 direction, regardless of the transmission 

24 medium or technology employed, that conVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 nects to the public Internet for a fee di2 rectly— 

3 ‘‘(I) to the public; or 

4 ‘‘(II) to such classes of users as 

5 to be effectively available directly to 

6 the public. 

7 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE COMMUNICATIONS

8 CARRIER.—The term ‘eligible communica9 tions carrier’ means an entity designated 

10 under paragraph (2), (3), or (6). Any ref11 erence to ‘eligible telecommunications car12 rier’ in this section is deemed also to refer 

13 to ‘eligible communications carrier’.’’. 

14 SEC. 252. ESTABLISHMENT OF BROADBAND ACCOUNT 

15 WITHIN UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND. 

16 Part I of title II (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended 

17 by inserting after section 254 the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 254A. BROADBAND FOR UNSERVED AREAS ACCOUNT. 

19 ‘‘(a) ACCOUNT ESTABLISHED.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be, within the 

21 universal service fund established pursuant to sec22 tion 254, a separate account to be known as the 

23 ‘Broadband for Unserved Areas Account’. 

24 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Account is 

25 to provide financial assistance for the deployment of 


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1 broadband service to unserved areas throughout the 

2 United States. 

3 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the 

5 date of enactment of the Internet and Universal 

6 Service Act of 2006, the Commission shall issue 

7 rules establishing— 

8 ‘‘(A) guidelines for determining which 

9 areas may be considered to be unserved areas 

10 for purposes of this section; 

11 ‘‘(B) criteria for determining which facili12 ties-based providers of broadband service, and 

13 which projects, are eligible for support from the 

14 Account; 

15 ‘‘(C) procedural guidelines for awarding 

16 assistance from the Account on a merit-based 

17 and competitive basis; 

18 ‘‘(D) guidelines for application procedures, 

19 accounting and reporting requirements, and 

20 other appropriate fiscal controls for assistance 

21 made available from the Account; and 

22 ‘‘(E) a procedure for making funds in the 

23 Account available among the several States on 

24 an equitable basis. 

25 ‘‘(2) SATELLITE SERVICE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBILITY OF PROVIDER.—A sat2 ellite service provider shall be considered to be 

3 a facility-based provider eligible for support 

4 from the Account. 

5 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY OF CPE PROJECTS.— 

6 The deployment of satellite customer premises 

7 equipment may be considered to be a project el8 igible for support from the Account. 

9 ‘‘(C) DESIGNATION OF LIGHTLY SERVED

10 AREAS.—The availability of broadband service 

11 by satellite in an area shall not preclude the 

12 designation of that area as an unserved area if 

13 the Commission determines that subscribership 

14 to satellite service in the area is de minimis. 

15 ‘‘(D) MULTIPLE AREAS WITHIN STATE.— 

16 For purposes of this section, there may be more 

17 than 1 unserved area within a State. 

18 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—The Commission shall transmit 

19 an annual report to the Senate Committee on Com20 merce, Science, and Transportation and the House 

21 of Representatives Committee on Energy and Com22 merce making recommendations for an increase or 

23 decrease, if necessary, in the amounts credited to the 

24 account under this section. 

25 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ANNUAL AMOUNT.—Amounts obligated or 

2 expended under subsection (b) for any fiscal year 

3 may not exceed $500,000,000. 

4 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.—To the extent that the 

5 full amount in the account is not obligated for finan6 cial assistance under this section within a fiscal 

7 year, any unobligated funds shall be used to support 

8 universal service under section 254. 

9 ‘‘(3) SUPPORT LIMITED TO FACILITIES-BASED

10 SINGLE PROVIDER PER UNSERVED AREA.—Assist11 ance under this section may be provided only to— 

12 ‘‘(A) facilities-based providers of 

13 broadband service; and 

14 ‘‘(B) 1 facility-based provider of broadband 

15 service in any unserved area. 

16 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION WITH SECTIONS 214, 254, AND

17 410.— 

18 ‘‘(1) SECTION 214(e).—Section 214(e) shall not 

19 apply to the Broadband for Unserved Areas Ac20 count. 

21 ‘‘(2) SECTION 254.—Section 254 shall be ap22 plied to the Broadband for Unserved Areas Ac23 count— 

24 ‘‘(A) by disregarding— 


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1 ‘‘(i) subsections (a) and (e) thereof; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) any other provision thereof deter4 mined by the Commission to be inappro5 priate or inapplicable to implementation of 

6 this section; and 

7 ‘‘(B) by reconciling, to the maximum ex8 tent feasible and in accordance with guidelines 

9 prescribed by the Commission, the implementa10 tion of this section with the provisions of sub11 sections (h) and (l) thereof. 

12 ‘‘(3) SECTION 410.—Section 410 shall not apply 

13 to the Broadband for Unserved Areas Account. 

14 ‘‘(e) BROADBAND SERVICE DEFINED.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, except to 

16 the extent revised by the Commission under para17 graph (2), the term ‘broadband service’ means any 

18 service used for transmission of information of a 

19 user’s choosing with a transmission speed of at least 

20 500 kilobits per second in at least 1 direction, re21 gardless of the transmission medium or technology 

22 employed, that connects to the public Internet for a 

23 fee directly— 

24 ‘‘(A) to the public; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) to such classes of users as to be ef2 fectively available directly to the public. 

3 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REVIEW OF TRANSMISSION

4 SPEED.—The Commission shall review the trans5 mission speed component of the definition in sub6 paragraph (A) no less frequently than once each 

7 year and revise that component as appropriate.’’. 

8 SEC. 253. ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES. 

9 Section 214(e) (47 U.S.C. 214(e)), as amended by 

10 section 251, is amended by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(8) ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES.—A common 

13 carrier may not be designated as an eligible commu14 nications carrier (as defined in paragraph (7)(D)(ii)) 

15 subsection unless it— 

16 ‘‘(A) provides a 5-year plan demonstrating 

17 how high-cost universal service support will be 

18 used to improve its coverage, service quality, or 

19 capacity in every wire center for which it seeks 

20 designation and expects to receive universal 

21 service; 

22 ‘‘(B) demonstrates its ability to remain 

23 functional in emergency situations; 

24 ‘‘(C) demonstrates that it will satisfy con25 sumer protection and service quality standards; 


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1 ‘‘(D) offers local usage plans comparable 

2 to those offered by the incumbent local ex3 change carrier in the areas for which it seeks 

4 designation; and 

5 ‘‘(E) acknowledges that it may be required 

6 to provide equal access if all other eligible tele7 communications carriers in the designated serv8 ice area relinquish their designations pursuant 

9 to paragraph (4) of this subsection.’’. 

10 SEC. 254. PRIMARY LINE. 

11 Section 214(e) (47 U.S.C. 214(e)), as amended by 

12 section 253, is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(9) PRIMARY LINE.—In implementing the re15 quirements of this Act with respect to the distribu16 tion and use of Federal universal service support the 

17 Commission shall not limit such distribution and use 

18 to a single connection or primary line, and all resi19 dential and business lines served by an eligible tele20 communications carrier shall be eligible for Federal 

21 universal service support.’’. 

22 SEC. 255. PHANTOM TRAFFIC. 

23 Section 254 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding 

24 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i) NETWORK TRAFFIC IDENTIFICATION ACCOUNT2 ABILITY STANDARDS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) NETWORK TRAFFIC IDENTIFICATION

4 STANDARDS.—A provider of voice communications 

5 services (including an IP-enabled voice service pro6 vider) shall ensure that all traffic that originates on 

7 its network contains sufficient information to allow 

8 for traffic identification by other communications 

9 service providers that transport, transit, or termi10 nate such traffic, including information on the iden11 tity of the originating provider, the calling and called 

12 parties, and such other information as the Commis13 sion deems appropriate. 

14 ‘‘(2) NETWORK TRAFFIC IDENTIFICATION

15 RULEMAKING.—The Commission, in consultation 

16 with the States, shall initiate a single rulemaking no 

17 later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

18 the Internet and Universal Service Act of 2006 to 

19 establish rules and enforcement provisions for traffic 

20 identification. 

21 ‘‘(3) NETWORK TRAFFIC IDENTIFICATION EN22 FORCEMENT.—The Commission shall adopt clear 

23 penalties, fines, and sanctions for insufficiently la24 beled traffic.’’. 


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•S 2686 IS 

1 SEC. 256. RANDOM AUDITS. 

2 Section 214(e) (47 U.S.C. 214(e)), as amended by 

3 section 254, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(10) AUDITS.—Each State commission that 

6 designates an eligible communications provider (as 

7 defined in paragraph (7)(D)(ii) and the Commission, 

8 with respect to eligible communications carriers des9 ignated by it, shall provide for random periodic au10 dits of each such carrier with respect to its receipt 

11 and use of universal service support and its relative 

12 cost to provide service compared to other, similarly 

13 situated, universal service recipients based on their 

14 respective study areas or service areas.’’. 

15 SEC. 257. WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE. 

16 The Federal Communications Commission, in con17 sultation with the Administrator of the Universal Service 

18 Administrative Company, shall— 

19 (1) ensure the integrity and accountability of all 

20 programs established under section 254(h) of the 

21 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)); 

22 and 

23 (2) not later than 180 days after the date of 

24 enactment of this Act, establish rules— 

25 (A) identifying appropriate fiscal controls 

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1 plied to the Schools and Libraries Program 

2 under section 254(h); 

3 (B) including a memorandum of under4 standing, or including contractual relationships, 

5 as the Commission determines appropriate, de6 fining the administrative structure and proc7 esses by which the Universal Service Adminis8 trative Company administers the Schools and 

9 Libraries Program under section 254(h); 

10 (C) creating performance goals and meas11 ures for the Schools and Libraries Program 

12 under section 254(h), such goals and measures 

13 shall be used by the Commission to determine— 

14 (i) how efficiently and cost-effectively 

15 funds are spent in supporting the tele16 communications needs of schools and li17 braries; and 

18 (ii) areas for improved operations; and 

19 (D) establishing appropriate enforcement 

20 actions, including imposition of sanctions on ap21 plicants and vendors who repeatedly and know22 ingly violate program rules set forth in section 

23 254(h), such as debarment from the program 

24 for individuals convicted of crimes or held civilly 


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•S 2686 IS 

1 liable for actions taken in connection with the 

2 Schools and Libraries Program. 

3 TITLE III—STREAMLINING 

4 FRANCHISING PROCESS 

5 SEC. 301. SHORT TITLE. 

6 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Video Competition and 

7 Savings for Consumers Act of 2006’’. 

8 Subtitle A—Updating the 1934 Act 

9 and Leveling the Regulatory 

10 Playing Field 

11 SEC. 311. APPLICATION OF TITLE VI TO VIDEO SERVICES 

12 AND VIDEO SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

13 (a) TERMINOLOGY.—Title VI (47 U.S.C. 521 et 

14 seq.), except for section 602 (47 U.S.C. 522), is amend15 ed— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘cable operator’’ and ‘‘cable op17 erators’’ each place they appear and inserting ‘‘video 

18 service provider’’ or ‘‘video service providers’’, as ap19 propriate; 

20 (2) by striking ‘‘cable service’’ and ‘‘cable serv21 ices’’ each place they appear and inserting ‘‘video 

22 service’’ or ‘‘video services’’, respectively; 

23 (3) by striking ‘‘cable’’ each place it appears, 

24 except the second place it appears in section 624(i), 

25 and inserting ‘‘video service’’; 


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1 (4) by striking ‘‘operator’’ each place it appears 

2 and inserting ‘‘provider’’; 

3 (5) by striking ‘‘cassette’’ each place it appears; 

4 and 

5 (6) by striking ‘‘tape’’ each place it appears and 

6 inserting ‘‘copy’’. 

7 (b) HEADINGS.—Title VI (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by striking the heading for title VI and in10 serting ‘‘TITLE VI—VIDEO SERVICES’’; 

11 (2) by striking the heading for part II and in12 serting ‘‘PART II—USE OF VIDEO SERV13 ICES; RESTRICTIONS’’; 

14 (3) by striking the heading for part III and in15 serting ‘‘PART III—FRANCHISING’’; and 

16 (4) striking ‘‘CABLE’’ in the heading for sec17 tions 633 and 640 and inserting ‘‘VIDEO SERV18 ICE’’. 

19 (c) REGULATIONS.— 

20 (1) NEW REGULATIONS.—Within 120 days 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis22 sion shall issue regulations to implement sections 

23 603, 612, 621, and 622 of the Communications Act 

24 of 1934, as amended by this Act. 


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1 (2) UPDATING EXISTING REGULATIONS.—With2 in 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

3 the Commission shall issue, as necessary, updated 

4 regulations needed under title VI or other provisions 

5 of the Communications Act of 1934 to reflect the 

6 amendments made by this Act. 

7 SEC. 312. PURPOSE; FRANCHISE APPLICATIONS; SCOPE. 

8 (a) PURPOSE.—Section 601 (47 U.S.C. 521) is 

9 amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 601. PURPOSE. 

11 ‘‘It is the purpose of this title to establish a com12 prehensive Federal legal framework for the franchising of 

13 video services that use public rights-of-way.’’. 

14 (b) FRANCHISE APPLICATION; SCOPE.—Part I of 

15 title VI (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

16 the end the following: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 603. FRANCHISE APPLICATIONS. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

19 ‘‘(1) 30-DAY PROCESS.—Except as otherwise 

20 provided in this subsection, a franchising authority 

21 shall grant a franchise to provide video service with22 in its franchise area to a video service provider with23 in 30 calendar days after receiving a franchise appli24 cation from the video service provider that is com25 plete except for— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the franchise fee, as provided by sec2 tion 622; 

3 ‘‘(B) the number of public, educational, or 

4 governmental use channels required by section 

5 611; 

6 ‘‘(C) any fee that may be assessed under 

7 section 622(b)(5); and 

8 ‘‘(D) the point of contact for the fran9 chising authority. 

