II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3457 

To provide a national franchise and other regulatory relief to video service 

providers who offer a-la-carte programming for cable television, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 7, 2006 

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To provide a national franchise and other regulatory relief 

to video service providers who offer a-la-carte programming for cable television, 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 ‘‘Consumers Having Op5 tions in Cable Entertainment Act’’ or the ‘‘CHOICE Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act: 

8 (1) A-LA-CARTE.—The term ‘‘a-la-carte’’ means 

9 offering a channel on an individual per-channel basis 


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1 rather than solely as part of a package or tier of 

2 programming. 

3 (2) DIGITAL VIDEO SERVICE.—The term ‘‘dig4 ital video service’’ means— 

5 (A) the two-way transmission of video serv6 ice using digital video compression; and 

7 (B) subscriber interaction, if any, required 

8 for the selection or use of such service. 

9 (3) ELIGIBLE VIDEO SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 

10 term ‘‘eligible video service provider’’ means a video 

11 service provider that— 

12 (A)(i) has an attributable interest in a 

13 cable channel (as defined in section 602(4) of 

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

15 522(24))) that is currently offered on the ex16 panded basic tier (within the meaning of section 

17 623(b)(7) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 543(b)(7))); 

18 (ii) offers that cable channel on an a-la19 carte basis to its subscribers of digital video 

20 service in addition to any other channel bundles 

21 it offers as of the date of enactment of this Act; 

22 (iii) does not prohibit any other multi23 channel video programming distributor (as de24 fined in section 602(13) of the Communications 

25 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(24))) from offering 


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1 that channel on an a-la-carte basis to its sub2 scribers; and 

3 (iv) files with the Commission a declara4 tion of intention to offer to its digital video 

5 service subscribers on an a-la-carte basis any 

6 cable channels it carries that are offered to it 

7 on an a-la-carte basis; or 

8 (B) does not have an attributable interest 

9 in a cable channels but files with the Commis10 sion a declaration of intention to offer to its 

11 digital video service subscribers on an a-la-carte 

12 basis any cable channels it carries that are of13 fered to it on an a-la-carte basis. 

14 (4) VIDEO SERVICE.—The term ‘‘video service’’ 

15 means— 

16 (A) video programming; 

17 (B) interactive on demand services; and 

18 (C) other programming services. 

19 (5) VIDEO SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term 

20 ‘‘video service provider’’— 

21 (A) means a provider of video service that 

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

23 such service; and 

24 (B) does not include— 


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1 (i) a provider of direct broadcast sat2 ellite service; 

3 (ii) any person providing video pro4 gramming to end users using radio com5 munication; 

6 (iii) any other provider of video serv7 ice that does not use a public right-of-way 

8 in the provision of its service; or 

9 (iv) any person providing video service 

10 by means of a commercial mobile service, 

11 unless such person has substantially re12 placed an eligible video service provider de13 scribed in subparagraph (A) by occupying 

14 a position in the video service market com15 parable to that occupied by such provider. 

16 (b) COMMON TERMINOLOGY.—Except as otherwise 

17 provided in subsection (a), terms used in this Act shall 

18 have the same meaning given to such terms under sections 

19 3, 332(d), and 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 

20 (47 U.S.C. 153, 332(d), and 522). 

21 SEC. 3. REGULATORY RELIEF FOR ELIGIBLE VIDEO SERV22 ICE PROVIDERS. 

23 (a) ELIGIBLE VIDEO SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 

24 (1) REGULATORY RELIEF.—An eligible video 

25 service provider may not be required— 


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1 (A) to obtain a State or local video fran2 chise; 

3 (B) to build out its video distribution sys4 tem in any particular manner; or 

5 (C) to provide leased or common carrier 

6 access to its video distribution facilities and 

7 equipment to any other video service provider. 

8 (2) BUILD-OUT ENCOURAGED; DISCRIMINATION

9 NOT PERMITTED.—It is the policy of the United 

10 States that an eligible video service provider— 

11 (A) should build out to provide service to 

12 the greatest number of communities practicable; 

13 and 

14 (B) should comply fully with the require15 ments of sections 202 and 621(a)(3) of the 

16 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 202 

17 and 541(a)(3)) prohibiting the denial of access 

18 to service of any group of residential sub19 scribers because of the income of residents of 

20 the area in which the group resides. 

