I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1555

To promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices

and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers

and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 3, 1995

Mr. BLILEY (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. MOORHEAD, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. BARTON of

Texas, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. PAXON, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr.

KLUG, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. FRISA, Mr. WHITE, Mr.

COBURN, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. MANTON,

Mr. TOWNS, Ms. ESHOO, and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition

to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To promote competition and reduce regulation in order to

secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage the

rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

3 ‘‘Communications Act of 1995’’.

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE

TELECOMMUNICATIONS MARKETS

Sec. 101. Establishment of part II of title II.

‘‘PART II—DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE MARKETS

‘‘Sec. 241. Interconnection.

‘‘Sec. 242. Equal access and interconnection to the local loop for competing providers.

‘‘Sec. 243. Preemption.

‘‘Sec. 244. Statements of terms and conditions for access and interconnection.

‘‘Sec. 245. Bell operating company entry into interLATA services.

‘‘Sec. 246. Universal service.

‘‘Sec. 247. Pricing flexibility and abolition of rate-of-return regulation.

‘‘Sec. 248. Network functionality and accessibility.

‘‘Sec. 249. Illegal changes in subscriber carrier selections.

‘‘Sec. 250. Study.

‘‘Sec. 251. Territorial exemption.

Sec. 102. Competition in manufacturing, information services, and alarm services.

‘‘PART III—SPECIAL AND TEMPORARY PROVISIONS

‘‘Sec. 271. Manufacturing by Bell operating companies.

‘‘Sec. 272. Electronic publishing by Bell operating companies.

‘‘Sec. 273. Alarm monitoring and telemessaging services by Bell operating

companies.

Sec. 103. Forbearance from regulation.

‘‘Sec. 229. Forbearance from regulation.

Sec. 104. Privacy of customer information.

‘‘Sec. 222. Privacy of customer proprietary network information.

Sec. 105. Pole attachments.

Sec. 106. Preemption of franchising authority regulation of telecommunications

services.

Sec. 107. Mobile service access to long distance carriers.

TITLE II—CABLE COMMUNICATIONS COMPETITIVENESS

Sec. 201. Cable service provided by telephone companies.

‘‘PART V—VIDEO PROGRAMMING SERVICES PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE

COMPANIES

‘‘Sec. 651. Definitions.

‘‘Sec. 652. Separate video programming affiliate.
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‘‘Sec. 653. Establishment of video platform.

‘‘Sec. 654. Authority to prohibit cross-subsidization.

‘‘Sec. 655. Prohibition on buy outs.

‘‘Sec. 656. Applicability of parts I through IV.

‘‘Sec. 657. Rural area exemption.

Sec. 202. Competition from cable systems.

Sec. 203. Competitive availability of navigation devices.

‘‘Sec. 713. Competitive availability of navigation devices.

Sec. 204. Video programming accessibility.

Sec. 205. Technical amendments.

TITLE III—BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS COMPETITIVENESS

Sec. 301. Broadcaster spectrum flexibility.

‘‘Sec. 336. Broadcast spectrum flexibility.

Sec. 302. Term of licenses.

Sec. 303. Broadcast license renewal procedures.

Sec. 304. Exclusive Federal jurisdiction over direct broadcast satellite service.

Sec. 305. Automated ship distress and safety systems.

Sec. 306. Restrictions on over-the-air reception devices.

Sec. 307. DBS signal security.

TITLE IV—EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS

Sec. 401. Relationship to other laws.

Sec. 402. Preemption of local taxation with respect to direct-to-home satellite

services.

TITLE V—DEFINITIONS

Sec. 501. Definitions.

1 TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF

2 COMPETITIVE TELECOMMUN3 ICATIONS MARKETS

4 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF PART II OF TITLE II.

5 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title II of the Communications

6 Act of 1934 is amended by inserting after section 229 (47

7 U.S.C. 229) the following new part:
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1 ‘‘PART II—DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE

2 MARKETS

3 ‘‘SEC. 241. INTERCONNECTION.

4 ‘‘The duty of a common carrier under section 201(a)

5 includes the duty to interconnect with the facilities and

6 equipment of other providers of telecommunications serv7 ices and information services.

