I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 486

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission to preserve low-power television stations that provide community broadcasting, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 2, 1999

Mr. NORWOOD (for himself, Mr. KLINK, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. OXLEY,

Mr. BURR of North Carolina, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.

CONDIT, and Mr. WEYGAND) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the

Federal Communications Commission to preserve lowpower television stations that provide community broadcasting, 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 ‘‘Community Broad5 casters Protection Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Since the creation of low-power television li2 censes by the Federal Communications Commission,

3 a small number of license holders have operated

4 their stations in a manner beneficial to the public

5 good providing broadcasting to their communities

6 that would not otherwise be available.

7 (2) These low-power broadcasters have operated

8 their stations in a manner consistent with the pro9 gramming objectives and hours of operation of full10 power broadcasters providing worthwhile services to

11 their respective communities while under severe li12 cense limitations compared to their full-power coun13 terparts.

14 (3) License limitations, particularly the tem15 porary nature of the license, have blocked many low16 power broadcasters from having access to capital,

17 and have severely hampered their ability to continue

18 to provide quality broadcasting, programming, or

19 improvements.

20 (4) The passage of the Telecommunications Act

21 of 1996 has added to the uncertainty of the future

22 status of these stations by the lack of specific provi23 sions regarding the permanency of their licenses, or

24 their treatment during the transition to high defini25 tion, digital television.
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1 SEC. 3. PRESERVATION OF LOW-POWER COMMUNITY TELE2 VISION BROADCASTING.

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 336 of the Communica4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 336) is amended—

5 (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as

6 subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the follow8 ing new subsection:

9 ‘‘(f) PRESERVATION OF LOW-POWER COMMUNITY

10 TELEVISION BROADCASTING.—

11 ‘‘(1) CREATION OF CLASS A LICENSES.— With12 in 120 days after the date of enactment of the Com13 munity Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999, the

14 Commission shall prescribe regulations to establish a

15 class A television license to be available to licensees

16 of qualifying low-power television stations. Such li17 cense shall be subject to the same license terms and

18 renewal standards as the licenses for full-power tele19 vision stations except as provided in this section, and

20 each such class A licensee shall be accorded primary

21 status as a television broadcaster as long as the sta22 tion continues to meet the requirements for a quali23 fying low-power station in paragraph (2). Within 30

24 days after the enactment of the Community Broad25 casters Protection Act of 1999, the Commission

26 shall send a notice to the licensees of all low-power
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1 televisions licenses that describes the requirements

2 for class A designation. Within 30 days after receipt

3 of the notice, licensees intending to seek class A des4 ignation shall submit to the Commission a certifi5 cation of eligibility based on the qualification re6 quirements of this subsection. Absent a material de7 ficiency, the Commission shall grant certification of

8 eligibility to apply for class A status. The Commis9 sion shall act to preserve the contours of low-power

10 television licensees pending the final resolution of a

11 class A application. Consistent with the require12 ments set forth in paragraphs (2)(A), (2)(B), and

13 (6) of this subsection, a licensee may submit an ap14 plication for class A designation under this para15 graph within 30 days after final regulations are

16 adopted. The Commission shall, within 30 days after

17 receipt of an application that is acceptable for filing,

18 award such a class A television station license to any

19 licensee of a qualifying low-power television station.

20 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING LOW-POWER TELEVISION STA21 TIONS.—For purposes of this subsection, a station is

22 a qualifying low-power television station if—

23 ‘‘(A) during the 90 days preceding the

24 date of enactment of the Community Broad25 casters Protection Act of 1999—
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1 ‘‘(i) such station broadcast a mini2 mum of 18 hours per day;

3 ‘‘(ii) such station broadcast an aver4 age of at least 3 hours per week of pro5 gramming that was produced within the

6 market area served by such station, or the

7 market area served by a group of com8 monly controlled stations that carry com9 mon local programming not otherwise

10 available to their communities; and

11 ‘‘(iii) such station was in compliance

12 with the Commission’s requirements appli13 cable to low-power television stations; and

14 ‘‘(B) from and after the date of its appli15 cation for a class A license, the station is in

16 compliance with the Commission’s operating

17 rules for full power television stations; or

18 ‘‘(C) the Commission determines that the

19 public interest, convenience, and necessity

20 would be served by treating the station as a

21 qualifying low-power television station for pur22 poses of this section, or for other reasons deter23 mined by the Commission.

24 ‘‘(3) COMMON OWNERSHIP.—No low-power tele25 vision station shall be disqualified for a class A li-
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1 cense based on common ownership with any other

2 medium of mass communication.

3 ‘‘(4) ISSUANCE OF LICENSES FOR ADVANCED

4 TELEVISION SERVICES TO QUALIFYING LOW-POWER

5 TELEVISION STATIONS.—The Commission is not re6 quired to issue any additional licenses for advanced

7 television services to the licensees of the class A tele8 vision stations under this subsection but shall accept

9 such license applications proposing facilities that will

10 not cause interference to any other broadcast facility

11 authorized on the date of filing of the class A ad12 vanced television application. In reviewing such ap13 plications, the Commission shall consider the impact

14 of such a grant on the primary television viewing au15 dience of the applicant. Such new license or the

16 original license of the applicant shall be forfeited

17 after the date on which the digital television service

18 transition period terminated, as determined by the

19 Commission. Low-power television station licensees

20 may, at the option of licensee, elect to convert to the

21 provision of advanced television services on its ana22 log channel, but shall not be required to convert to

23 digital operation until the end of the DTV transi24 tion.
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1 ‘‘(5) NO PREEMPTION OF SECTION 337.—Noth2 ing in this section preempts section 337 of this Act.

3 ‘‘(6) INTERIM QUALIFICATION.—

4 ‘‘(A) STATIONS OPERATING WITHIN CER5 TAIN BANDWIDTH.—The Commission may not

6 grant a class A license to a low-power television

7 station operating between 698 and 806 mega8 hertz, but the Commission shall provide to low9 power television stations assigned to and tempo10 rarily operating in that bandwidth the oppor11 tunity to meet the qualification requirements

12 for a class A license. When such a qualified ap13 plicant for a class A license is assigned a chan14 nel within the core spectrum (as such term is

15 defined in MM Docket 87–286, February 17,

16 1998), the Commission shall simultaneously

17 issue a class A license.

18 ‘‘(B) CERTAIN CHANNELS OFF-LIMITS.—

19 The Commission may not grant a class A li20 cense to a low-power television station operating

21 on a channel within the core spectrum under

22 this subsection that includes any of the 175 ad23 ditional channels referenced in paragraph 45 of

24 its February 23, 1998, Memorandum Opinion

25 and Order on Reconsideration of the Sixth Re-
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1 port and Order (MM Docket No. 87–268).

2 Within 18 months after the date of enactment

3 of the Community Broadcasters Protection Act

4 of 1999, the Commission shall identify by chan5 nel, location, and applicable technical param6 eters those 175 channels.

7 ‘‘(7) NO INTERFERENCE REQUIREMENT.—The

8 Commission may not grant a class A license nor ap9 prove a modification of a class A license unless the

10 applicant or licensee shows that the class A station

11 for which the license or modification is sought will

12 not cause—

13 ‘‘(A) interference within the Grade B con14 tour of any television station (as of the date of

15 enactment of the Community Broadcasters Pro16 tection Act of 1999, or as proposed in a minor

17 change application filed on or before such date)

18 or the DTV service areas provided in the DTV

19 Table of Allotments, or subsequently granted by

20 the Commission prior to the filing of a class A

21 application;

22 ‘‘(B) interference within the protected con23 tour of any low-power television station or low24 power television translator station licensed, au25 thorized by construction permit, or with a pend-
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1 ing displacement application submitted prior to

2 the date on which the application for a class A

3 license, or for the modification of such a license,

4 was filed; or

5 ‘‘(C) interference within the protected con6 tour of 80 miles from the geographic center of

7 the areas listed in section 22.625(b)(1) or

8 90.303 of the Commission’s regulations (47

9 C.F.R. 22.625(b)(1) and 90.303) for fre10 quencies in—

11 ‘‘(i) the 470–512 megahertz band

12 identified in section 22.621 or 90.303 of

13 such regulations; or

14 ‘‘(ii) the 482–488 megahertz band in

15 New York.’’.

16 (b) AMENDMENT.—Section 309(j)(2) of the Commu17 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(2)) is amended—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

19 (B);

20 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub21 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

22 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub23 paragraph:

24 ‘‘(D) for low-power television and TV

25 translator stations where one or more of the
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1 mutually exclusive applicants is a qualified class

2 A licensee or a translator rebroadcasting the

3 signal of a primary service station within its

4 designated market area, except that—

5 ‘‘(i) in cases where more than one ap6 plicant qualifies, the Commission shall no7 tify affected parties and provide them no

8 fewer than 60 days to develop an engineer9 ing solution so that the applications are

10 not mutually exclusive; and

11 ‘‘(ii) in the absence of an engineering

12 solution, the Commission shall devise a

13 system of selection for awarding licenses,

14 other than competitive bidding, which

15 maintains equal opportunities for both

16 class A and translator applicants but en17 courages, to the extent possible, localism,

18 diversity of ownership in the broadcast

19 service, and programming not otherwise

20 available for underserved communities.’’.

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