21 (b) LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY TO REGU22 LATE.— 

23 (1) FEE FOR MANAGING LOCAL GOVERNMENT’S

24 PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY.— 


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1 (A) COMPENSATING LOCAL GOVERN2 MENTS.— 

3 (i) IN GENERAL.—A local government 

4 may require an eligible video service pro5 vider to pay a reasonable fee on an annual 

6 basis to the units of local government in 

7 which the video service provider provides 

8 video service for the purpose of compen9 sating such local government for the costs 

10 that it incurs in managing the public 

11 rights-of-way used by such provider. 

12 (ii) AMOUNT OF FEE.—The fee im13 posed under clause (i) shall not exceed 3.7 

14 percent of gross video revenues. Notwith15 standing the preceding sentence, a local 

16 government may petition the Commission 

17 for, and the Commission may grant, a fee 

18 that exceeds 3.7 percent of gross video rev19 enues to the extent that the local govern20 ment demonstrates that the higher fee is 

21 necessary to cover its costs of managing 

22 the public rights-of-way used by the pro23 vider. 

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1 MENTS.—A local government may not so2 licit in-kind contributions from an eligible 

3 video service provider unless the value of 

4 the in-kind contribution is credited to the 

5 provider as part of that fee described in 

6 clause (i). 

7 (iv) INSTITUTIONAL NETWORKS PRO8 VIDED TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN9 MENTS.—A local government may not so10 licit the provision of institutional network 

11 services (as defined by the Federal Com12 munications Commission) from an eligible 

13 video service provider on a free or reduced 

14 fee basis unless the value of the services 

15 provided for free, or the amount of the re16 duction in the fee, is credited to the pro17 vider as part of the fee described in clause 

18 (i). 

19 (B) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this 

20 paragraph, the term ‘‘gross video revenues’’— 

21 (i) means all consideration of any 

22 kind or nature received by an eligible video 

23 service provider from its subscribers for 

24 the provision of video service within a mu25 nicipality, including— 


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1 (I) cash; 

2 (II) credits; 

3 (III) property; 

4 (IV) institutional networks; and 

5 (IV) in-kind contributions (serv6 ices or goods); but 

7 (ii) does not include— 

8 (I) revenue not actually received, 

9 even if billed, including bad debt; 

10 (II) revenue received by any affil11 iate or any other person in exchange 

12 for supplying goods or services used 

13 by an eligible video service provider to 

14 provide video service; 

15 (III) refunds, rebates, or dis16 counts provided to— 

17 (aa) subscribers; 

18 (bb) leased access providers; 

19 (cc) advertisers; or 

20 (dd) the municipality; 

21 (IV) revenue from services not 

22 classified as video service, including— 

23 (aa) revenue received from 

24 telecommunications services; 


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1 (bb) revenue received from 

2 information services, including 

3 Internet access; 

4 (cc) revenue received in con5 nection with advertising; 

6 (dd) revenue received in con7 nection with home shopping serv8 ices; or 

9 (ee) any other revenue at10 tributed by an eligible video serv11 ice provider to non-video service 

12 in accordance with any applicable 

13 rules, regulations, standards, or 

14 orders; 

15 (V) revenue paid by subscribers 

16 to home shopping programmers di17 rectly from the sale of merchandise 

18 through any home shopping channel 

19 offered as part of the video service; 

20 (VI) any tax of general applica21 bility— 

22 (aa) imposed upon an eligi23 ble video service provider or upon 

24 subscribers by a Federal, State, 


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1 city, or any other governmental 

2 entity; and 

3 (bb) required to be collected 

4 by a eligible video service pro5 vider and remitted to the taxing 

6 entity, including— 

7 (AA) sales or use taxes; 

8 (BB) gross receipts 

9 taxes; 

10 (CC) excise taxes; 

11 (DD) utility users 

12 taxes; 

13 (EE) public service 

14 taxes; 

15 (FF) communication 

16 taxes; and 

17 (GG) the fee described 

18 in subclause (VI); 

19 (VII) the provision of video serv20 ice to public institutions, public 

21 schools, or governmental entities at no 

22 charge; 