8 ‘‘SEC. 242. EQUAL ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION TO THE

9 LOCAL LOOP FOR COMPETING PROVIDERS.

10 ‘‘(a) OPENNESS AND ACCESSIBILITY OBLIGA11 TIONS.—The duty under section 201(a) of a local ex12 change carrier includes the following duties:

13 ‘‘(1) INTERCONNECTION.—The duty to provide,

14 in accordance with subsection (b), equal access to

15 and interconnection with the facilities of the car16 rier’s networks to any other carrier or person offer17 ing (or seeking to offer) telecommunications services

18 or information services reasonably requesting such

19 equal access and interconnection, so that such net20 works are fully interoperable with such telecommuni21 cations services and information services.

22 ‘‘(2) UNBUNDLING OF NETWORK ELEMENTS.—

23 The duty to offer unbundled services, elements, fea24 tures, functions, and capabilities whenever tech25 nically feasible and economically reasonable, at just,
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1 reasonable, and nondiscriminatory prices and in ac2 cordance with subsection (b)(4).

3 ‘‘(3) RESALE.—The duty not to prohibit, and

4 not to impose unreasonable or discriminatory condi5 tions or limitations on, the resale, on a bundled or

6 unbundled basis, of services, elements, features,

7 functions, and capabilities in conjunction with the

8 furnishing of a telecommunications service or an in9 formation service.

10 ‘‘(4) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The duty to pro11 vide, to the extent technically feasible and economi12 cally reasonable, number portability in accordance

13 with requirements prescribed by the Commission.

14 ‘‘(5) DIALING PARITY.—The duty to provide, in

15 accordance with subsection (c), dialing parity to

16 competing providers of telephone exchange service

17 and telephone toll service.

18 ‘‘(6) ACCESS TO RIGHTS OF WAY.—The duty to

19 afford access to the poles, ducts, conduits, and

20 rights of way of such carrier to competing providers

21 of telecommunications services in accordance with

22 section 224(d).

23 ‘‘(7) NETWORK FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCES24 SIBILITY.—The duty not to install network features,
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1 functions, or capabilities that do not comply with the

2 standards established pursuant to section 248.

3 ‘‘(8) GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATION.—The duty to

4 negotiate, under the supervision of State commis5 sions, the particular terms and conditions of agree6 ments to fulfill the duties described in paragraphs

7 (1) through (7).

8 ‘‘(b) INTERCONNECTION, COMPENSATION, AND

9 EQUAL ACCESS.—

10 ‘‘(1) INTERCONNECTION.—A local exchange

11 carrier shall provide access to and interconnection

12 with the facilities of the carrier’s network at any

13 technically feasible and economically reasonable

14 point within the carrier’s network on just and rea15 sonable terms and conditions, to any other carrier or

16 person offering (or seeking to offer) telecommuni17 cations services or information services requesting

18 such access.

19 ‘‘(2) INTERCARRIER COMPENSATION BETWEEN

20 FACILITIES-BASED CARRIERS.—

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of

22 paragraph (1), the terms and conditions for

23 interconnection of the network of a competing

24 provider of telephone exchange service shall not
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1 be considered to be just and reasonable un2 less—

3 ‘‘(i) such terms and conditions provide

4 for the mutual and reciprocal recovery by

5 each carrier of costs associated with the

6 termination on such carrier’s network of

7 calls that originate on the network of the

8 other carrier;

9 ‘‘(ii) such terms and conditions deter10 mine such costs on the basis of a reason11 able approximation of the additional costs

12 of terminating such calls; and

13 ‘‘(iii) the recovery of costs permitted

14 by such terms and conditions are reason15 able in relation to the prices for termi16 nation of calls that would prevail in a com17 petitive market.

18 ‘‘(B) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—This

19 paragraph shall not be construed—

20 ‘‘(i) to preclude arrangements that af21 ford such mutual recovery of costs through

22 the offsetting of reciprocal obligations, in23 cluding arrangements that waive mutual

24 recovery (such as bill-and-keep arrange25 ments); or
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1 ‘‘(ii) to authorize the Commission or

2 any State commission to engage in any

3 rate regulation proceeding to establish with

4 particularity the additional costs of termi5 nating calls, or to require carriers to main6 tain records with respect to the additional

7 costs of terminating calls.