10 ‘‘(2) STANDARDIZED APPLICATION FORM.—A 

11 video service provider shall use the standard fran12 chise application form promulgated by the Commis13 sion under section 612. 

14 ‘‘(3) RESPONSIBILITIES OF FRANCHISE AU15 THORITY.—Within 15 calendar days after receiving 

16 a franchise application under paragraph (1), a fran17 chising authority may— 

18 ‘‘(A) complete the application form by pro19 viding the information described in subpara20 graphs (A), (B), (C) and (D) of paragraph (1) 

21 in a manner that is consistent with the require22 ments of this title; and 

23 ‘‘(B) return the completed application to 

24 the video service provider. 


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1 ‘‘(4) ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS.—A franchising 

2 agreement shall take effect on the date on which the 

3 completed franchise application is received by the 

4 applicant under paragraph (3)(B) unless the appli5 cant notifies the franchising authority within 15 cal6 endar days after receipt of the completed franchise 

7 application form that the terms provided are not ac8 cepted. 

9 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTION.—This subsection does not re10 quire a franchise authority to approve or complete 

11 an application from a video service provider if a 

12 franchise held by that provider has been revoked 

13 under section 625(b) or 640 by the franchise author14 ity. 

15 ‘‘(b) DEEMED APPROVAL.—Except as provided in 

16 subsection (a)(5), if a franchising authority fails to act 

17 on a franchise application that meets the requirements of 

18 paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) within the 30- 

19 day period, the franchise application shall be deemed to 

20 be granted— 

21 ‘‘(1) effective on the 31st day after the fran22 chising authority received the application; 

23 ‘‘(2) for a term of 15 years; 

24 ‘‘(3) with a franchise fee equal to the lesser 

25 of— 


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•S 2686 IS 

1 ‘‘(A) the fee paid by the cable operator 

2 with the most subscribers offering cable service 

3 in the franchise area; or 

4 ‘‘(B) 5 percent of gross revenue (deter5 mined under section 622); and 

6 ‘‘(4) with an obligation to provide the number 

7 of public, educational, or governmental use channels 

8 required by section 611. 

9 ‘‘(c) PROCEDURE.—If an application is not granted 

10 within 30 days after its receipt by a franchising authority 

11 because of subsection (a)(5), the applicant may avail itself 

12 of the procedures in section 635 of this Act. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 604. NO EFFECT ON STATE LAWS OF GENERAL APPLI14 CABILITY. 

15 ‘‘Nothing in this title is intended to affect State or 

16 local laws of general applicability for all businesses, except 

17 to the extent that such laws are inconsistent with this title. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 605. DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE SERVICE. 

19 ‘‘No State or local government may regulate direct 

20 broadcast satellite services (as that term is used in section 

21 335 of this Act).’’. 

22 SEC. 313. STANDARD FRANCHISE APPLICATION FORM. 

23 Section 612 (47 U.S.C. 532) is amended to read as 

24 follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 612. STANDARD FRANCHISE AGREEMENT FORM. 

2 ‘‘Within 30 days after the date of enactment of the 

3 Video Competition and Savings for Consumers Act of 

4 2006, the Commission shall promulgate a standard fran5 chise agreement form, the use of which by franchising au6 thorities shall be mandatory. The franchise application 

7 form shall include blank spaces to be filled in by the video 

8 service provider and the franchising authority, as appro9 priate, for— 

10 ‘‘(1) the name of the video service provider; 

11 ‘‘(2) the name and business address of each di12 rector and principal executive officers; 

13 ‘‘(3) a point of contact for the video service pro14 vider; 

15 ‘‘(4) a point of contact for the franchising au16 thority; 

17 ‘‘(5) the fees; 

18 ‘‘(6) the period during which the franchising 

19 agreement shall be in effect; 

20 ‘‘(7) the public, educational, or governmental 

21 programming to be provided; 

22 ‘‘(8) the physical location of the headend; and 

23 ‘‘(9) a description of the video service to be pro24 vided.’’. 


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1 SEC. 314. DEFINITIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 602 (47 U.S.C. 522) is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) by striking ‘‘cable system’’ in paragraphs 

5 (1) and (9) and inserting ‘‘video service system’’; 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘regulation);’’ in paragraph (4) 

7 and inserting ‘‘regulation) or its equivalent (as de8 termined by the Commission).’’; 

9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (11) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(11A) ‘headend’ means the headend of a cable 

12 system or video service system.’’; 

13 (4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(12A) ‘institutional network’ means a commu16 nication network that is constructed or operated by 

17 a video service provider cable operator and that is 

18 generally available only to subscribers who are not 

19 residential subscribers.’’; 

20 (5) by striking ‘‘cable operator’’ in paragraph 

21 (14) and inserting ‘‘video service provider’’; 

22 (6) by inserting after paragraph (16) the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(16A) ‘satellite carrier’ means an entity that 

25 uses the facilities of a satellite or satellite service li26 censed by the Federal Communications Commission 


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•S 2686 IS 

1 and operates in the Fixed-Satellite Service under 

2 part 25 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regula3 tions or the Direct Broadcast Satellite Service under 

4 part 100 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regula5 tions, to establish and operate a channel of commu6 nications for point-to-multipoint distribution of tele7 vision station signals, and that owns or leases a ca8 pacity or service on a satellite in order to provide 

9 such point-to-multipoint distribution, except to the 

10 extent that such entity provides such distribution 

11 pursuant to tariff under the Communications Act of 

12 1934, other than for private home viewing.’’; 

13 (7) by striking ‘‘cable service’’ in paragraph 

14 (17) and inserting ‘‘video service’’; 

15 (8) by striking ‘‘cable operator’’ each place it 

16 appears in paragraph (17) and inserting ‘‘video serv17 ice provider’’; and 

18 (9) by inserting after paragraph (20) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(24) VIDEO SERVICE.—The term ‘video serv21 ice’ means— 

22 ‘‘(A) video programming; 

23 ‘‘(B) interactive on demand services; or 

24 ‘‘(C) other programming services. 


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1 ‘‘(25) VIDEO SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term 

2 ‘video service provider’— 

3 ‘‘(A) means a provider of video service that 

4 utilizes a public right-of-way in the provision of 

5 such service, including a cable operator; but 

6 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

7 ‘‘(i) a satellite carrier; 

8 ‘‘(ii) any person providing video pro9 gramming using radio communication di10 rectly to the recipient’s premises; or 

11 ‘‘(iii) any provider of commercial mo12 bile service (as defined in section 

13 332(d)).’’. 

14 (b) STYLISTIC CONSISTENCY.—Section 602 (47 

15 U.S.C. 622), as amended by subsection (a), is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘title—’’ and inserting ‘‘title:’’; 

17 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through 

18 (20) as paragraphs (1) through (23); 

19 (3) by striking the semicolon at the end of each 

20 such paragraph and inserting a period; and 

21 (4) by inserting after the designation of each 

22 such paragraph— 

23 (A) a heading, in a form consistent with 

24 the form of the heading of paragraphs (24) and 

25 (25), as added by subsection (a) of this section 


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•S 2686 IS 

1 consisting of the term defined by such para2 graph, or the first term so defined in the para3 graph defines more than 1 term; and 

4 (B) the words ‘‘The term’’. 

5 Subtitle B—Streamlining the 

6 Provision of Video Services 

7 SEC. 331. FRANCHISE REQUIREMENTS AND RELATED PRO8 VISIONS. 

9 (a) GENERAL FRANCHISE REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

10 621 (47 U.S.C. 541) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

14 ‘‘(1) AWARD OF FRANCHISE.—A franchising 

15 authority may not— 

16 ‘‘(A) grant an exclusive franchise; or 

17 ‘‘(B) grant a franchise for a term shorter 

18 than 5 years or longer than 15 years. 

19 ‘‘(2) PRESERVATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

20 POWER TO MANAGE PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY; EASE21 MENTS.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this title 

23 affects the authority of a State or local govern24 ment to apply its laws or regulations governing 

25 the use of the public rights of way in a manner 


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•S 2686 IS 

1 that is reasonable, competitively neutral, non2 discriminatory, and consistent with State statu3 tory police powers, including permitting, pay4 ments for bonds, security funds, letters of cred5 it, insurance, indemnification, penalties, or liq6 uidated damages to ensure compliance with 

7 such laws and regulations. 

8 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS ON PERMITTING

9 FEES.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State or local 

11 government may not— 

12 ‘‘(I) impose a permitting fee on a 

13 video service provider that exceeds the 

14 estimated direct costs incurred by the 

15 State or local government in issuing 

16 the permit; 

17 ‘‘(II) impose any conditions for 

18 market entry or use this section as a 

19 barrier to entry by a video service pro20 vider; or 

21 ‘‘(III) take any action that would 

22 delay the provision of video services 

23 by a video service provider in a local 

24 franchise area. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) RECONCILIATION OF OVER2 CHARGES.—Within 30 days after any re3 estimate of estimated direct costs for pur4 poses of clause (i)(I) that— 

5 ‘‘(I) requires a reduction in the 

6 permitting fee, the State or local gov7 ernment shall refund the excess, if 

8 any, to the video service provider; or 

9 ‘‘(II) results in an increase in the 

10 permitting fee, the video service pro11 vider shall pay the difference between 

12 the amount paid and the increased fee 

13 to the State or local government. 

14 ‘‘(C) TIMELY ACTION REQUIRED.—In man15 aging the public rights-of-way a State or local 

16 government that issues permits or licenses for 

17 use of the public rights-of-way shall act upon 

18 any such request for use in a timely manner. 

19 ‘‘(D) NEW ROADS.—Nothing in this sec20 tion shall affect the ability of a State or local 

21 government to impose reasonable limits on ac22 cess to public rights-of-way associated with 

23 newly constructed roads. 

24 ‘‘(E) PREVENTION OF ABUSE OF

25 POWER.—If the Commission determines in a 


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1 proceeding brought by a video service provider 

2 to enforce this subsection that a franchising au3 thority abused the authority provided by this 

4 section in violation of subparagraph (B), the 

5 Commission may award reasonable attorneys’ 

6 fees and Commission costs to the video service 

7 provider.’’; and 

8 (2) by striking paragraph (1) of subsection (b) 

9 and inserting ‘‘(1) Except to the extent provided in 

10 subsection (f), a video service provider may not pro11 vide video service without a franchise.’’. 

12 (b) FRANCHISE FEE.—Section 622 (47 U.S.C. 542) 

13 is amended— 

14 (1) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and in15 serting the following: 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A franchising authority may im17 pose and collect a franchise fee from a video service pro18 vider that provides video services within the local franchise 

19 area of that authority. 

20 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The franchise fee imposed 

22 by a franchising authority under subsection (a) for 

23 any 12-month period may not exceed 5 percent of 

24 the video service provider’s gross revenue derived in 

25 such period. For purposes of this section, the 12- 


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1 month period shall be the 12-month period applica2 ble under the franchise for accounting purposes. 

3 ‘‘(2) PREPAID OR DEFERRED PAYMENT AR4 RANGEMENTS.—Nothing in this subsection prohibits 

5 a franchising authority and a video service provider 

6 from agreeing that franchise fees which lawfully 

7 could be collected for any such 12-month period 

8 shall be paid on a prepaid or deferred basis, except 

9 that the sum of the fees paid during the term of the 

10 franchise may not exceed the amount, including the 

11 time value of money, which would have lawfully been 

12 collected if such fees had been paid per annum. 

13 ‘‘(3) FRANCHISING AUTHORITY AND VIDEO

14 SERVICE PROVIDER AGREEMENTS.—Nothing in this 

15 section precludes a State or local government and a 

16 video service provider from entering into a voluntary 

17 commercial agreement, whereby in consideration for 

18 a mutually agreed upon reduction in the franchise 

19 fee under paragraph (1), the video service provider 

20 makes available to the local unit of government serv21 ices, equipment, capabilities, or other valuable con22 sideration. 

23 ‘‘(4) PEG AND INSTITUTIONAL NETWORK FI24 NANCIAL SUPPORT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A video service pro2 vider with a franchise under this section for a 

3 franchise area may be required to pay an 

4 amount equal to not more than 1 percent of the 

5 video service provider’s gross revenue in the 

6 franchise area to the franchising authority for 

7 the support of public, educational, and govern8 mental use and institutional networks. The pay9 ment shall be assessed and collected in a man10 ner consistent with this section. 

11 ‘‘(B) EXISTING FRANCHISE INSTITU12 TIONAL NETWORKS.—A franchising authority 

13 may require a cable operator to continue to pro14 vide any institutional network provided by that 

15 cable operator before executing a franchise 

16 agreement under this title. 

17 ‘‘(C) INCREMENTAL COSTS.—If the incre18 mental cost of operating an institutional net19 work under subparagraph (B) is less than 1 

20 percent of the video service provider’s gross rev21 enue, the video service provider may deduct the 

22 incremental cost of operating the institutional 

23 network from the contribution required under 

24 subparagraph (A). The franchising authority 

25 shall reimburse the video service provider for 


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1 the amount by which the incremental cost of 

2 operating such institutional network exceeds 

3 any fee required under subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(D) ADJUSTMENT.—Every 15 years after 

5 the commencement of a franchise granted after 

6 April 30, 2006, a franchising authority may re7 quire a video service provider to increase the 

8 channel capacity designated for public, edu9 cational, or governmental use, and the channel 

10 capacity designated for such use on any institu11 tional networks required under subparagraph 

12 (A). The increase may not exceed the greater 

13 of— 

14 ‘‘(i) 1 channel; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) 10 percent of the public, edu16 cational, or governmental channel capacity 

17 required of the video service provider be18 fore the required increase.’’; and 

19 (2) by striking subsections (d) through (h) and 

20 inserting the following: 

21 ‘‘(d) OTHER TAXES, FEES, AND ASSESSMENTS NOT

22 AFFECTED.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 

24 shall be construed to modify, impair, or supersede, 

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1 session of, any State or local law pertaining to tax2 ation. 