23 (VIII) any foregone revenue from 

24 the provision of free or reduced-cost 

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1 ice provider to any person, includ2 ing— 

3 (aa) the municipality; 

4 (bb) other public institu5 tions; and 

6 (cc) other institutions; 

7 (IX) sales of capital assets or 

8 sales of surplus equipment; 

9 (X) reimbursement by program10 mers of marketing costs incurred by 

11 an eligible video service provider for 

12 the introduction or promotion of pro13 gramming; 

14 (XI) directory or Internet adver15 tising revenue, including revenue 

16 from— 

17 (aa) yellow page sales; 

18 (bb) white page sales; 

19 (cc) banner advertisement; 

20 and 

21 (dd) electronic publishing; 

22 and 

23 (XII) copyright fees paid to the 

24 United States Copyright Office. 


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1 (2) RIGHTS-OF-WAY DISPUTES TO BE RE2 SOLVED BY THE COMMISSION OR FEDERAL

3 COURTS.—Any dispute regarding the application or 

4 amount of fees charged under paragraph (1) shall, 

5 upon request of a local unit of government or af6 fected video service provider, be resolved— 

7 (A) by the Commission; or 

8 (B) by filing a claim in the district court 

9 of the United States that meets applicable re10 quirements relating to venue under section 

11 1931 of title 28, United States Code. 

12 (3) FEE APPEARANCE ON SUBSCRIBER’S

13 BILL.—A video service provider may designate that 

14 portion of a subscriber’s bill attributable to the fee 

15 imposed under paragraph (1) as a separate item on 

16 the subscriber’s bill. 

17 (c) APPLICABILITY OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF

18 1934.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this 

20 subsection, the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

21 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) shall not apply to the provision 

22 of video service by an eligible video service provider. 

23 (2) RETRANSMISSION CONSENT OBLIGA24 TIONS.—An eligible video service provider shall be 

25 subject to the retransmission consent obligations of 


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1 section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 

2 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)). 

3 (3) TITLE VI PROVISIONS.—An eligible video 

4 service provider shall— 

5 (A) not be subject to any provision of title 

6 VI of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

7 U.S.C. 521 et seq.), except as otherwise pro8 vided in this paragraph; 

9 (B) except as provided in paragraph (4), 

10 carry and determine the appropriate channel 

11 positioning and grouping, for the area in which 

12 it is providing video service, of up to 3 public, 

13 educational, or governmental use channels as 

14 required under section 611 of that Act (47 

15 U.S.C. 531); 

16 (C) carry the signals of local commercial 

17 television stations as required under section 614 

18 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 534); 

19 (D) carry the signals of local noncommer20 cial educational television stations as required 

21 under section 615 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 535); 

22 (E) be subject to the regulation of carriage 

23 agreements under section 616 of that Act (47 

24 U.S.C. 536); 


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1 (F) be subject to the antidiscrimination 

2 provisions of section 621(a)(3) of that Act (47 

3 U.S.C. 541(a)(3)); 

4 (G) be subject to the requirements regard5 ing obscene or indecent programming under 

6 section 624(d)(2) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 

7 544(d)(2)); 

8 (H) be entitled to the benefits and protec9 tions under section 624(f)(1) of that Act (47 

10 U.S.C. 544(f)(1)) regarding the content of 

11 video service; 

12 (I) be subject to the emergency informa13 tion requirements under section 624(g) of that 

14 Act (47 U.S.C. 544(g)); 

15 (J) be subject to the consumer electronics 

16 equipment capability requirements under sec17 tion 624A of that Act (47 U.S.C. 545); 

18 (K) be entitled to the benefits and protec19 tions under section 628 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 

20 548); 

21 (L) be subject to the requirements under 

22 section 629 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 549); 

23 (M) protect the personally identifiable in24 formation of its subscribers in the same manner 

25 as is required of cable operators with respect to 


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1 subscribers to cable services under section 631 

2 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 551); 

3 (N) be entitled to the benefits and protec4 tions under section 633 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 

5 553); 

6 (O) be subject to the equal employment 

7 provisions as required under subsections (a) 

8 through (h) of section 634 of that Act (47 

9 U.S.C. 554); 

10 (P) be subject to criminal or civil liability 

11 under section 638 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 558); 