8 ‘‘(3) EQUAL ACCESS.—A local exchange carrier

9 shall afford, to any other carrier or person offering

10 (or seeking to offer) a telecommunications service or

11 an information service, reasonable and nondiscrim12 inatory access on an unbundled basis—

13 ‘‘(A) to databases, signaling systems,

14 poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way owned

15 or controlled by a local exchange carrier, or

16 other facilities, functions, or information (in17 cluding subscriber numbers) integral to the effi18 cient transmission, routing, or other provision

19 of telephone exchange services or exchange ac20 cess;

21 ‘‘(B) that is at least equal in type, quality,

22 and price to the access which the carrier affords

23 to itself or to any other person; and

24 ‘‘(C) that is sufficient to ensure the full

25 interoperability of the equipment and facilities
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1 of the carrier and of the person seeking such

2 access.

3 ‘‘(4) COMMISSION ACTION REQUIRED.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 months

5 after the date of enactment of this part, the

6 Commission shall complete all actions necessary

7 (including any reconsideration) to establish reg8 ulations to implement the requirements of this

9 section. The Commission shall establish such

10 regulations after consultation with the Joint

11 Board established pursuant to section 246.

12 ‘‘(B) COLLOCATION.—Such regulations

13 shall provide for actual collocation of equipment

14 necessary for interconnection for telecommuni15 cations services at the premises of a local ex16 change carrier, except that the regulations shall

17 provide for virtual collocation where the local

18 exchange carrier demonstrates that actual col19 location is not practical for technical reasons or

20 because of space limitations.

21 ‘‘(C) USER PAYMENT OF UNBUNDLING

22 COSTS.—Such regulations shall require that the

23 costs that a carrier incurs in offering unbundled

24 services, elements, features, functions, and ca25 pabilities shall be borne by the users of such
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1 services, elements, features, functions, and ca2 pabilities.

3 ‘‘(D) IMPUTED CHARGES TO CARRIER.—

4 Such regulations shall require the carrier, to

5 the extent it provides a telecommunications

6 service or an information service, to impute

7 such access and interconnection charges to it8 self.

9 ‘‘(c) NUMBER PORTABILITY AND DIALING PARITY.—

10 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY.—A local exchange carrier

11 shall ensure that—

12 ‘‘(A) number portability shall be available

13 on request in accordance with subsection (a)(4);

14 and

15 ‘‘(B) dialing parity shall be available upon

16 request, except that, in the case of a Bell oper17 ating company, such company shall ensure that

18 dialing parity for intraLATA telephone toll

19 service shall be available not later than the date

20 such company is authorized to provide

21 interLATA services.

22 ‘‘(2) NUMBER ADMINISTRATION.—The Commis23 sion shall designate an impartial entity to administer

24 telecommunications numbering and to make such

25 numbers available on an equitable basis. The Com-
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1 mission shall have exclusive jurisdiction over those

2 portions of the North American Numbering Plan

3 that pertain to the United States. Nothing in this

4 paragraph shall preclude the Commission from dele5 gating to State commissions or other entities any

6 portion of such jurisdiction.

7 ‘‘(d) MODIFICATIONS AND WAIVERS.—The Commis8 sion may modify or waive the requirements of this section

9 for any local exchange carrier (or class or category of such

10 carriers) that has, in the aggregate nationwide, fewer than

11 500,000 access lines installed, to the extent that the Com12 mission determines that compliance with such require13 ments (without such modification) would be unduly eco14 nomically burdensome, technologically infeasible, or other15 wise not in the public interest.

16 ‘‘(e) AVOIDANCE OF REDUNDANT REGULATIONS.—

17 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the

18 Commission from enforcing regulations prescribed prior to

19 the date of enactment of this part in fulfilling the require20 ments of this section, to the extent that such regulations

21 are consistent with the provisions of this section.

22 ‘‘SEC. 243. PREEMPTION.

23 ‘‘(a) REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY.—Except as

24 provided in subsection (b) of this section, no State or local

25 statute, regulation, or other legal requirement shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) effectively prohibit any carrier or other

2 person from entering the business of providing inter3 state or intrastate telecommunications services or in4 formation services; or

5 ‘‘(2) effectively prohibit any carrier or other

6 person providing interstate or intrastate tele7 communications services or information services

8 from exercising the access and interconnection rights

9 provided under this part.