3 ‘‘(2) GENERALLY APPLICABLE TAXES, FEES, 

4 AND ASSESSMENTS.—Nothing in this section shall be 

5 construed to modify, impair, or supersede any Fed6 eral, State, or local tax, fee, or assessment, or other 

7 charges that are— 

8 ‘‘(A) applicable to services other than video 

9 service; or 

10 ‘‘(B) generally applicable (including any 

11 such tax, fee, assessment, or charge imposed on 

12 both utilities and video service providers or 

13 their services other than a tax, fee, assessment, 

14 or charge that is unduly discriminatory against 

15 video service providers or video service sub16 scribers). 

17 ‘‘(3) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—Noth18 ing in this section is intended to modify, impair, or 

19 supersede the ability of any State to impose a tax, 

20 fee, or assessment (including any such tax, fee, or 

21 assessment that is imposed by the State and remit22 ted to its political subdivisions) that is— 

23 ‘‘(A) measured by the sales price of a tele24 communications service and required to be paid 

25 by all telecommunications service providers or 


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1 their customers (including video service pro2 viders) on a nondiscriminatory basis; and 

3 ‘‘(B) in lieu of any compensation or other 

4 charge for using or occupying the public rights5 of-way to provide telecommunications service, 

6 including the franchise fee authorized by this 

7 section. 

8 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REVIEW.— 

9 ‘‘(1) AUDIT PROCEDURE.—A franchising au10 thority that believes that it is not receiving the full 

11 amount of the video service fee imposed under this 

12 section may petition its State commission to com13 mence an audit to ensure compliance with the defini14 tion of gross revenue and the calculation of fees 

15 under this section. The State commission shall co16 ordinate audits to the maximum extent possible to 

17 avoid unnecessary duplication and cost on carriers. 

18 ‘‘(2) REIMBURSEMENT OF FRANCHISING AU19 THORITY FOR SUBSTANTIAL DEFICIENCIES.—If 

20 there is a final determination, after the dispute reso21 lution procedures under subsection (f) have been 

22 completed, that the video service provider has under23 paid the franchise fee imposed under this section by 

24 5 percent or more for the 12-month period that was 

25 the subject of the review, the video service provider 


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1 shall reimburse the franchising authority for the rea2 sonable costs associated with the review. Those costs 

3 include any reasonable amount paid by the fran4 chising authority to an independent third party for 

5 conducting the review other than any amount paid 

6 to an independent third party under a contingency 

7 fee arrangement. 

8 ‘‘(3) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—A franchising 

9 authority may not request a review under paragraph 

10 (1) for any 12-month period ending more than 36 

11 months before the date on which the request is sub12 mitted. 

13 ‘‘(f) DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE.— 

14 ‘‘(1) NOTICE; 30-DAY PERIOD.—If there is a 

15 dispute between a franchising authority and a video 

16 service provider over the amount or payment of the 

17 fee authorized by this section that has not been re18 solved between the parties in a reasonable period of 

19 time under normal business procedures, the ag20 grieved party may give the other party written notice 

21 of intent to initiate the dispute resolution procedure 

22 provided by this subsection. Within 30 calendar days 

23 after the notice has been received by the second 

24 party, representatives of each party with authority 

25 to settle the dispute shall meet at a mutually agreed 


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1 upon time and place to attempt to negotiate a reso2 lution of the dispute. 

3 ‘‘(2) 60-DAY PERIOD; COMMISSION COMPLAINT

4 PROCEDURE.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the dispute has not 

6 been resolved within 60 calendar days after the 

7 notice has been received by the second party, ei8 ther party may file a complaint with the Com9 mission. 

10 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE

11 COURSE OF NEGOTIATIONS.—For the purpose 

12 of any adjudication by the Commission under 

13 this subsection, information provided by either 

14 party to the other in negotiations under sub15 paragraph (A) shall be treated as compromise 

16 and settlement negotiations for purposes of the 

17 Federal Rules of Evidence. 

18 ‘‘(C) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—Not19 withstanding subparagraph (A), no complaint 

20 may be filed with the Commission under this 

21 paragraph more than 3 years after the end of 

22 the quarter to which the disputed amount re23 lates, unless the 3-year period is extended by 

24 written agreement between the video service 


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1 provider and the local government franchising 

2 authority. 

3 ‘‘(D) PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS.—The 

4 Commission shall adopt rules establishing pro5 cedures for handling complaints under this 

6 paragraph, which shall require that— 

7 ‘‘(i) the complaint be heard by an ad8 ministrative law judge; 

9 ‘‘(ii) any decision of the administra10 tive law judge be directly reviewable by the 

11 Commission upon the request of either 

12 party; 

13 ‘‘(iii) any review by the Commission 

14 be limited to the record before the adminis15 trative law judge; 

16 ‘‘(iv) the complaint be treated as a re17 stricted proceeding under subpart H of 

18 part 1 of the Commission’s regulations (47 

19 C.F.R. part 1, subpart H); and 

20 ‘‘(v) any review of the Commission’s 

21 decision shall be brought as provided in 

22 section 402(a) of this Act. 

23 ‘‘(g) GAAP STANDARDS.—For purposes of this sec24 tion, all financial determinations and computations shall 


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1 be made in accordance with generally accepted accounting 

2 principles except as otherwise provided. 

3 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) FRANCHISE FEE.—The term ‘franchise 

5 fee’— 

6 ‘‘(A) includes any tax, fee, or assessment 

7 of any kind imposed by a franchising authority 

8 or other governmental entity on a video service 

9 provider or subscriber, or both, solely because 

10 of their status as such; but 

11 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

12 ‘‘(i) any tax, fee, or assessment of 

13 general applicability (including any such 

14 tax, fee, or assessment imposed on both 

15 utilities and video service providers or their 

16 services but not including a tax, fee, or as17 sessment which is unduly discriminatory 

18 against video service providers or sub19 scribers); 

20 ‘‘(ii) any fee that is required by the 

21 franchise under section 622(b); 

22 ‘‘(iii) requirements or charges inci23 dental to the awarding or enforcing of the 

24 franchise, including payments for bonds, 

25 security funds, letters of credit, insurance, 


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1 indemnification, penalties, or liquidated 

2 damages; or 

3 ‘‘(iv) any fee imposed under title 17, 

4 United States Code. 

5 ‘‘(2) GROSS REVENUE.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘gross rev7 enue’ means all consideration of any kind or 

8 nature including cash, credits, property, and in9 kind contributions (services or goods) received 

10 by a video service provider from the provision of 

11 broadband video service within a local franchise 

12 area including— 

13 ‘‘(i) all charges and fees paid by sub14 scribers for the provision of video service, 

15 including fees attributable to video service 

16 when that service is sold individually or as 

17 part of package, bundle, or functionally in18 tegrated with services other than video 

19 service; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) revenue received by a video serv21 ice provider as compensation for carriage 

22 of video programming on the provider’s 

23 system. 

24 ‘‘(B) AFFILIATES.—The gross revenue of a 

25 video service provider includes gross revenue of 


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1 an affiliate to the extent the exclusion of the af2 filiate’s gross revenue would have the effect of 

3 permitting the video service provider to evade 

4 the payment of franchise fees which would oth5 erwise be paid by that video service provider for 

6 video services provided within the local fran7 chise area of the franchising authority imposing 

8 the fee. 

9 ‘‘(C) REVENUE FROM BUNDLED OR FUNC10 TIONALLY INTEGRATED SERVICE.—In the case 

11 of a video service that is bundled or functionally 

12 integrated with other services, capabilities, or 

13 applications, the portion of the video service 

14 provider’s revenue attributable to such other 

15 services, capabilities, or applications shall be in16 cluded in gross revenue unless the video service 

17 provider can reasonably identify the division or 

18 exclusion of such revenue from its books and 

19 records kept in the regular course of business. 

20 ‘‘(D) EXCLUSIONS.—Gross revenue of a 

21 video service provider (or an affiliate to the ex22 tent otherwise included in the gross revenue of 

23 the video service provider under subparagraph 

24 (B)) does not include— 


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1 ‘‘(i) any revenue not actually received, 

2 even if billed, such as bad debts net of any 

3 recoveries of bad debts; 

4 ‘‘(ii) refunds, rebates, credits, or dis5 counts to subscribers or a municipality to 

6 the extent not excluded under clause (i); 

7 ‘‘(iii) subject to subparagraph (C), 

8 any revenues received by a video service 

9 provider or its affiliates from the provision 

10 of services or capabilities other than video 

11 service, including— 

12 ‘‘(I) voice, Internet access, or 

13 other broadband-enabled applications; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(II) services, capabilities, and 

16 applications that are sold or provided 

17 as part of a package or bundle of 

18 services or capabilities, or that are 

19 functionally integrated with video 

20 service; 

21 ‘‘(iv) any revenues received by a video 

22 service provider or its affiliates for the pro23 vision of directory or Internet advertising, 

24 including yellow pages, white pages, banner 

25 advertisement, and electronic publishing; 


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1 ‘‘(v) any amounts attributable to the 

2 provision of video services to subscribers at 

3 no charge, including the provision of such 

4 services to public institutions without 

5 charge; 

6 ‘‘(vi) any revenue derived from home 

7 shopping channels; 

8 ‘‘(vii) any revenue forgone from the 

9 provision of video service at no charge to 

10 any person other than forgone revenue ex11 changed for trades, barters, services, or 

12 other items of value; 

13 ‘‘(viii) any tax, fee, or assessment of 

14 general applicability imposed on a sub15 scriber, subscription, or subscription-re16 lated transaction by Federal, State, or 

17 local government that is required to be col18 lected by the video service provider and re19 mitted to the taxing authority, including 

20 sales taxes, use taxes, and utility user 

21 taxes; 

22 ‘‘(ix) any revenue from the sale of 

23 capital assets or surplus equipment; 

24 ‘‘(x) the reimbursement by program25 mers for marketing costs actually incurred 


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1 by a video service provider for the intro2 duction of new programming; or 

3 ‘‘(xi) any revenue from the sale of 

4 video services for resale to the extent that 

5 the purchaser certifies in writing that it 

6 will— 

7 ‘‘(I) resell the service; and 

8 ‘‘(II) pay any applicable fran9 chise fee with respect thereto.’’. 

10 SEC. 332. RENEWAL; REVOCATION. 

11 Part II of title VI (47 U.S.C. 541 et seq.) is amend12 ed— 

13 (1) by striking section 623 and redesignating 

14 sections 624 and 624A as sections 623 and 624, re15 spectively; and 

16 (2) by striking sections 625 and 626 and insert17 ing the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 625. RENEWAL; REVOCATION. 

19 ‘‘(a) RENEWAL.—A video service provider may sub20 mit a written application for renewal of its franchise to 

21 a franchising authority not more than 180 days before the 

22 franchise expires. Any such application shall be made on 

23 the standard application form promulgated by the Com24 mission under section 612 and shall be treated under secVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 tion 603 in the same manner as any other franchise appli2 cation. 

3 ‘‘(b) REVOCATION.—A franchising authority may re4 voke a video service provider’s franchise to provide video 

5 services if it determines, after notice and an opportunity 

6 for a hearing, that the video service provider has willfully 

7 and repeatedly— 

8 ‘‘(1) violated any Federal or State law, or any 

9 Commission regulation, relating to the provision of 

10 video services in the franchise area; 

11 ‘‘(2) made false statements, or material omis12 sions, in any filing with the Commission relating to 

13 the provision of video service in the franchise area; 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(3) violated the rights-of-way management 

16 laws or regulations of any franchising authority in 

17 the franchise area relating to the provision of video 

18 service in the franchise area. 

19 ‘‘(c) NOTICE; OPPORTUNITY TO CURE.—A fran20 chising authority may not revoke a franchise unless it first 

21 provides— 

22 ‘‘(1) written notice to the video service provider 

23 of the alleged violation in which the revocation would 

24 be based; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) a reasonable opportunity to cure the viola2 tion. 

3 ‘‘(d) FINALITY OF DECISION.—Any decision of a 

4 franchising authority to revoke a franchise under this sec5 tion is final for purposes of appeal. A video service pro6 vider whose franchise is revoked by a franchising authority 

7 may avail itself of the procedures in section 635 of this 

8 Act. 

9 ‘‘(e) PREVENTION OF ABUSE OF POWER.—A fran10 chising authority may not use this section as a barrier to 

11 entry by a video service provider. If the Commission deter12 mines, in a proceeding brought by a video service provider 

13 to enforce this subsection, that a franchising authority 

14 abused the authority provided by this section in violation 

15 of the preceding sentence, the Commission may award rea16 sonable attorneys’ fees and Commission costs to the video 

17 service provider.’’. 

18 SEC. 333. PEG AND INSTITUTIONAL NETWORK OBLIGA19 TIONS. 

20 Section 611 (47 U.S.C. 531) is amended to read as 

21 follows: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 611. CHANNELS FOR PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, OR GOV23 ERNMENTAL USE. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A video service provider that ob25 tains a franchise shall provide channel capacity for public, 


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1 educational, or governmental use that is not less than the 

2 channel capacity required of the video service provider 

3 with the greatest number of public, educational, or govern4 mental use channels in the franchise area on the effective 

5 date of that franchise. If there is no other video service 

6 provider in the franchise area on the effective date of the 

7 franchise, the video service provider shall provide the 

8 amount of channel capacity for such use as determined 

9 by Commission rule. 

10 ‘‘(b) EDITORIAL CONTROL.—Subject to section 

11 623(b)(1), a video service provider shall not exercise any 

12 editorial control over any public, educational, or govern13 mental use of channel capacity provided pursuant to this 

14 section, but a video service provider may refuse to trans15 mit any public access program or portion of a public ac16 cess program which contains obscenity. 