12 (Q) be subject to the penalties prescribed 

13 for the transmission of obscene programming 

14 under section 639 of that Act (47 U.S.C. 559); 

15 and 

16 (R) be required to comply with the scram17 bling requirements under section 640 of that 

18 Act (47 U.S.C. 560). 

19 (4) UTILIZATION AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

20 FOR PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, OR GOVERNMENTAL

21 CHANNELS.— 

22 (A) WITHDRAWAL FOR INSUFFICIENT

23 USE.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(C), an 

24 eligible video service provider— 


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1 (i) is not required to carry a public, 

2 educational, or governmental channel that 

3 has less than 8 hours programming per 

4 day; and 

5 (ii) may terminate carriage of any 

6 such channel and reprogram it not less 

7 than 30 days after notifying the fran8 chising authority of its intended action. 

9 (B) REINSTATEMENT.—An eligible video 

10 service provider shall restore carriage of a pub11 lic, educational, or governmental channel the 

12 carriage of which was terminated under sub13 paragraph (A) when the entity responsible for 

14 the channel certifies that it is ready, willing, 

15 and able to provide at least 8 hours of daily 

16 programming for the channel. 

17 (C) NONREPEAT PROGRAMMING REQUIRE18 MENT.—At least 4 hours of the programming 

19 required to meet the 8 hours of daily program20 ming for a public, educational, or governmental 

21 channel shall be nonrepeat programming. 

22 (D) OPERATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY.—The 

23 operation of a public, educational, or govern24 mental channel shall be the responsibility of the 

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1 sponsibility of the eligible video service provider. 

2 The responsibility of the eligible video service 

3 provider is limited to carriage of the channel. 

4 (5) DETERMINATIONS OF LOCAL SIGNALS.— 

5 For purposes of complying with subparagraphs (C) 

6 and (D) of paragraph (1), an eligible video service 

7 provider shall treat as local stations, with respect to 

8 a customer located within the jurisdiction of any 

9 franchising authority, the same stations that are 

10 treated as local television stations for a cable system 

11 located within such jurisdiction as of the date of en12 actment of this Act. 

13 (6) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

14 (A) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later 

15 than 90 days after the date of enactment of 

16 this Act, the Commission shall prescribe regula17 tions to implement the requirements of para18 graph (1) that are no greater or lesser than the 

19 obligations required by the specifically ref20 erenced provisions of the Communications Act 

21 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.). 

22 (B) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.— 

23 The regulations required under subparagraph 

24 (A) shall take effect 6 months after the date of 

25 enactment of this Act. 


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1 (7) PREEMPTION OF INCONSISTENT FRANCHISE

2 TERMS AND STATE AND LOCAL LAWS FOR ELIGIBLE

3 VIDEO SERVICE PROVIDERS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any provision in any 

5 franchise granted by a franchising authority to 

6 an eligible video service provider, and any provi7 sion of State or local laws, regulations, or rules, 

8 that is inconsistent with the provisions of this 

9 Act is preempted and superseded. 

10 (B) TREATMENT AS AN ELIGIBLE VIDEO

11 SERVICE PROVIDER.—Subparagraph (A) does 

12 not apply to a franchise agreement— 

13 (i) that is in effect on the date of en14 actment of this Act; and 

15 (ii) pursuant to which a cable oper16 ator that is not an eligible video service 

17 provider is operating. 

18 (8) CABLE CHANNELS FOR PUBLIC, EDU19 CATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL USE.—The govern20 mental entity that was the franchising authority for 

21 a State or a political subdivision of a State on the 

22 date of enactment of this Act, and any successor en23 tity, shall for that State or political subdivision de24 termine which public, educational, or governmental 


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1 entities shall be authorized to designate the channels 

2 required under paragraph (1)(C). 

3 (9) CONSUMER PROTECTION AND CUSTOMER

4 SERVICE.— 

5 (A) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later 

6 than 90 days after the date of enactment of 

7 this Act, the Commission shall promulgate reg8 ulations with respect to customer service and 

9 consumer protection requirements of the eligible 

10 video service provider. 

11 (B) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.— 

12 The regulations required under subparagraph 

13 (A) shall take effect 6 months after the date of 

14 enactment of this Act. 