10 ‘‘(b) STATE AND LOCAL AUTHORITY.—Nothing in

11 this section shall affect the ability of State or local officials

12 to impose, on a nondiscriminatory basis, requirements nec13 essary to preserve and advance universal service, protect

14 the public safety and welfare, ensure the continued quality

15 of telecommunications services, ensure that a provider’s

16 business practices are consistent with consumer protection

17 laws and regulations, and ensure just and reasonable

18 rates, provided that such requirements do not effectively

19 prohibit any carrier or person from providing interstate

20 or intrastate telecommunications services or information

21 services.

22 ‘‘(c) CONSTRUCTION PERMITS.—Subsection (a) shall

23 not be construed to prohibit a local government from re24 quiring a person or carrier to obtain ordinary and usual

25 construction or similar permits for its operations if—
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1 ‘‘(1) such permit is required without regard to

2 the nature of the business; and

3 ‘‘(2) requiring such permit does not effectively

4 prohibit any person or carrier from providing any

5 interstate or intrastate telecommunications service

6 or information service.

7 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION.—In the case of commercial mobile

8 services, the provisions of section 332(c)(3) shall apply in

9 lieu of the provisions of this section.

10 ‘‘(e) PARITY OF FRANCHISE AND OTHER

11 CHARGES.—Notwithstanding section 2(b), no local gov12 ernment may impose or collect any franchise, license, per13 mit, or right-of-way fee or any assessment, rental, or any

14 other charge or equivalent thereof as a condition for oper15 ating in the locality or for obtaining access to, occupying,

16 or crossing public rights-of-way from any provider of tele17 communications services that distinguishes between or

18 among providers of telecommunications services, including

19 the local exchange carrier. For purposes of this subsection,

20 a franchise, license, permit, or right-of-way fee or an as21 sessment, rental, or any other charge or equivalent thereof

22 does not include any imposition of general applicability

23 which does not distinguish between or among providers of

24 telecommunications services, or any tax.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 244. STATEMENTS OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR

2 ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION.

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 18 months after the date

4 of enactment of this part, and from time to time there5 after, a local exchange carrier shall prepare and file with

6 a State commission statements of the terms and condi7 tions that such carrier generally offers within that State

8 with respect to the services or elements provided to comply

9 with the equal access and interconnection requirements of

10 section 242 and the regulations thereunder. Any such

11 statement pertaining to the charges for interstate services

12 or elements shall be filed with the Commission.

13 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.—

14 ‘‘(1) STATE COMMISSION REVIEW.—A State

15 commission to which a statement is submitted under

16 subsection (a) shall review such statement in accord17 ance with State law. A State commission may not

18 approve such statement unless such statement com19 plies with section 242 and the regulations there20 under. Except as provided in section 243, nothing in

21 this section shall prohibit a State commission from

22 establishing or enforcing other requirements of State

23 law in its review of such statement.

24 ‘‘(2) FCC REVIEW.—The Commission shall re25 view such statements to ensure that—
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1 ‘‘(A) the charges for interstate services or

2 elements are just, reasonable, and nondiscrim3 inatory; and

4 ‘‘(B) the terms and conditions for such

5 interstate services or elements unbundle any

6 separable services, elements, features, functions,

7 or capabilities in accordance with section

8 242(a)(2) and any regulations thereunder.

9 ‘‘(c) TIME FOR REVIEW.—

10 ‘‘(1) SCHEDULE FOR REVIEW.—The Commis11 sion and the State commission to which a statement

12 is submitted shall, not later than 60 days after the

13 date of such submission—

14 ‘‘(A) complete the review of such statement

15 under subsection (b) (including any reconsider16 ation thereof), unless the submitting carrier

17 agrees to an extension of the period for such re18 view; or

19 ‘‘(B) permit such statement to take effect.

20 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY TO CONTINUE REVIEW.—

21 Paragraph (1) shall not preclude the Commission or

22 a State commission from continuing to review a

23 statement that has been permitted to take effect

24 under subparagraph (B) of such paragraph.
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1 ‘‘(d) EFFECT OF AGREEMENTS.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall prohibit a carrier from filing an agreement to

3 provide services or elements affording access and inter4 connection as a statement of terms and conditions that

5 the carrier generally offers for purposes of this section.

6 The approval of a statement under this section shall not

7 operate to prohibit a carrier from entering into subsequent

8 agreements that contain terms and conditions that differ

9 from those contained in a statement that has been re10 viewed and approved under this section, but—

11 ‘‘(1) each such subsequent agreement shall be

12 filed under this section; and

13 ‘‘(2) such carrier shall be obligated to offer ac14 cess to such services and elements to other carriers

15 and persons (including carriers and persons covered

16 by previously approved statements) requesting such

17 access on terms and conditions that, in relation to

18 the terms and conditions in such subsequent agree19 ments, are not discriminatory.