17 ‘‘(c) TRANSMISSION AND PRODUCTION OF PROGRAM18 MING.— 

19 ‘‘(1) PEG PROGRAMMING.—A video service pro20 vider shall ensure that all subscribers receive any 

21 public, educational, or governmental programming 

22 carried by the video service provider within the sub23 scriber’s franchise area. 

24 ‘‘(2) PRODUCTION RESPONSIBILITY.—The pro25 duction of any programming provided under this 


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1 subsection shall be the responsibility of the fran2 chising authority. 

3 ‘‘(3) TRANSMISSION RESPONSIBILITY.—The 

4 video service provider shall be responsible for the 

5 transmission from the signal origination point (or 

6 points) of the programming, or from the point of 

7 interconnection with another video service provider 

8 already offering the public, educational, or govern9 mental programming under paragraph (4), to the 

10 video service provider’s subscribers, or any public, 

11 educational, or governmental programming produced 

12 by or for the franchising authority and carried by 

13 the video service provider pursuant to this section. 

14 ‘‘(4) INTERCONNECTION; COST-SHARING.—Un15 less 2 video service providers otherwise agree to the 

16 terms for interconnection and cost sharing, such 

17 video service providers shall comply with regulations 

18 prescribed by the Commission providing for— 

19 ‘‘(A) the interconnection between 2 video 

20 service providers in a franchise area for trans21 mission of public, educational, or governmental 

22 programming, without material degradation in 

23 signal quality or functionality; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the reasonable allocation of the costs 

2 of such interconnection between such video 

3 service providers. 

4 ‘‘(5) DISPLAY OF PROGRAM INFORMATION.— 

5 The video service provider shall display the program 

6 information for public, educational, or governmental 

7 programming in any print or electronic program 

8 guide in the same manner in which it displays pro9 gram information for other video programming in 

10 the franchise area. The video service provider shall 

11 not omit public, educational, or governmental pro12 gramming from any navigational device, guide, or 

13 menu containing other video programming that is 

14 available to subscribers in the franchise area.’’. 

15 SEC. 334. SERVICES, FACILITIES, AND EQUIPMENT. 

16 Section 623 of title VI, as redesignated by section 

17 332, is amended— 

18 (1) by striking subsections (a), (b), (c), (e), and 

19 (h) and redesignating subsections (d), (f), (g), and 

20 (i) as subsections (a) through (d), respectively; and 

21 (2) by inserting ‘‘or wire’’ after ‘‘cable’’ in sub22 section (d), as redesignated. 

23 SEC. 337. SHARED FACILITIES. 

24 Part III of title VI (47 U.S.C. 541 et seq.) is amend25 ed— 


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1 (1) by striking section 627 and redesignating 

2 sections 628 (after its amendment by section 402) 

3 and 629 as sections 626 and 627, respectively; and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 628. ACCESS TO PROGRAMMING FOR SHARED FACILI6 TIES. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A video service programming 

8 vendor in which a video service provider has an attrib9 utable interest may not deny a video service provider with 

10 a franchise under this title access to video programming 

11 solely because that video service provider uses a headend 

12 for its video service system that is also used, under a 

13 shared ownership or leasing agreement, as the headend 

14 for another video service system. 

15 ‘‘(b) VIDEO SERVICE PROGRAMMING VENDOR DE16 FINED.—The term ‘video service programming vendor’ 

17 means a person engaged in the production, creation, or 

18 wholesale distribution for sale of video programming that 

19 is primarily intended for direct receipt by video service 

20 providers for retransmission to their video service sub21 scribers.’’. 

22 SEC. 338. CONSUMER PROTECTION AND CUSTOMER SERV23 ICE. 

24 Section 632 (47 U.S.C. 552) is amended to read as 

25 follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 632. CONSUMER PROTECTION AND CUSTOMER SERV2 ICE. 

3 ‘‘(a) REGULATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

5 after the date of enactment of the Video Competition 

6 and Savings for Consumers Act of 2006, the Com7 mission, after receiving comments from interested 

8 parties, including franchising authorities and con9 sumer representatives, shall promulgate regulations, 

10 which may include penalties, with respect to cus11 tomer service and consumer protection requirements 

12 for video service providers. 

13 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—The 

14 regulations required by subsection (a) shall take ef15 fect 60 days after the date on which a final rule is 

16 promulgated by the Commission. 

17 ‘‘(b) STATE COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—A State com18 mission shall have the authority to enforce regulations 

19 promulgated under subsection (a). 

20 ‘‘(c) FRANCHISING AUTHORITY STANDING.—A fran21 chising authority shall have standing to file a complaint, 

22 otherwise initiate an enforcement proceeding, or intervene 

23 in a proceeding on behalf of consumers in its franchise 

24 area under the regulations promulgated under subsection 

25 (a).’’. 


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1 SEC. 339. REDLINING. 

2 Part IV of title VI (47 U.S.C. 551 et seq.) is amend3 ed by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 642. REDLINING. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A video service provider may not 

6 deny access to its video service to any group of potential 

7 residential video service subscribers because of the income, 

8 race, or religion of that group. 

9 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.—This section shall be enforced 

10 by the Commission through a complaint-initiated adju11 dication process. A complaint may be filed by a resident 

12 of the franchising area who is aggrieved by a violation of 

13 subsection (a) or by a franchising authority on behalf of 

14 residents of its franchise area. 

15 ‘‘(c) REMEDIES.—If the Commission determines that 

16 a video service provider has violated subsection (a), it— 

17 ‘‘(1) shall ensure that the video service provider 

18 extends access to any group denied access in viola19 tion of subsection (a); 

20 ‘‘(2) may assess a civil penalty in such amount 

21 as may be authorized under State law for the fran22 chising area in which the violation occurred for vio23 lation of its antidiscrimination laws; and 

24 ‘‘(3) may revoke a video service provider’s fran25 chise to provide video services if it determines, after 

26 notice and an opportunity for a hearing, that the 


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1 video service provider has willfully and repeatedly 

2 violated this section.’’. 

3 Subtitle C—Miscellaneous and 

4 Conforming Amendments 

5 SEC. 351. MISCELLANEOUS AMENDMENTS. 

6 (a) MUNICIPAL OPERATORS.—Section 621(f) (47 

7 U.S.C. 541(f)) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(f) MUNICIPAL OPERATORS.—No provision of this 

9 title shall be construed to prohibit a local or municipal 

10 authority that is also, or is affiliated with, a franchising 

11 authority from operating as a multichannel video pro12 gramming distributor in the franchise area, notwith13 standing the granting of one or more franchises by the 

14 franchising authority.’’. 

15 (b) PROCEDURE.—Section 622(b) (47 U.S.C. 

16 542(b)), as amended by section 331(a) of this Act, is fur17 ther amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as 

19 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; and 

20 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(3) REQUIRED SHOWING IN LITIGATION.—In 

23 any lawsuit challenging the amount of the franchise 

24 fee imposed under this subsection, the franchising 

25 authority shall be required to demonstrate that the 


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1 rate structure reflects all costs of the franchise 

2 fees.’’. 

3 (c) SUNSET.—Section 626(c)(5) (47 U.S.C. 546), as 

4 redesignated by section 334, is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘10 years after the date of en6 actment of this section,’’ and inserting ‘‘on October 

7 5, 2012,’’; and 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘last year of such 10-year pe9 riod,’’ and inserting ‘‘12-month period ending on 

10 that date,’’. 

11 (d) UPDATING.—Section 613 is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘July 1, 1984,’’ in subsection 

13 (g) and inserting ‘‘the date of enactment of the 

14 Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and 

15 Broadband Deployment of 2006’’; and 

16 (2) by striking subsection (a) and redesignating 

17 subsections (c) through (h) as subsections (a) 

18 through (f), respectively. 

19 (e) REPEAL.—Section 617 (47 U.S.C. 537) is re20 pealed. 

21 (f) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 634(i) (47 U.S.C. 

22 554(i)) is amended— 

23 (1) by striking paragraph (1); and 

24 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 

25 paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively. 


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1 (g) RESTRUCTURING PART IV.—Part IV of title VI 

2 (47 U.S.C. 551 et seq.) is amended— 

3 (1) by striking sections 635A, 636, and 637; 

4 and 

5 (2) by redesignating sections 638, 639, 640, 

6 641, and 642 (as added by section 339 of this Act) 

7 as sections 636, 637, 638, 639, and 640 respec8 tively. 

9 (h) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS FOR RETRANS10 MISSION.— 

11 (1) Section 325(b) (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is 

12 amended— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘cable system’’ in para14 graph (1) and inserting ‘‘video service pro15 vider’’; and 

16 (B) by inserting ‘‘The term ‘video service 

17 provider’ has the meaning given it in section 

18 602(25) of this Act.’’ after ‘‘title.’’ in the mat19 ter following subparagraph (E) of paragraph 

20 (2). 

21 (2) Section 336(b) (47 U.S.C. 336(b)) is 

22 amended by striking ‘‘section 614 or 615 or be 

23 deemed a multichannel video programming dis24 tributor for purposes of section 628;’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘section 614 or 615;’’. 


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1 Subtitle D—Effective Dates and 

2 Transition Rules. 

3 SEC. 381. EFFECTIVE DATES; PHASE-IN. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) 6-MONTH DELAY.—Except as provided in 

6 paragraph (2), the amendments made by this Act 

7 (the Video Competition and Savings for Consumers 

8 Act of 2006) shall take effect 180 days after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (2) INITIATION OF CERTAIN PROCEEDINGS.— 

11 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Federal Com12 munications Commission shall initiate any pro13 ceeding required by title VI of the Communications 

14 Act of 1934, as amended by this Act, or made nec15 essary by such amendment as soon as practicable 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 (b) APPLICATION TO EXISTING FRANCHISE AGREE18 MENTS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para20 graph (2), the provisions of title VI of the Commu21 nications Act of 1934, as amended by this Act, shall 

22 not apply to a franchise agreement in effect on the 

23 date of enactment of this Act between a franchising 

24 authority and a video service provider before the ex25 piration date of the agreement, as determined withVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00076 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 out regard to any renewal or extension of the agree2 ment. The provisions of title VI of that Act, as in 

3 effect on the day before the date of enactment of 

4 this Act shall continue to apply to any such fran5 chise agreement as provided by subsection (c) until 

6 the earlier of— 

7 (A) the expiration date of the agreement; 

8 or 

9 (B) that date on which a new franchise 

10 agreement that replaces the existing franchise 

11 agreement takes effect. 

12 (2) COMPETITION TRIGGER.— 

13 (A) NOTIFICATION OF EXISTING

14 FRANCHISEE REQUIRED.—If a franchising au15 thority receives an application from a video 

16 service provider to provide video service in an 

17 area in which cable service is provided under an 

18 existing franchise agreement, it shall notify any 

19 cable operator providing cable service in that 

20 area. 

21 (B) NEW FRANCHISE AGREEMENT SUPER22 SEDES EXISTING AGREEMENT.—Upon receipt of 

23 notice under subparagraph (A), a cable oper24 ator may submit an application for a franchise 

25 under section 603 of the Communications Act 


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1 of 1934, as amended by this Act. When the 

2 franchise is granted— 

3 (i) the terms and conditions of the 

4 new franchise agreement supersede the ex5 isting franchise agreement; and 

6 (ii) the provisions of title VI of the 

7 Communications Act of 1934, as amended 

8 by this Act, shall apply. 

9 (c) LIMITED APPLICATION OF OLD TITLE VI .— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub11 section (b) or otherwise explicitly provided in new 

12 title VI, the provisions of old title VI (and all regula13 tions, rulings, waivers, orders, and franchise agree14 ments under old title VI) shall continue in effect 

15 after the date of enactment of this Act with respect 

16 to any cable operator to which they applied before 

17 that date until the earlier of— 

18 (A) the expiration date of the franchise 

19 agreement under which the cable operator was 

20 operating on the date of enactment of this Act; 

21 or 

22 (B) that date on which a new franchise 

23 agreement takes effect that replaces a cable op24 erator’s franchise agreement described in sub25 paragraph (A). 


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1 (2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

2 (A) NEW TITLE VI.—The term ‘‘new title 

3 VI’’ means title VI of the Communications Act 

4 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.) as amended by 

5 this Act. 

6 (B) OLD TITLE VI.—The term ‘‘old title 

7 VI’’ means title VI of the Communications Act 

8 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.) as in effect on 

9 the day before the date of enactment of this 

10 Act. 

11 TITLE IV—VIDEO CONTENT 

12 SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 

13 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Video Content Act’’. 

14 Subtitle A—Sports Freedom 

15 SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE. 

16 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Sports Freedom 

17 Act of 2006’’. 

18 SEC. 402. DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITION AND DIVERSITY 

19 IN VIDEO PROGRAMMING DISTRIBUTION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 628 (47 U.S.C. 548), be21 fore its redesignation by section 337 of this Act, is amend22 ed to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 628. DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITION AND DIVER2 SITY IN VIDEO PROGRAMMING DISTRIBU3 TION. 

4 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is— 

5 ‘‘(1) to promote the public interest, conven6 ience, and necessity by increasing competition and 

7 diversity in the multichannel video programming 

8 market; 

9 ‘‘(2) to increase the availability of MVPD pro10 gramming and satellite broadcast programming to 

11 persons in rural and other areas not currently able 

12 to receive such programming; and 

13 ‘‘(3) to spur the development of communica14 tions technologies. 

15 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION.—It is unlawful for an 

16 MVPD, an MVPD programming vendor in which an 

17 MVPD has an attributable interest, or a satellite 

18 broadcast programming vendor to engage in unfair 

19 methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or 

20 practices, the purpose or effect of which is to hinder 

21 significantly or to prevent any MVPD from pro22 viding MVPD programming or satellite broadcast 

23 programming to subscribers or consumers. 