15 (C) PREEMPTION.—The regulations pro16 mulgated under subparagraph (A) preempt any 

17 statute, regulation, or rule of any State or polit18 ical subdivision thereof under which liability 

19 would be imposed on an eligible video service 

20 provider for failure to comply with any statute, 

21 regulation, or rule in pari materia with those 

22 regulations, other than State laws that are not 

23 specific to customer service and consumer pro24 tection requirements of the video service pro25 vider. 


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1 (10) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHOR2 ITY.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of this Act, a State or local gov5 ernment shall have the authority to enforce the 

6 requirements of paragraph (9)(A). 

7 (B) LOCAL POINT OF CONTACT.—Each 

8 State or local government shall designate a 

9 local point of contact, which residents of such 

10 geographic area may contact to alert such State 

11 or local government of any potential violations 

12 of the requirements and obligations established 

13 under paragraph (9)(A). 

14 (C) LIMITATION ON CLASS ACTIONS.—No 

15 class action alleging a violation of the obliga16 tions set forth in the regulations promulgated 

17 by the Commission under paragraph (9)(A) 

18 shall be maintained under this subsection by an 

19 individual or any private party in Federal or 

20 State court. 

21 (D) PARENS PATRIAE AUTHORITY.—In 

22 any case in which a State or local government 

23 has reason to believe that an act or practice vio24 lates the obligations set forth in the regulations 

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1 graph (9)(A), the State or local government 

2 may bring a civil action on behalf of the resi3 dents within its jurisdiction in a district court 

4 of the United States of appropriate jurisdiction, 

5 or any other court of competent jurisdiction, 

6 to— 

7 (i) enjoin the act or practice; 

8 (ii) obtain— 

9 (I) damages in the sum of actual 

10 damages, restitution, or other com11 pensation on behalf of affected resi12 dents of the State or locality; and 

13 (II) punitive damages, if the vio14 lation is willful or intentional; or 

15 (iii) obtain such other legal and equi16 table relief as the court may consider to be 

17 appropriate. 

18 (E) LIMITATION.—In enforcing the re19 quirements of paragraph (6), a State or local 

20 government may not impose additional obliga21 tions beyond those established by the Commis22 sion in paragraph (9)(A). 

23 (d) COMMISSION TO ACT IF STATE COMMISSION

24 WILL NOT ACT.—If a State or local government fails to 


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1 carry out its enforcement responsibilities under subsection 

2 (c)(7), the Commission shall— 

3 (1) issue an order preempting the jurisdiction 

4 of the State commission; and 

5 (2) assume exclusive enforcement authority. 

6 (e) ABILITY TO MANAGE PUBLIC RIGHTS-OF-WAY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this 

8 section, nothing in this Act shall affect the authority 

9 of a State or local government to manage the public 

10 right-of-way in a manner that is— 

11 (A) non-discriminatory; 

12 (B) competitively neutral; 

13 (C) consistent with applicable State law; 

14 and 

15 (D) not inconsistent with this Act. 

16 (2) CONSTRUCTION PERMITS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—In managing the public 

18 rights-of-way a State or local government may 

19 require the issuance of a construction permit, 

20 without cost, to an eligible video service pro21 vider that is locating facilities in such public 

22 right-of-way. 

23 (B) RESPONSE WORK OR REPAIR.—If 

24 there is an emergency necessitating response 

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1 gible video service provider may begin such 

2 work or repair upon obtaining any required per3 mit or authorization without prior approval 

4 from a State or local government, if such pro5 vider notifies the State or local government as 

6 promptly as possible after beginning such work 

7 or repair. 

8 (3) TIMELY ACTION REQUIRED.—In managing 

9 the public rights-of-way a State or local government 

10 that is required to issue permits or licenses for such 

11 use shall be required to act upon any such request 

12 for use in a timely manner. 

13 (4) NEW ROADS.—Nothing in this section shall 

14 effect the ability of a State or local government to 

15 impose reasonable limits on access to public rights16 of-way associated with newly constructed roads. 