20 ‘‘(e) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall

21 cease to apply in any local exchange market, defined by

22 geographic area and class or category of service, that the

23 Commission determines has become subject to full and

24 open competition.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 245. BELL OPERATING COMPANY ENTRY INTO

2 INTERLATA SERVICES.

3 ‘‘(a) VERIFICATION OF ACCESS AND INTERCONNEC4 TION COMPLIANCE.—At any time after 18 months after

5 the date of enactment of this part, a Bell operating com6 pany may provide to the Commission verification by such

7 company with respect to one or more States that such

8 company is in compliance with the requirements of this

9 part. Such verification shall contain the following:

10 ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION.—A certification by each

11 State commission of such State or States that such

12 carrier is in compliance with the standards described

13 in subsection (b), except as provided in subsection

14 (c)(2).

15 ‘‘(2) AGREEMENT OR STATEMENT.—For each

16 such State, either of the following:

17 ‘‘(A) PRESENCE OF A FACILITIES-BASED

18 COMPETITOR.—An agreement that has been ap19 proved under section 243 specifying the terms

20 and conditions under which the Bell operating

21 company is providing access and interconnec22 tion to its network in accordance with section

23 242 for the network of a competing provider of

24 telephone exchange service.

25 ‘‘(B) FAILURE TO REQUEST ACCESS.—If

26 no such provider has requested such access and
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1 interconnection before the date which is 3

2 months before the date the company makes its

3 submission under this subsection, a statement

4 of the terms and conditions that the carrier

5 generally offers to provide such access and

6 interconnection that has been approved or per7 mitted to take effect by the State commission

8 under section 243.

9 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH PART

10 II.—For the purposes of subsection (a)(1), a Bell operat11 ing company shall submit to the Commission a certifi12 cation by a State commission of compliance with each of

13 the following conditions in such State:

14 ‘‘(1) INTERCONNECTION.—The Bell operating

15 company provides access and interconnection in ac16 cordance with subsections (a)(1) and (b) of section

17 242 to any other carrier or person offering tele18 communications services requesting such access and

19 interconnection, and complies with the Commission

20 regulations pursuant to such section concerning such

21 access and interconnection.

22 ‘‘(2) UNBUNDLING OF NETWORK ELEMENTS.—

23 The Bell operating company provides unbundled fea24 tures, functions, and capabilities in accordance with

25 subsection (a)(2) of section 242 and the regulations
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1 prescribed by the Commission pursuant to such sec2 tion.

3 ‘‘(3) RESALE AND SHARING.—Neither the Bell

4 operating company, nor any unit of State or local

5 government within the State, imposes any restric6 tions on resale or sharing of telephone exchange

7 service (or unbundled services, elements, features, or

8 functions of telephone exchange service) in violation

9 of section 242(a)(3).

10 ‘‘(4) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The Bell operat11 ing company provides number portability in compli12 ance with the Commission’s regulations pursuant to

13 subsections (a)(4) and (c) of section 242.

14 ‘‘(5) DIALING PARITY.—The Bell operating

15 company provides dialing parity in accordance with

16 subsections (a)(5) and (c) of section 242, and will,

17 not later than the effective date of its authority to

18 commence providing interLATA services, take such

19 actions as are necessary to provide dialing parity for

20 intraLATA telephone toll service in accordance with

21 such subsections.

22 ‘‘(6) ACCESS TO CONDUITS AND RIGHTS OF

23 WAY.—The poles, ducts, conduits, and rights of way

24 of such Bell operating company are available to com25 peting providers of telecommunications services in
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1 accordance with the requirements of sections

2 242(a)(6) and 224(d).

3 ‘‘(7) ELIMINATION OF FRANCHISE LIMITA4 TIONS.—No unit of the State or local government in

5 such State or States imposes any prohibition or limi6 tation in violation of section 243.

7 ‘‘(8) NETWORK FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCES8 SIBILITY.—The Bell operating company will not in9 stall network features, functions, or capabilities that

10 do not comply with the standards established pursu11 ant to section 248.