24 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.— 

25 ‘‘(1) PROCEEDING REQUIRED.—Not later than 

26 180 days after the date of enactment of the Sports 


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1 Freedom Act of 2006, the Commission shall pre2 scribe regulations to specify particular conduct that 

3 is prohibited by subsection (b), in order to pro4 mote— 

5 ‘‘(A) the public interest, convenience, and 

6 necessity by increasing competition and diver7 sity in the multichannel video programming 

8 market; and 

9 ‘‘(B) the continuing development of com10 munications technologies. 

11 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM CONTENTS OF REGULATION.— 

12 The regulations required under paragraph (1) 

13 shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) establish effective safeguards to pre15 vent an MVPD which has an attributable inter16 est in an MVPD programming vendor or a sat17 ellite broadcast programming vendor from un18 duly or improperly influencing the decision of 

19 such vendor to sell, or the prices, terms, and 

20 conditions of sale of, MVPD programming or 

21 satellite broadcast programming to any unaffili22 ated MVPD; 

23 ‘‘(B) prohibit discrimination by an MVPD 

24 programming vendor in which an MVPD has an 

25 attributable interest or by a satellite broadcast 


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1 programming vendor in the prices, terms, and 

2 conditions of sale or delivery of MVPD pro3 gramming or satellite broadcast programming 

4 among or between cable systems, cable opera5 tors, or other MVPDs, or their agents or buy6 ing groups, except that an MVPD programming 

7 vendor in which an MVPD has an attributable 

8 interest or such a satellite broadcast program9 ming vendor shall not be prohibited from— 

10 ‘‘(i) imposing reasonable requirements 

11 for— 

12 ‘‘(I) creditworthiness; 

13 ‘‘(II) offering of service; and 

14 ‘‘(III) financial stability and 

15 standards regarding character and 

16 technical quality; 

17 ‘‘(ii) establishing different prices, 

18 terms, and conditions to take into account 

19 actual and reasonable differences in the 

20 cost of creation, sale, delivery, or trans21 mission of MVPD programming or satellite 

22 broadcast programming; 

23 ‘‘(iii) establishing different prices, 

24 terms, and conditions which take into ac25 count economies of scale, cost savings, or 


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1 other direct and legitimate economic bene2 fits reasonably attributable to the number 

3 of subscribers served by the distributor; or 

4 ‘‘(iv) entering into an exclusive con5 tract that is permitted under subparagraph 

6 (D); 

7 ‘‘(C) prohibit practices, understandings, 

8 arrangements, and activities, including exclusive 

9 contracts for MVPD programming or satellite 

10 broadcast programming between an MVPD and 

11 an MVPD programming vendor or satellite 

12 broadcast programming vendor, that prevent an 

13 MVPD from obtaining such programming from 

14 any MVPD programming vendor in which an 

15 MVPD has an attributable interest or any sat16 ellite broadcast programming vendor in which 

17 an MVPD has an attributable interest for dis18 tribution to persons in areas not served by an 

19 MVPD as of the date of enactment of the 

20 Sports Freedom Act of 2006; and 

21 ‘‘(D) with respect to distribution to per22 sons in areas served by an MVPD, prohibit ex23 clusive contracts for MVPD programming or 

24 satellite broadcast programming between an 

25 MVPD and an MVPD programming vendor in 


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1 which an MVPD has an attributable interest or 

2 a satellite broadcast programming vendor in 

3 which an MVPD has an attributable interest, 

4 unless the Commission determines (in accord5 ance with paragraph (4)) that such contract is 

6 in the public interest. 

7 ‘‘(3) PREEMPTION AND RESCHEDULING OF

8 CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS.—Nothing in this section 

9 shall be construed in a manner that limits the dis10 cretion of a licensee of a local television broadcast 

11 station to preempt or to reschedule programming 

12 specifically designed to serve educational and infor13 mational needs of children in order to air timely cov14 erage of news or sporting events. 

15 ‘‘(4) LIMITATIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) GEOGRAPHIC LIMITATIONS.—Nothing 

17 in this section shall require any person who is 

18 engaged in the national or regional distribution 

19 of video programming to make such program20 ming available in any geographic area beyond 

21 which such programming has been authorized 

22 or licensed for distribution. 

23 ‘‘(B) APPLICABILITY TO SATELLITE RE24 TRANSMISSIONS.—Nothing in this section shall 

25 apply— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to the signal of any broadcast af2 filiate of a national television network or 

3 other television signal that is retransmitted 

4 by satellite but that is not satellite broad5 cast programming; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) to any internal satellite commu7 nication of any broadcast network or cable 

8 network that is not satellite broadcast pro9 gramming. 

10 ‘‘(C) EXCLUSION OF INDIVIDUAL VIDEO

11 PROGRAMS.—Nothing in this section shall apply 

12 to a specific individual video program produced 

13 by an MVPD for local distribution by that 

14 MVPD and not made available directly or indi15 rectly to unaffiliated MVPDs, if— 

16 ‘‘(i) all other video programming car17 ried on a programming channel or network 

18 on which the individual video program is 

19 carried, is made available to unaffiliated 

20 MVPDs pursuant to paragraph (2)(D); 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(ii) such specific individual video 

23 program is not the transmission of a sport24 ing event. 


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1 ‘‘(D) MVPD SPORTS PROGRAMMING.—The 

2 prohibition set forth in paragraph (2)(D), and 

3 the rules adopted by the Commission pursuant 

4 to that paragraph, shall apply to any MVPD 

5 programming that includes the transmission of 

6 live sporting events, irrespective of whether an 

7 MVPD has an attributable interest in the 

8 MVPD programming vendor engaged in the 

9 production, creation, or wholesale distribution 

10 of such MVPD programming. 

11 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC INTEREST DETERMINATIONS ON

12 EXCLUSIVE CONTACTS.—In determining whether an 

13 exclusive contract is in the public interest for pur14 poses of paragraph (2)(D), the Commission shall 

15 consider with respect to the effect of such contract 

16 on the distribution of video programming in areas 

17 that are served by an MVPD— 

18 ‘‘(A) the effect of such exclusive contract 

19 on the development of competition in local and 

20 national multichannel video programming dis21 tribution markets; 

22 ‘‘(B) the effect of such exclusive contract 

23 on competition from multichannel video pro24 gramming distribution technologies other than 

25 cable; 


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1 ‘‘(C) the effect of such exclusive contract 

2 on the attraction of capital investment in the 

3 production and distribution of new MVPD pro4 gramming; 

5 ‘‘(D) the effect of such exclusive contract 

6 on diversity of programming in the multi7 channel video programming distribution market; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(E) the duration of the exclusive contract. 

10 ‘‘(6) SUNSET PROVISION.—The prohibition re11 quired by paragraph (2)(D) shall cease to be effec12 tive 10 years after the date of enactment of the 

13 Sports Freedom Act of 2006, unless the Commission 

14 finds, in a proceeding conducted during the last year 

15 of such 10-year period, that such prohibition con16 tinues to be necessary to preserve and protect com17 petition and diversity in the distribution of video 

18 programming. 

19 ‘‘(d) ADJUDICATORY PROCEEDING.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An MVPD aggrieved by 

21 conduct that it alleges constitutes a violation of sub22 section (b), or the regulations of the Commission 

23 under subsection (c), may commence an adjudicatory 

24 proceeding at the Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION OF AGREE2 MENTS.—In any proceeding commenced under para3 graph (1), the Commission shall request from a 

4 party, and the party shall produce, such agreements 

5 between the party and a third party relating to the 

6 distribution of MVPD programming that the Com7 mission believes to be relevant to its decision regard8 ing the matters at issue in such adjudicatory pro9 ceeding. 

10 ‘‘(3) CONFIDENTIALITY TO BE MAINTAINED.— 

11 The production of any agreement under paragraph 

12 (2) and its use in a Commission decision in the ad13 judicatory proceeding under paragraph (1) shall be 

14 subject to such provisions ensuring confidentiality as 

15 the Commission may by regulation determine. 

16 ‘‘(e) REMEDIES FOR VIOLATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) REMEDIES AUTHORIZED.—Upon comple18 tion of an adjudicatory proceeding under subsection 

19 (d), the Commission shall have the power to order 

20 appropriate remedies, including, if necessary, the 

21 power to establish prices, terms, and conditions of 

22 sale of programming to an aggrieved MVPD. 

23 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL REMEDIES.—The remedies 

24 provided under paragraph (1) are in addition to any 


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1 remedy available to an MVPD under title V or any 

2 other provision of this Act. 

3 ‘‘(f) PROCEDURES.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall pre5 scribe regulations to implement this section. 

6 ‘‘(2) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.—The regula7 tions required under paragraph (1) shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) provide for an expedited review of 

9 any complaints made pursuant to this section, 

10 including the issuance of a final order termi11 nating such review not later than 120 days 

12 after the date on which the complaint was filed; 

13 ‘‘(B) establish procedures for the Commis14 sion to collect such data as the Commission re15 quires to carry out this section, including the 

16 right to obtain copies of all contracts and docu17 ments reflecting arrangements and under18 standings alleged to violate this section; and 

19 ‘‘(C) provide for penalties to be assessed 

20 against any person filing a frivolous complaint 

21 pursuant to this section. 

22 ‘‘(g) REPORTS.—The Commission shall, beginning 

23 not later than 18 months after promulgation of the regula24 tions required by subsection (c), annually report to ConVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00089 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 gress on the status of competition in the market for the 

2 delivery of video programming. 

3 ‘‘(h) EXEMPTIONS FOR PRIOR CONTRACTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section 

5 shall affect— 

6 ‘‘(A) any contract that grants exclusive 

7 distribution rights to any person with respect to 

8 satellite cable programming and that was en9 tered into on or before June 1, 1990; or 

10 ‘‘(B) any contract that grants exclusive 

11 distribution rights to any person with respect to 

12 MVPD programming that is not satellite cable 

13 programming and that was entered into on or 

14 before July 1, 2003, except that the provisions 

15 of subsection (c)(2)(C) shall apply for distribu16 tion to persons in areas not served by an 

17 MVPD. 

18 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON RENEWALS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) SATELLITE CABLE PROGRAMMING

20 CONTRACTS.—A contract pertaining to satellite 

21 cable programming or satellite broadcast pro22 gramming that was entered into on or before 

23 June 1, 1990, but that is renewed or extended 

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1 dom Act of 2006 shall not be exempt under 

2 paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(B) MVPD PROGRAMMING CONTRACTS.— 

4 A contract pertaining to MVPD programming 

5 that is not satellite cable programming that was 

6 entered into on or before July 1, 2003, but that 

7 is renewed or extended after the date of enact8 ment of the Sports Freedom Act of 2006 shall 

9 not be exempt under paragraph (1). 

10 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) MVPD.—The term ‘‘MVPD’’ means mul12 tichannel video programming distributor. 

13 ‘‘(2) MVPD PROGRAMMING.—The term 

14 ‘‘MVPD programming’’ includes the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) DIRECT RECEIPT.—Video program16 ming primarily intended for the direct receipt 

17 by MVPDs for their retransmission to MVPD 

18 subscribers (including any ancillary data trans19 mission). 

20 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Additional types 

22 of programming content that the Commis23 sion determines in a rulemaking pro24 ceeding to be completed not later than 120 

25 days from the date of enactment of the 


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1 Sports Freedom Act of 2006, as of the 

2 time of such rulemaking, of a type that 

3 is— 

4 ‘‘(I) primarily intended for the 

5 direct receipt by MVPDs for their re6 transmission to MVPD subscribers, 

7 regardless of whether such program8 ming content is— 

9 ‘‘(aa) digital or analog; 

10 ‘‘(bb) compressed or 

11 uncompressed; 

12 ‘‘(cc) encrypted or 

13 unencrypted; or 

14 ‘‘(dd) provided on a serial, 

15 pay-per-view, or on demand 

16 basis; and 

17 ‘‘(II) without regard to the end 

18 user device used to access such pro19 gramming or the mode of delivery of 

20 such programming content to 

21 MVPDs. 

22 ‘‘(ii) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making 

23 the determination under clause (i), the 

24 Commission shall consider the effect of 

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1 ferent forms of content so that certain con2 tent or programming is not included within 

3 the meaning of MVPD programming solely 

4 because it is integrated with other content 

5 that is of a type that is primarily intended 

6 for the direct receipt by MVPDs for their 

7 retransmission to MVPD subscribers. 

8 ‘‘(iii) MODIFICATION OF PROGRAM9 MING DEFINED AS MVPD PROGRAMMING.— 

10 At any time after 3 years following the 

11 conclusion of the rulemaking proceeding 

12 required under clause (ii), any interested 

13 MVPD or MVPD programming vendor 

14 may petition the Commission to modify the 

15 types of additional programming content 

16 included by the Commission within the def17 inition of MVPD programming in light 

18 of— 

19 ‘‘(I) the purpose of this section; 

20 ‘‘(II) market conditions at the 

21 time of such petition; and 

22 ‘‘(III) the factors to be consid23 ered by the Commission under clause 

24 (ii). 


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1 ‘‘(3) MVPD PROGRAMMING VENDOR.—The 

2 term ‘MVPD programming vendor’— 

3 ‘‘(A) means a person engaged in the pro4 duction, creation, or wholesale distribution for 

5 sale of MVPD programming; and 

6 ‘‘(B) does not include a satellite broadcast 

7 programming vendor. 

8 ‘‘(4) SATELLITE BROADCAST PROGRAMMING.— 

9 The term ‘satellite broadcast programming’ means 

10 broadcast video programming when— 

11 ‘‘(A) such programming is retransmitted 

12 by satellite; and 

13 ‘‘(B) the entity retransmitting such pro14 gramming is not the broadcaster or an entity 

15 performing such retransmission on behalf of 

16 and with the specific consent of the broad17 caster. 

18 ‘‘(5) SATELLITE BROADCAST PROGRAMMING

19 VENDOR.—The term ‘satellite broadcast program20 ming vendor’ means a fixed service satellite carrier 

21 that provides satellite broadcast programming. 

22 ‘‘(6) SATELLITE CABLE PROGRAMMING.—The 

23 term ‘satellite cable programming’ has the same 

24 meaning as in section 705, except that such term 

25 does not include satellite broadcast programming. 


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1 ‘‘(7) SATELLITE CABLE PROGRAMMING VEN2 DOR.—The term ‘satellite cable programming ven3 dor’— 

4 ‘‘(A) means a person engaged in the pro5 duction, creation, or wholesale distribution for 

6 sale of satellite cable programming; but 

7 ‘‘(B) does not include a satellite broadcast 

8 programming vendor. 

9 ‘‘(j) COMMON CARRIERS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any provision that applies 

11 to an MVPD under this section shall apply to a com12 mon carrier or its affiliate that provides video pro13 gramming by any means directly to subscribers. 

14 ‘‘(2) ATTRIBUTABLE INTEREST.—Any provision 

15 that applies to an MVPD programming vendor in 

16 which an MVPD has an attributable interest shall 

17 apply to any MVPD programming vendor in which 

18 such common carrier has an attributable interest. 

19 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—For the purposes of this 

20 subsection, 2 or fewer common officers or directors 

21 shall not by itself establish an attributable interest 

22 by a common carrier in an MVPD programming 

23 vendor (or its parent company).’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Notwithstanding section 381 

2 of this Act, the amendment made by subsection (a) shall 

3 take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 403. REGULATIONS. 

5 Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, the Commission shall prescribe such regula7 tions as may be necessary to implement section 628 of 

8 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 548) as 

9 amended by section 402(a). 

10 Subtitle B—National Satellite 

11 SEC. 431. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN LICENSED SERVICES 

12 IN NONCONTIGUOUS STATES. 

13 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, before 

14 the Federal Communications Commission grants a license 

15 under the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 

16 et seq.) to a satellite carrier (as defined in section 

17 338(k)(5) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 338(k)(5))), it shall en18 sure that, to the greatest extent technically feasible, if the 

19 license is granted the service provided by that carrier pur20 suant to the license will be available to subscribers in the 

21 noncontiguous States to the same extent as that service 

22 is available to subscribers in the contiguous States. 


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1 Subtitle C—Video and Audio Flag 

2 SEC. 451. SHORT TITLE. 

3 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Content 

4 Protection Act of 2006’’. 

5 SEC. 452. DIGITAL VIDEO BROADCASTING. 

6 Part I of title III (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended 

7 by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 342. PROTECTION OF DIGITAL VIDEO BROADCASTING 

9 CONTENT. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 30 days after the date 

11 of enactment of the Digital Content Protection Act of 

12 2006, the Commission shall initiate, and within 6 months 

13 after that date conclude, a proceeding— 

14 ‘‘(1) to implement its Report and Order in the 

15 matter of Digital Broadcast Content Protection, 

16 FCC 03–273 and its Report and Order in the mat17 ter of Digital Output Protection Technology and Re18 cording Method Certifications, FCC 04–193; and 

19 ‘‘(2) to modify, if necessary, such Reports and 

20 Orders to meet the requirements of subsection (b) of 

21 this section. 

22 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In the regulations promul23 gated under this section, the Commission shall permit 

24 transmission of— 


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1 ‘‘(1) short excerpts of broadcast digital tele2 vision content over the Internet; and 

3 ‘‘(2) broadcast digital television content over a 

4 home network or other localized network accessible 

5 to a limited number of devices connected to such 

6 network; or 

7 ‘‘(C) broadcast digital television content 

8 over the Internet for distance learning pur9 poses; 

10 ‘‘(2) permit government bodies or accredited 

11 nonprofit educational institutions to use copyrighted 

12 work in distance education courses pursuant to the 

13 Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmoni14 zation Act of 2002 and the amendments made by 

15 that Act; 

16 ‘‘(3) permit the redistribution of news and pub17 lic affairs programming (not including sports) in 

18 which the primary commercial value depends on 

19 timeliness as determined by the broadcaster or 

20 broadcasting network; and 

21 ‘‘(4) require that any authorized redistribution 

22 control technology and any authorized recording 

23 method technology approved by the Commission 

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1 ees, be licensed on reasonable and nondiscriminatory 

2 terms and conditions. 

3 ‘‘(c) REVIEW OF DETERMINATIONS.—The Commis4 sion may review any such determination described in sub5 section (b)(3) by a broadcaster or broadcasting network 

6 if the Commission receives a bona fide complaint alleging, 

7 or otherwise has reason to believe, that the determination 

8 is inconsistent with the requirements of that subsection 

9 or the regulations promulgated thereunder. 

10 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—Regula11 tions promulgated under this section shall take effect 12 

12 months after the date on which the Commission issues a 

13 final rule under this section.’’. 

14 SEC. 453. DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCASTING. 

15 Part I of title III (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), as amended 

16 by section 452, is further amended by adding at the end 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 343. PROTECTION OF DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCASTING 

19 CONTENT. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to section 454(d)(2) of 

21 the Digital Content Protection Act of 2006, the Commis22 sion may promulgate regulations governing the indiscrimi23 nate redistribution of audio content with respect to— 

24 ‘‘(1) digital radio broadcasts; 

25 ‘‘(2) satellite digital radio transmissions; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) digital radios. 

2 ‘‘(b) MONITORING ORGANIZATIONS.—The Commis3 sion shall ensure that a performing rights society or a me4 chanical rights organization, or any entity acting on behalf 

5 of such a society or organization, is granted a license for 

6 free or for a de minimis fee to cover only the reasonable 

7 costs to the licensor of providing the license, and on rea8 sonable, nondiscriminatory terms and conditions, to access 

9 and retransmit as necessary any content contained in such 

10 transmissions protected by content protection or similar 

11 technologies, if such licenses are for purposes of carrying 

12 out the activities of such society, organization, or entity 

13 in monitoring the public performance or other uses of 

14 copyrighted works, and such society, organization, or enti15 ty employs reasonable methods to protect any such content 

16 accessed from further distribution.’’. 

17 SEC. 454. DIGITAL AUDIO REVIEW BOARD. 

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Federal Communications 

19 Commission shall establish an advisory committee, to be 

20 known as the Digital Audio Review Board. 

21 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members of the Board shall be 

22 appointed by the chairman of the Commission and shall 

23 include representatives nominated by— 

24 (1) the information technology industry; 

25 (2) the software industry; 


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1 (3) the consumer electronics industry; 

2 (4) the radio broadcasting industry; 

3 (5) the satellite radio broadcasting industry; 

4 (6) the cable industry; 

5 (7) the audio recording industry; 

6 (8) the music publishing industry; 

7 (9) performing rights societies, including— 

8 (A) the American Society of Composers, 

9 Authors and Publishers; 

10 (B) Broadcast Music, Inc.; and 

11 (C) SESAC, Inc.; 

12 (10) public interest organizations; 

13 (11) organizations representing recording art14 ists, performers and musicians; and 

15 (12) any other group that the Commission de16 termines will be directly affected by adoption of 

17 broadcast flag technology regulations. 

18 (c) DUTY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 1 year after the date 

20 of enactment of this Act, the Board shall submit to 

21 the Commission a proposed regulation under section 

22 343 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

23 343) that— 

24 (A) represents a consensus of the members 

25 of the Board; and 


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1 (B) are consistent with fair use principles. 

2 (2) EXTENSION OF 1-YEAR PERIOD.—The Com3 mission may extend, for good cause shown, the 1- 

4 year period described in paragraph (1) for a period 

5 of not more than 6 months, if the Commission deter6 mines that— 

7 (A) substantial progress has been made by 

8 the Board toward the development of a pro9 posed regulation; 

10 (B) the members of the Board are con11 tinuing to negotiate in good faith; and 

12 (C) there is a reasonable expectation that 

13 the Board will draft and submit a proposed reg14 ulation before the expiration of the extended pe15 riod of time. 

16 (d) COMMISSION TREATMENT OF PROPOSED REGU17 LATION.— 

18 (1) DRAFT REGULATION.—Within 30 days after 

19 the Commission receives a proposed regulation from 

20 the Board under this section the Commission shall 

21 initiate a rulemaking proceeding to implement the 

22 proposed regulation. 

23 (2) DEFERENCE; DEADLINE.—If the Board 

24 submits a proposed regulation under this section the 

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1 tion 343 of the Communications Act of 1934, 

2 shall— 

3 (A) give substantial deference to the pro4 posed regulation submitted by the Board; and 

5 (B) issue a final rule not later than 6 

6 months after the date on which the proceeding 

7 was initiated. 

8 (3) COMMISSION ACTION IF NO BOARD AC9 TION.—If the Board does not submit a proposed 

10 regulation to the Commission within 1 year after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act, plus any extension 

12 granted by the Commission under subsection (c), the 

13 Commission may not promulgate regulations under 

14 section 343 of the Communications Act of 1934, but 

15 shall submit recommendations to the Senate Com16 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

17 and the House Committee on Energy and Com18 merce. 

19 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 

20 (1) MEETINGS.—The Board shall meet at the 

21 call of the Chairman of the Commission. 

22 (2) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.—The Chairman of 

23 the Commission may, without regard to civil service 

24 laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an Ex25 ecutive Director and such other additional personnel 


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1 as may be necessary to enable the Board to perform 

2 its duties. The Executive Director shall be com3 pensated at a rate not to exceed the rate of pay pay4 able for level V of the Executive Schedule under sec5 tion 5316 of title 5, United States Code. 

6 (3) TEMPORARY AND INTERMITTENT SERV7 ICES.—In carrying out its duty, the Board may pro8 cure temporary and intermittent services of consult9 ants and experts under section 3109(b) of title 5, 

10 United States Code, at rates for individuals which 

11 do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate 

12 of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive 

13 Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 

14 (4) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.— 

15 Upon request of the Board, the head of any Federal 

16 agency may detail any Federal Government em17 ployee to the Board without reimbursement, and 

18 such detail shall be without interruption or loss of 

19 civil service status or privilege. 

20 (5) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—Notwith21 standing section 7(c) of the Federal Advisory Com22 mittee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), the Commission shall 

23 provide the Board with such administrative and sup24 portive services as are necessary to ensure that the 

25 Board can carry out its functions. 


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1 (6) TERMINATION.—The Board shall terminate 

2 on the date on which it submits a proposed regula3 tion to the Commission or at the discretion of the 

4 Chairman of the Federal Communications Commis5 sion. 

6 TITLE V—MUNICIPAL 

7 BROADBAND 

8 SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE. 

9 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Community 

10 Broadband Act’’. 

11 SEC. 502. STATE REGULATION OF MUNICIPAL BROADBAND 

12 NETWORKS. 

13 Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 

14 (47 U.S.C. 157 note) is amended— 

15 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub16 section (h); 

17 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(c) LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISION OF ADVANCED

20 COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITY AND SERVICES.—No State 

21 or local government statute, regulation, or other State or 

22 local government legal requirement may prohibit or have 

23 the effect of prohibiting any public provider from pro24 viding, to any person or any public or private entity, ad25 vanced communications capability or any service that utiVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00105 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 lizes the advanced communications capability provided by 

2 such provider. 

3 ‘‘(d) SAFEGUARDS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) ANTIDISCRIMINATION.—To the extent any 

5 public provider regulates competing providers of ad6 vanced communications capability, it shall apply its 

7 ordinances and rules and policies, including those re8 lating to the use of public rights-of-way, permitting, 

9 performance bonding and reporting, without dis10 crimination in favor of itself or any advanced com11 munications capability provider that it owns or is af12 filiated with, as compared to other providers of such 

13 capability or services. 

14 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION OF GENERAL LAWS.—A pub15 lic provider may not provide advanced communica16 tions capability to the public unless the provision of 

17 such capability by that public provider is subject to 

18 the same laws and regulations that would apply if 

19 the advanced communications capability were being 

20 provided by a nongovernmental entity. 

21 ‘‘(3) OPEN ACCESS TO NON-GOVERNMENTAL

22 ENTITIES.—If a public provider initiates a project to 

23 provide advanced communications capability to the 

24 public, it shall grant to a requesting non-govern25 mental entity the right to place similar facilities in 


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1 the same conduit, trenches, and locations as the 

2 public provider for concurrent or future use under 

3 the same conditions as the public provider. A public 

4 provider may limit, or refuse to grant, such a right 

5 to a requesting non-governmental entity with respect 

6 to any such conduit, trench, or location for public 

7 safety reasons. 

8 ‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT.—Paragraphs (1), (2), and 

9 (3) preempt any State or local law, regulation, rule, 

10 or practice that is inconsistent with the requirements 

11 of those paragraphs. If the Commission determines, 

12 after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, that 

13 a State or local government is engaging in any act 

14 or practice that violates paragraph (1), (2), or (3), 

15 the Commission shall take such action as may be 

16 necessary to enjoin or restrain the State or local 

17 government from engaging in that act or practice. 

18 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS ENCOUR19 AGED.—If a public provider initiates a project to provide 

20 advanced communications capability to the public through 

21 a public-private partnership, the public provider shall pub22 lish a request for proposals in a publication of general cir23 culation in the community in which the project is to be 

24 implemented and solicit bids through an open bid process. 