17 (f) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO THE COMMU18 NICATIONS ACT OF 1934.— 

19 (1) POLE ATTACHMENTS.—Section 224 of the 

20 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 224) is 

21 amended— 

22 (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘local 

23 exchange carrier’’ and inserting ‘‘telecommuni24 cations carrier’’; 


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1 (B) by striking subsections (a)(5) and 

2 (d)(3); 

3 (C) in subsection (d)(3), in the first sen4 tence by striking all after ‘‘cable television sys5 tem’’ through the period at the end and insert6 ing ‘‘and facilities of other video service pro7 viders, regardless of the nature of the services 

8 provided.’’; and 

9 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(j) WIRELESS SERVICE FACILITY EXEMPTION.— 

11 Nothing in this section applies to a wireless service facil12 ity, including to towers of a provider of mobile services.’’. 

13 (2) CARRIAGE OF LOCAL COMMERCIAL TELE14 VISION SIGNALS.—Section 614(b)(4) of the Commu15 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(b)(4)) is 

16 amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(4) SIGNAL QUALITY.— 

18 ‘‘(A) NON-DEGRADATION.—The signals of 

19 local commercial television stations that a cable 

20 operator carries shall be carried without mate21 rial degradation. 

22 ‘‘(B) CARRIAGE STANDARDS.—The Com23 mission shall adopt carriage standards to en24 sure that, to the extent technically feasible, the 

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1 vided by a cable system for the carriage of local 

2 commercial television stations will be no less 

3 than that provided by the system for carriage of 

4 any other type of broadcast local commercial 

5 television signal when using the same trans6 mission technology.’’. 

7 (3) CARRIAGE OF NONCOMMERCIAL EDU8 CATIONAL TELEVISION.—Section 615(g)(2) of the 

9 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 535(g)(2)) 

10 is amended to read as follows— 

11 ‘‘(2) BANDWITH AND TECHNICAL QUALITY.—A 

12 cable operator shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) provide each qualified local non-com14 mercial television station whose signal is carried 

15 in accordance with this section with bandwith 

16 and technical capacity equivalent to that pro17 vided to commercial television stations carried 

18 on the cable system when using the same trans19 mission technology; and 

20 ‘‘(B) carry the signal of each qualified 

21 local non-commercial educated television station 

22 without material degradation.’’. 

23 (4) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

24 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

25 Commission shall prescribe such regulations as may 


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1 be necessary to implement the amendments made by 

2 this section. 

3 (g) RULEMAKING ON SECTION 629.—Not later than 

4 January 1, 2008, the Commission shall conduct a pro5 ceeding to determine the appropriateness of the require6 ments under subsection (c)(1)(L) taking into account 

7 changes and advancements in technology. 

8 SEC. 4. BENEFIT OF NETWORK NON-DUPLICATION RULES 

9 TO BROADCASTERS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi11 sion of law, or any regulation promulgated by the Federal 

12 Communications Commission, if a local commercial tele13 vision station is under common control with a cable chan14 nel the station may not have the benefit of the Commis15 sion’s network program non-duplication rules in subpart 

16 F of part 76.92 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, 

17 unless the cable channel is made available to multichannel 

18 video programming distributors on an a-la-carte basis in 

19 addition to any other channel bundles it offers to sub20 scribers. 

21 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) COMMON CONTROL.—A local commercial 

23 television station is considered to be under common 

24 control with a cable channel if— 


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1 (A) it is owned by a person that has an at2 tributable interest in a cable channel; or 

3 (B) is owned or controlled by a 

4 coorporation or other legal entity the chairman 

5 or controlling shareholder of which— 

6 (i) has an attributable interest in a 

7 cable channel; or 

8 (ii) owns or controls a cable channel. 

9 (2) LOCAL COMMERCIAL TELEVISION STA10 TION.—The term ‘‘local commercial television sta11 tion’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

12 614(h)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

13 U.S.C. 534(h)(1))). 

14 SEC. 5. ALTERNATIVE DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS. 

15 Section 616(a)(2) of the Communications Act of 

16 1934 (47 U.S.C. 536(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘distribu17 tors’’ and inserting ‘‘distributors, or against other video 

18 programming distributors using any medium or platform 

19 for such programming distribution (including the Inter20 net),’’. 

21 SEC. 6. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TO AD22 MINISTER. 

23 The Federal Communications Commission may pre24 scribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary in 

25 the public interest to carry out this Act. 


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1 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

2 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 

3 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend4 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti5 tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made 

6 by this Act, and the application of such provisions to any 

7 person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS