I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 245 

To preserve local radio broadcast emergency and other services and to require 

the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a rulemaking for 

that purpose. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2009 

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To preserve local radio broadcast emergency and other services and to require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a rulemaking for that purpose. 

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 ‘‘Local Emergency 

5 Radio Service Preservation Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds and declares the following: 

8 (1) A primary objective and benefit of the Na9 tion’s regulation of radio broadcasting is the local 


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1 origination of programming. There is a substantial 

2 governmental interest in ensuring its continuation. 

3 (2) Local broadcast radio stations are an im4 portant source of local news and weather program5 ming and other local broadcast services critical to 

6 the public. 

7 (3) Local radio broadcasting is particularly im8 portant in times of emergencies or disasters when 

9 other means of communications may not be avail10 able. 

11 (4) Radio is the most ubiquitous of all mass 

12 media, with receivers located in almost every home 

13 and automobile in the country. 

14 (5) Because radio receivers are universally 

15 available and frequently battery-powered or located 

16 in automobiles, the Federal Communications Com17 mission’s Media Security and Reliability Council 

18 concluded that ‘‘radio broadcasters are likely to be 

19 the last line of defense for communicating with the 

20 public under extremely adverse conditions that could 

21 result in the event of a local disaster’’. There is a 

22 substantial governmental interest in ensuring the 

23 continuation of this capability. 

24 (6) Broadcast radio programming is supported 

25 by revenues generated from advertising broadcast 


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1 over stations. Such programming is free to listeners. 

2 There is a substantial governmental interest in pro3 moting the continued availability of free radio pro4 gramming. 

5 (7) Because radio programming is supported by 

6 advertising, the ability of local stations to continue 

7 to provide local news and other services and to en8 sure communications during emergencies could be 

9 jeopardized by a diversion of the listening audience 

10 away from local radio programming. 

11 (8) When the Federal Communications Com12 mission authorized the digital audio radio satellite 

13 service, it stated that it remained ‘‘committed to 

14 supporting a vibrant and vital terrestrial radio serv15 ice for the public’’. 

16 (9) When the Federal Communications Com17 mission authorized the digital audio radio satellite 

18 service, it understood that digital audio radio sat19 ellite service licensees would provide only national 

20 programming and accepted the contentions of the 

21 proponents of digital audio radio satellite service 

22 that the new service would not affect local broad23 casting because ‘‘the ability to offer local content 

24 will give terrestrial broadcasters a competitive ad25 vantage’’. 


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1 (10) Digital audio radio satellite service licens2 ees have announced plans to offer local traffic and 

3 weather channels through the use of their satellites. 

4 (11) Developments in receiver technology will 

5 enable digital audio radio satellite service licensees 

6 to offer new services in the future, including local7 ized content that may be intermixed with other na8 tional content or that would be selected based on the 

9 listener’s location. 

10 SEC. 3. LIMITS ON LOCALIZED DIGITAL AUDIO RADIO SAT11 ELLITE SERVICE PROGRAMMING. 

12 Consistent with the representations made by digital 

13 audio radio satellite service licensees in the Commission’s 

14 record that digital audio radio satellite service would be 

15 a national service, on which the Commission relied in au16 thorizing digital audio radio satellite service, the Federal 

17 Communications Commission shall revise section 25.144 

18 of its regulations (47 C.F.R. 25.144) to provide that— 

19 (1) digital audio radio satellite service licensees 

20 shall not, using any capability either on a satellite 

21 or in a radio receiver, provide services that are lo22 cally differentiated or that result in programming 

23 being delivered to consumers in one geographic mar24 ket that is different from the programming that is 


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1 delivered to consumers in any other geographic mar2 ket; and 

3 (2) digital audio radio satellite service repeaters 

4 shall be restricted to simultaneously retransmitting 

5 the programming transmitted by satellite directly to 

6 digital audio radio satellite service subscribers’ re7 ceivers, and may not be used to distribute any infor8 mation not also transmitted to all subscribers’ re9 ceivers. 

10 SEC. 4. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION RULE11 MAKING ON LOCAL SERVICES BY SATELLITE 

12 PROVIDERS. 

13 Within 270 days after the date of enactment of this 

14 Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall com15 plete a rulemaking proceeding to determine whether dig16 ital audio radio satellite service licensees should be per17 mitted to provide locally oriented services on nationally 

18 distributed channels, taking into account— 

19 (1) the impact of locally oriented satellite radio 

20 services on the viability of local radio broadcast sta21 tions and their ability to provide news and other 

22 services to the public; 

23 (2) the ability of digital audio radio satellite 

24 service licensees to afford listeners the same emerVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:07 Jan 13, 2009 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H245.IH H245

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1 gency and other information as is afforded listeners 

2 of local broadcast radio stations; 

3 (3) whether digital audio radio satellite service 

4 licensees committed to providing only national serv5 ices in order to obtain authorization for their service; 

6 and 

7 (4) whether the same level and quality of emer8 gency communications services could be provided to 

9 consumers by digital audio radio satellite service li10 censees as by local broadcast radio stations. 

Æ 


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