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1 ‘‘(f) PROTECTION AGAINST UNDUE GOVERNMENT

2 COMPETITION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR.— 

3 ‘‘(1) NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO BID RE4 QUIRED.—If a public provider decides not to initiate 

5 a project to provide advanced communications capa6 bility to the public through a public-private partner7 ship, then, before the public provider may provide 

8 advanced communications capability to the public, it 

9 shall— 

10 ‘‘(A) publish notice of its intention in 

11 media generally available to the public in the 

12 area in which it intends to provide such capa13 bility; and 

14 ‘‘(B) provide an opportunity for commer15 cial enterprises to bid for the rights to provide 

16 such capability during the 30-day period fol17 lowing publication of the notice. 

18 ‘‘(2) NOTICE REQUIREMENTS.—The public pro19 vider shall include in the notice required by para20 graph (1) a description of the proposed scope of the 

21 advanced communications capability to be provided, 

22 including— 

23 ‘‘(A) the services to be provided (including 

24 network capabilities); 

25 ‘‘(B) the coverage area; 


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1 ‘‘(C) service tiers and pricing; and 

2 ‘‘(D) any proposal for providing advanced 

3 communications capability to low-income areas, 

4 or other demographically or geographically de5 fined areas, that are not the same as the terms, 

6 service, pricing, or tiers applicable in other por7 tions of the coverage area. 

8 ‘‘(3) PRIVATE SECTOR RIGHT OF FIRST RE9 FUSAL.—The public provider may proceed with the 

10 project only if, during the 30-day period, no private 

11 sector entity submits a bid to provide equivalent ad12 vanced communications capability of the same scope 

13 for the same or lower cost to consumers, as deter14 mined by a neutral third party, and demonstrates 

15 the requisite technical and financial ability to pro16 vide that capability. The neutral third party shall be 

17 selected by the public provider, and the private sec18 tor entity shall bear the costs of using a neutral 

19 third party. 

20 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION TO EXISTING ARRANGE21 MENTS AND PENDING PROPOSALS.—This subsection 

22 does not apply to— 

23 ‘‘(A) any contract or other arrangement 

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1 vanced communications capability to the public 

2 as of April 20, 2006; or 

3 ‘‘(B) any public provider proposal to pro4 vide advanced communications capability to the 

5 public that, as of April 20, 2006— 

6 ‘‘(i) is in the request-for-proposals 

7 process; 

8 ‘‘(ii) is in the process of being built; 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(iii) has been approved by ref11 erendum but is the subject of a lawsuit 

12 brought before March 1, 2006. 

13 ‘‘(g) PUBLIC SAFETY EXEMPTION.—Subsections (d), 

14 (e), and (f) of this section do not apply when a public 

15 provider provides advanced communications capabilities 

16 other than to the public or to such classes of users as ef17 fectively to be available to the public.’’; 

18 (3) by adding at the end of subsection (h), as 

19 redesignated, the following: 

20 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC PROVIDER.—The term ‘public pro21 vider’ means a State or political subdivision thereof, 

22 any agency, authority, or instrumentality of a State 

23 or political subdivision thereof, or an Indian tribe 

24 (as defined in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Deter25 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 


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1 450b(e)), or any entity that is owned, controlled, or 

2 otherwise affiliated with a State, political subdivision 

3 thereof, agency, authority, or instrumentality, or In4 dian tribe.’’; and 

5 (4) by striking ‘‘CAPABILITY.—’’ in paragraph 

6 (1) of subsection (h), as redesignated, and inserting 

7 ‘‘CAPABILITY; ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS CAPA8 BILITY.—’’; 

9 (5) by striking ‘‘is defined’’ in paragraph (2) of 

10 subsection (h), as redesignated, and inserting ‘‘and 

11 ‘advanced communications capability’ mean’’; and 

12 (6) by striking ‘‘as’’ in that paragraph. 

13 TITLE VI—WIRELESS 

14 INNOVATION NETWORKS 

15 SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE. 

16 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Wireless Innovation 

17 Act of 2006’’ or the ‘‘WIN Act of 2006’’. 

18 SEC. 602. ELIGIBLE TELEVISION SPECTRUM MADE AVAIL19 ABLE FOR WIRELESS USE. 

20 Part I of title III (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), as amended 

21 by section 453 of this Act, is further amended by adding 

22 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 344. ELIGIBLE BROADCAST TELEVISION SPECTRUM 

2 MADE AVAILABLE FOR WIRELESS USE. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Effective 270 days after the date 

4 of enactment of the WIN Act of 2006, a certified unli5 censed device may use eligible broadcast television fre6 quencies in a manner that protects licensees from harmful 

7 interference. 

8 ‘‘(b) COMMISSION TO FACILITATE USE.—Within 270 

9 days after the date of enactment of that Act, the Commis10 sion shall adopt minimal technical and device rules in ET 

11 Docket No. 04–186 to facilitate the efficient use of eligible 

12 broadcast television frequencies by certified unlicensed de13 vices, which shall include rules and procedures— 

14 ‘‘(1) to protect licensees from harmful inter15 ference from certified unlicensed devices; 

16 ‘‘(2) to require certification of unlicensed de17 vices designed to be operated in the eligible broad18 cast television frequencies which shall include testing 

19 in a laboratory certified by the Commission that 

20 demonstrates (A) compliance with the requirements 

21 set forth pursuant to this paragraph and (B) that 

22 such compliance effectively protects licensees from 

23 harmful interference; 

24 ‘‘(3) to require manufacturers of such devices 

25 to include a means of disabling or modifying the de26 vice remotely if the Commission determines that cerVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:16 May 11, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00112 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2686.IS S2686

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1 tain certified unlicensed devices may cause harmful 

2 interference to licensees; 

3 ‘‘(4) to address immediately any complaints 

4 from licensees that a certified unlicensed device 

5 causes harmful interference including verification, in 

6 the field, of actual harmful interference; and 

7 ‘‘(5) to limit the operation or use of certified 

8 unlicensed devices within any geographic area in 

9 which a public safety entity is authorized to operate 

10 as a primary licensee within the eligible broadcast 

11 television frequencies. 

12 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) CERTIFIED UNLICENSED DEVICE.—The 

14 term ‘certified unlicensed device’ means a device cer15 tified under subsection (b)(2). 

16 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE BROADCAST TELEVISION FRE17 QUENCIES.—The term ‘eligible broadcast television 

18 frequencies’ means the following frequencies: 

19 ‘‘(A) All frequencies between 54 and 72 

20 megaHertz, inclusive. 

21 ‘‘(B) All frequencies between 76 and 88 

22 megaHertz, inclusive. 

23 ‘‘(C) All frequencies between 174 and 216 

24 megaHertz, inclusive. 


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1 ‘‘(D) All frequencies between 470 and 608 

2 megaHertz, inclusive. 

3 ‘‘(E) All frequencies between 616 and 698 

4 megaHertz, inclusive. 

5 ‘‘(3) LICENSEE.—The term ‘licensee’ means a 

6 licensee, as defined in section 3(24), that holds a li7 cense to operate in the eligible broadcast television 

8 frequencies and is operating in such frequencies in 

9 a manner that is not inconsistent with its license.’’. 

10 TITLE VII—DIGITAL TELEVISION 

11 SEC. 701. ANALOG AND DIGITAL TELEVISION SETS AND 

12 CONVERTER BOXES; CONSUMER EDUCATION 

13 AND REQUIREMENTS TO REDUCE THE GOV14 ERNMENT COST OF THE CONVERTER BOX 

15 PROGRAM. 

16 (a) CONSUMER EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS.—Sec17 tion 330 (47 U.S.C. 330) is amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub19 section (e); and 

20 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol21 lowing new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(d) CONSUMER EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS RE23 GARDING ANALOG RECEIVERS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS FOR MANUFACTURERS.— 

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1 factured in the United States or shipped in inter2 state commerce shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) place the appropriate removable label 

4 described in paragraph (4) on the screen of 

5 such television set; and 

6 ‘‘(B) display the consumer information re7 quired by paragraph (5) on the outside of the 

8 retail packaging of the television set— 

9 ‘‘(i) in a clear and conspicuous man10 ner; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) in a manner that cannot be re12 moved. 

13 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS FOR IN-STORE RETAIL14 ERS.—Not later than 60 days after the conclusion of 

15 the rulemaking proceeding required under paragraph 

16 (5), each in-store retailer shall place adjacent to tele17 vision sets that such retailer displays for sale or 

18 rent, a separate sign containing the consumer infor19 mation required by paragraph (5). 

20 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS FOR OTHER RETAIL21 ERS.—Not later than 60 days after the conclusion of 

22 the rulemaking proceeding required under paragraph 

23 (5), any retailer of television sets described in para24 graph (2) that sells such television sets via direct 

25 mail, catalog, or electronic means, shall include in all 


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1 advertisements or descriptions of such television set 

2 the product and the information described in para3 graph (4). 

4 ‘‘(4) PRODUCT AND DIGITAL TELEVISION TRAN5 SITION INFORMATION.—The following product and 

6 digital television transition information shall be dis7 played as a label on analog television sets, in both 

8 English and Spanish: 

‘CONSUMER ALERT 

‘This TV only has an ‘‘analog’’ broadcast tuner and will 

require a converter box after February 17, 2009 to receive 

over-the-air broadcasts with an antenna because of the Nation’s transition to digital broadcasting on that date as required by Federal law. It should continue to work as before 

with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, 

VCRs, DVD players, and similar products.’. 

9 ‘‘(5) CONSUMER INFORMATION.—The consumer 

10 information required by this paragraph shall— 

11 ‘‘(A) be developed by the Commission in a 

12 rulemaking proceeding concluded not later than 

13 60 days after the date of enactment of the 

14 Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and 

15 Broadband Deployment of 2006; 

16 ‘‘(B) clearly explain— 

17 ‘‘(i) what the digital transition is; 

18 ‘‘(ii) how it serves the public interest; 

19 ‘‘(iii) how it will benefit public safety 

20 and improve wireless services; 

21 ‘‘(iv) how it may affect television view22 ers, including— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the deadline for termination 

2 of analog television broadcasting; 

3 ‘‘(II) the options consumers have 

4 after such termination to continue to 

5 receive broadcast programming; 

6 ‘‘(III) the information that ana7 log-only television sets will continue to 

8 work as before with cable and satellite 

9 television systems, gaming consoles, 

10 VCRs, DVD players and recorders, 

11 camcorders, and similar products; and 

12 ‘‘(IV) the capabilities of television 

13 sets, including digital sets; 

14 ‘‘(v) how the transition will affect sub15 scribers of multichannel video program16 ming distributors (as defined in section 

17 602); and 

18 ‘‘(vi) that consumers who have ana19 log-only television sets will need a con20 verter box in order to receive over-the-air 

21 broadcast programming; and 

22 ‘‘(C) include any additional information 

23 the Commission deems appropriate with respect 

24 to any television set. 

25 ‘‘(6) COMMISSION OUTREACH.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Beginning within 1 

2 month after the date of enactment of the Com3 munications, Consumer’s Choice, and 

4 Broadband Deployment of 2006, the Commis5 sion shall engage in a public outreach program 

6 to educate consumers about the digital tele7 vision transition, including the consumer infor8 mation described in paragraph (5). 

9 ‘‘(B) WEBSITE.—The Commission shall 

10 maintain and publicize a website, or an easily 

11 accessible page on its website, containing such 

12 consumer information as well as any links to 

13 other websites the Commission determines to be 

14 appropriate. 

15 ‘‘(7) PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.— 

16 Each day from July 17, 2009, through February 17, 

17 2009, each television broadcast licensee or permittee 

18 shall broadcast 2 30-second public service announce19 ments at such times as the Commission may require 

20 notifying the public of the digital transition and con21 taining the address of the website provided by the 

22 Commission under paragraph (6) and such addi23 tional consumer information as the Commission may 

24 require, including the consumer information de25 scribed in paragraph (5). 


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1 ‘‘(8) PENALTY.—In addition to any other civil 

2 or criminal penalty provided by law, the Commission 

3 shall issue civil forfeitures for violations of the re4 quirements of this subsection in an amount equal to 

5 not more than 3 times the amount of the forfeiture 

6 penalty established by section 503(a)(2)(A). 

7 ‘‘(9) SUNSET.—The requirements of this sub8 section shall cease to apply to manufacturers and re9 tailers on April 1, 2009, unless the Commission de10 termines that the information required to be dis11 played under this subsection should continue to be 

12 displayed in the public interest.’’. 

13 (b) DTV WORKING GROUP ON CONSUMER EDU14 CATION, OUTREACH, AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 60 days after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu17 nications Commission shall establish an advisory 

18 committee, to be known as the DTV Working 

19 Group, to consult with State and local governments, 

20 providers of low income assistance programs, edu21 cational institutions, and community groups to pro22 mote consumer outreach and to provide logistical as23 sistance to consumers, including converter box deliv24 ery and installation. 


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1 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall ap2 point to the DTV Working Group representatives of 

3 groups involved with the transition to digital tele4 vision, including the Commission, the National Tele5 communications and Information Administration, 

6 other Federal agencies, television broadcasters, mul7 tichannel video programming distributors, consumer 

8 electronics manufacturers and manufacturers of pe9 ripheral devices, broadcast antenna and tuner manu10 facturers, retail providers of consumer electronics 

11 equipment, consumers, and public interest groups 

12 (including the American Association of Retired Per13 sons). Members of the DTV Working Group shall 

14 serve without compensation and shall not be consid15 ered Federal employees by reason of their service on 

16 the advisory committee. 

17 (3) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the DTV 

18 Working Group are— 

19 (A) to advise the Commission in creating 

20 and implementing a national plan to inform 

21 consumers about the digital television transition 

22 as required by section 330(d)(6) of the Commu23 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 330(d)(6)); 

24 (B) to ensure that the Commission’s na25 tional plan includes, at a minimum— 


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1 (i) recommended procedures for public 

2 service announcements by broadcasters 

3 and multichannel video programming dis4 tributors, toll-free information hotlines, re5 tail displays or notices, such as making 

6 available at the point of sale for television 

7 sets and equipment designed to receive 

8 over-the-air broadcast television signals a 

9 sufficient supply of free handbills con10 taining that consumer information; and 

11 (ii) recommended procedures for di12 rect mail, billboards, and community 

13 events related to the digital television tran14 sition; 

15 (C) to ensure that the Commission’s na16 tional plan includes a requirement that all li17 censed broadcasters in a designated market 

18 area submit a joint plan to the Commission ad19 dressing the public outreach and public service 

20 announcement requirements required by this 

21 title to inform consumers in those areas of the 

22 transition to digital television that— 

23 (i) includes a description of how each 

24 broadcaster will fulfill the public service 

25 announcement requirements required 


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1 under section 330(d)(7) of the Commu2 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

3 330(d)(7)); 

4 (ii) includes market research by each 

5 broadcaster regarding projected consumer 

6 demand for converter boxes in their des7 ignated market area; and 

8 (iii) will be shared with retailers in9 side their designated market area so that 

10 such retailers may stock the appropriate 

11 amount of converter boxes to meet the 

12 needs of consumers within each designated 

13 market area; and 

14 (D) to provide to the Commission a DTV 

15 Progress Report that reflects ongoing and 

16 planned efforts by the private sector, both na17 tionally and in various television broadcast mar18 kets, to inform consumers about the digital 

19 transition and to minimize potential disruption 

20 to consumers attributable to the transition to 

21 digital broadcasting. 

22 (c) REQUIREMENTS TO PROMOTE SALE OF DIGITAL

23 TELEVISIONS AND CONVERTER BOXES.— 


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1 (1) DIGITAL TUNER MANDATE.—Part I of title 

2 III (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

3 after section 303 the following: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 303A. REQUIREMENTS FOR DIGITAL TELEVISION 

5 SETS AND CERTAIN OTHER EQUIPMENT. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful to sell, or offer for 

7 sale, at retail after March 1, 2007, a television set with 

8 a picture screen 13 inches or greater in size (measured 

9 diagonally) unless that television set is equipped with a 

10 tuner capable of receiving and decoding digital signals. 

11 ‘‘(b) RETAIL DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

12 ‘retail’ means the first sale for purposes other than re13 sale.’’. 

14 (2) COMMISSION NOT TO CHANGE SCHEDULE.— 

15 The Federal Communications Commission may not 

16 revise the digital television reception capability im17 plementation schedule under section 15.117(i) of its 

18 regulations (47 C.F.R. 15.117(i)) except to conform 

19 that section to the requirements of section 303A of 

20 the Communications Act of 1934. 

21 (3) CONVERTER BOXES.—The Commission 

22 shall set the energy standards for converter boxes. 

23 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, those 

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1 verter boxes sold for use in the United States. This 

2 paragraph shall not apply after May 17, 2009. 

3 (d) DOWNCONVERSION FROM DIGITAL SIGNALS TO

4 ANALOG SIGNALS. 

5 (1) DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERSION.—Section 

6 614(b)(4) (47 U.S.C. 534(b)(4)) is amended— 

7 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

8 subparagraph (I); and 

9 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(B) DIGITAL VIDEO SIGNAL.—With re12 spect to any television station that is transmit13 ting broadcast programming exclusively in the 

14 digital television service in a local market, a 

15 cable operator of a cable system in that market 

16 shall carry any digital video signal requiring 

17 carriage under this section and program-related 

18 material in the digital format transmitted by 

19 that station, without material degradation, if 

20 the licensee for that station relies on this sec21 tion or section 615 to obtain carriage of the 

22 digital video signal and program-related mate23 rial on that cable system in that market. 

24 ‘‘(C) MULTIPLE FORMATS PERMITTED.—A 

25 cable operator of a cable system may offer the 


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1 digital video signal and program-related mate2 rial of a local television station described in 

3 subparagraph (A) in any analog or digital for4 mat or formats, whether or not doing so re5 quires conversion from the format transmitted 

6 by the local television station, so long as— 

7 ‘‘(i) the cable operator offers the dig8 ital video signal and program-related mate9 rial in the converted analog or digital for10 mat or formats without material degrada11 tion; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) also offers the digital video signal 

13 and program-related material in the man14 ner or manners required by this para15 graph. 

16 ‘‘(D) TRANSITIONAL CONVERSIONS.—Not17 withstanding the requirement in subparagraph 

18 (B) to carry the digital video signal and pro19 gram-related material in the digital format 

20 transmitted by the local television station, but 

21 subject to the prohibition on material degrada22 tion, until February 17, 2014— 

23 ‘‘(i) a cable operator— 

24 ‘‘(I) shall offer the digital video 

25 signal and program-related material 


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1 in the format or formats necessary for 

2 such stream and material to be 

3 viewable on analog and digital tele4 visions; and 

5 ‘‘(II) may convert the digital 

6 video signal and program-related ma7 terial to standard-definition digital 

8 format in lieu of offering it in the dig9 ital format transmitted by the local 

10 television station; 

11 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding clause (i), a 

12 cable operator of a cable system with an 

13 activated capacity of 550 megahertz or 

14 less— 

15 ‘‘(I) shall offer the digital video 

16 signal and program-related material 

17 of the local television station described 

18 in subparagraph (A), converted to an 

19 analog format; and 

20 ‘‘(II) may, but shall not be re21 quired to, offer the digital video signal 

22 and program-related material in any 

23 digital format or formats. 

24 ‘‘(E) LOCATION AND METHOD OF CONVER25 SION.—A cable operator of a cable system may 


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1 perform any conversion permitted or required 

2 by this paragraph at any location, from the 

3 cable head-end to the customer premises, inclu4 sive. 

5 ‘‘(F) CONVERSIONS NOT TREATED AS DEG6 RADATION.—Any conversion permitted or re7 quired by this paragraph shall not, by itself, be 

8 treated as a material degradation. 

9 ‘‘(G) CARRIAGE OF PROGRAM-RELATED

10 MATERIAL.—The obligation to carry program11 related material under this paragraph is effec12 tive only to the extent technically feasible. 

13 ‘‘(H) DEFINITION OF STANDARD-DEFINI14 TION FORMAT.—For purposes of this para15 graph, a stream shall be in standard definition 

16 digital format if such stream meets the criteria 

17 for such format specified in the standard recog18 nized by the Commission in section 73.682 of 

19 its rules (47 C.F.R. 73.682) or a successor reg20 ulation.’’. 

21 (2) TIERING.— 

22 (A) AMENDMENT TO COMMUNICATIONS

23 ACT.—Clause (iii) of section 623(b)(7)(A) (47 

24 U.S.C. 543(b)(7)(A)(iii)) is amended to read as 

25 follows: 


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1 ‘‘(iii) Any analog signal and any dig2 ital video signal of any television broadcast 

3 station that is provided by the cable oper4 ator to any subscriber, except a signal 

5 which is secondarily transmitted by a sat6 ellite carrier beyond the local service area 

7 of such station.’’. 

8 (B) EFFECTIVE DATE.—With respect to 

9 any television broadcast station, this subsection 

10 and the amendments made by this paragraph 

11 shall take effect on the date the broadcaster 

12 ceases transmissions in the analog television 

13 service. 

14 (3) MATERIAL DEGRADATION.—Section 614 

15 (47 U.S.C. 534) is amended— 

16 (A) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub17 section (i); and 

18 (B) by inserting after subsection (g) the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(i) MATERIAL DEGRADATION.—For purposes of this 

21 section and section 615, transmission of a digital signal 

22 over a cable system in a compressed bitstream shall not 

23 be considered material degradation as long as such com24 pression does not materially affect the picture quality the 

25 consumer receives.’’. 


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1 SEC. 702. DIGITAL STREAM REQUIREMENT FOR THE BLIND. 

2 (a) RULES REINSTATED.—The video description 

3 rules of the Federal Communications Commission con4 tained in the report and order identified as Implementa5 tion of Video Description of Video Programming, Report 

6 and Order, 15 F.C.C.R. 15,230 (2000), shall, notwith7 standing the decision of the United States Court of Ap8 peals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Motion Pic9 ture Association of America, Inc., et al., v. Federal Com10 munications Commission, et al. (309 F. 3d 796, November 

11 8, 2002), be considered to be authorized and ratified by 

12 law. 

13 (b) CONTINUING AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION.—The 

14 Federal Communications Commission— 

15 (1) shall, within 45 days after the date of en16 actment of this Act, republish its video description 

17 rules contained in the report and order Implementa18 tion of Video Description of Video Programming, 

19 Report and Order, 15 F.C.C.R. 15,230 (2000); 

20 (2) may amend, repeal, or otherwise modify 

21 such rules; and 

22 (3) shall initiate a proceeding within 120 days 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, and com24 plete that proceeding within 1 year, to consider in25 corporating accessible information requirements in 

26 its video description rules. 


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1 (c) ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION DEFINED.—In this 

2 section, the term ‘‘accessible information’’ may include 

3 written information displayed on television screens during 

4 regular programming, hazardous warnings and other 

5 emergency information, local and national news bulletins, 

6 and any other information the Commission deems appro7 priate. 

8 SEC. 703. STATUS OF INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION. 

9 Until the date on which the international coordina10 tion with Canada and Mexico of the DTV table of allot11 ments is complete (as determined by the Federal Commu12 nications Commission), the Federal Communications 

13 Commission shall submit a report every 6 months on the 

14 status of that international coordination to the Senate 

15 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

16 and the House of Representatives Committee on Energy 

17 and Commerce. 

18 TITLE VIII—PROTECTING 

19 CHILDREN 

20 SEC. 801. VIDEO TRANSMISSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. 

21 Section 621 (47 U.S.C. 541) is amended by adding 

22 at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(j) CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A video service provider au25 thorized to provide video service in a local franchise 


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1 area shall comply with the regulations on child por2 nography promulgated pursuant to paragraph (2). 

3 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of enactment of the Communications, 

5 Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment of 

6 2006, the Commission shall promulgate regulations 

7 to require a video service to prevent the distribution 

8 of child pornography (as such term is defined in sec9 tion 254(h)(7)(F)) over its network.’’. 

10 TITLE IX—INTERNET 

11 NEUTRALITY 

12 SEC. 901. NEUTRAL NETWORKS FOR CONSUMERS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning 1 year after the date 

14 of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 

15 Commission shall report annually to the Senate Com16 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

17 House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Com18 merce for 5 years regarding— 

19 (1) the developments in Internet traffic proc20 essing, routing, peering, transport, and interconnec21 tion; 

22 (2) how such developments impact the free flow 

23 of information over the public Internet and the con24 sumer experience using the public Internet; 


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1 (3) business relationships between broadband 

2 service providers and applications and online user 

3 services; and 

4 (4) the development of and services available 

5 over public and private Internet offerings. 

6 (b) DETERMINATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—If 

7 the Commission determines that there are significant 

8 problems with any of the matters described in subsection 

9 (a) the Commission shall make such recommendations in 

10 its next annual report under subsection (a) as it deems 

11 necessary and appropriate to ensure that consumers can 

12 access lawful content and run Internet applications and 

13 services over the public Internet subject to the bandwidth 

14 purchased and the needs of law enforcement agencies. The 

15 Commission shall include recommendations for appro16 priate enforcement mechanisms but may not recommend 

17 additional rulemaking authority for the Commission. 

18 TITLE X—MISCELLANEOUS 

19 SEC. 1001. COMMISSIONER PARTICIPATION IN FORUMS 

20 AND MEETINGS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5 (47 U.S.C. 155) is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(f) MEETINGS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) ATTENDANCE REQUIRED.—Notwith25 standing 552b of title 5, United States Code, and 


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1 section 4(h) of this Act, the Commission may con2 duct a meeting that is not open to the public if the 

3 meeting is attended by— 

4 ‘‘(A) all members of the Commission; or 

5 ‘‘(B) at least 1 member of the political 

6 party whose members are in the minority. 

7 ‘‘(2) VOTING PROHIBITED.—The Commission 

8 may not vote or make any final decision on any mat9 ter pending before it in a meeting that is not open 

10 to the public, unless— 

11 ‘‘(A) otherwise authorized by section 

12 552b(b) of title 5, United States Code; or 

13 ‘‘(B) the Commission has moved its oper14 ations outside Washington, D.C., pursuant to a 

15 Continuity of Operations Plan. 

16 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION OF SUMMARY.—If the Com17 mission conducts a meeting that is not open to the 

18 public under this section, the Commission shall 

19 promptly publish an executive summary describing 

20 the matters discussed at that meeting after the 

21 meeting ends, except for such matters as the Com22 mission determines may be withheld under section 

23 552b(c) of title 5, United States Code. This para24 graph does not apply to a meeting described in para25 graph (4). 


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1 ‘‘(4) QUORUM UNNECESSARY FOR CERTAIN

2 MEETINGS.—Neither section 552b of title 5, United 

3 States Code, nor paragraph (1) of this subsection 

4 applies to— 

5 ‘‘(A) a meeting of 3 or more members of 

6 the Commission with the President, any person 

7 employed by the Office of the President, any of8 ficial of a Federal, State, or local agency, a 

9 Member of Congress or his staff; 

10 ‘‘(B) the attendance, by 3 or more mem11 bers of the Commission, at a forum or con12 ference to discuss general communications 

13 issues; or 

14 ‘‘(C) a meeting of 3 or more members of 

15 the Commission when the Continuity of Oper16 ations Plan is in effect and the Commission is 

17 operating under the terms of that Plan. 

18 ‘‘(5) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub19 section shall be construed to prohibit the Commis20 sion from doing anything authorized by section 552b 

21 of title 5, United States Code.’’. 

22 SEC. 1002. SEVERABILITY. 

23 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 

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1 tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made 

2 by this Act, and the application of such provisions to any 

3 person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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