12 ‘‘(9) NEGOTIATION OF TERMS AND CONDI13 TIONS.—The Bell operating company has negotiated

14 in good faith, under the supervision of the State

15 commission, in accordance with the requirements of

16 section 242(a)(8) with any person requesting access

17 or interconnection.

18 ‘‘(c) COMMISSION REVIEW.—

19 ‘‘(1) REVIEW OF STATE DECISIONS AND CER20 TIFICATIONS.—The Commission shall review any

21 verification submitted by a Bell operating company

22 pursuant to subsection (a). The Commission may re23 quire such company to submit such additional infor24 mation as is necessary to validate any of the items

25 of such verification.
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1 ‘‘(2) DE NOVO REVIEW.—If—

2 ‘‘(A) a State commission does not have the

3 jurisdiction or authority to make the certifi4 cation required by subsection (b);

5 ‘‘(B) the State commission has failed to

6 act within 90 days after the date a request for

7 such certification is filed with such State com8 mission; or

9 ‘‘(C) the State commission has sought to

10 impose a term or condition in violation of sec11 tion 243;

12 the local exchange carrier may request the Commis13 sion to certify the carrier’s compliance with the con14 ditions specified in subsection (b).

15 ‘‘(3) TIME FOR DECISION; PUBLIC COMMENT.—

16 Unless such Bell operating company consents to a

17 longer period of time, the Commission shall approve,

18 disapprove, or approve with conditions such verifica19 tion within 90 days after the date of its submission.

20 During such 90 days, the Commission shall afford

21 interested persons an opportunity to present infor22 mation and evidence concerning such verification.

23 ‘‘(4) STANDARD FOR DECISION.—The Commis24 sion shall not approve such verification unless the

25 Commission determines that—
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1 ‘‘(A) the Bell operating company meets

2 each of the conditions required to be certified

3 under subsection (b); and

4 ‘‘(B) the agreement or statement submit5 ted under subsection (a)(2) complies with the

6 requirements of section 242 and the regulations

7 thereunder.

8 ‘‘(d) ENFORCEMENT OF CONDITIONS.—

9 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—If at any time

10 after the approval of a verification under subsection

11 (c), the Commission determines that a Bell operat12 ing company has ceased to meet any of the condi13 tions required to be certified under subsection (b),

14 the Commission may, after notice and opportunity

15 for a hearing—

16 ‘‘(A) issue an order to such company to

17 correct the deficiency;

18 ‘‘(B) impose a penalty on such company

19 pursuant to title V; or

20 ‘‘(C) suspend or revoke such approval.

21 ‘‘(2) RECEIPT AND REVIEW OF COMPLAINTS.—

22 The Commission shall establish procedures for the

23 review of complaints concerning failures by Bell op24 erating companies to meet conditions required to be

25 certified under subsection (b). Unless the parties
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1 otherwise agree, the Commission shall act on such

2 complaint within 90 days.

3 ‘‘(3) STATE AUTHORITY.—The authority of the

4 Commission under this subsection shall not be con5 strued to preempt any State commission from taking

6 actions to enforce the conditions required to be cer7 tified under subsection (b).

8 ‘‘(e) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE INTERLATA SERV9 ICES.—

10 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in

11 paragraph (2) and subsection (f), a Bell operating

12 company may not provide interLATA services.

13 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY SUBJECT TO CERTIFI14 CATION.—A Bell operating company may, in any

15 States to which its verification under subsection (a)

16 applies, provide interLATA services—

17 ‘‘(A) during any period after the effective

18 date of the Commission’s approval of such ver19 ification pursuant to subsection (c), and

20 ‘‘(B) until the approval of such verification

21 is suspended or revoked by the Commission

22 pursuant to subsection (c).

23 ‘‘(f) EXCEPTIONS FOR INCIDENTAL SERVICES.—Sub24 section (e) shall not prohibit a Bell operating company,
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1 at any time after the date of the enactment of this part,

2 from providing interLATA services for the purpose of—

3 ‘‘(1)(A) providing audio programming, video

4 programming, or other programming services to sub5 scribers to such services of such company;

6 ‘‘(B) providing the capability for interaction by

7 such subscribers to select or respond to such audio

8 programming, video programming, or other pro9 gramming services; or

10 ‘‘(C) providing to distributors audio program11 ming or video programming that such company owns

12 or controls, or is licensed by the copyright owner of

13 such programming (or by an assignee of such owner)

14 to distribute;

15 ‘‘(2) providing a telecommunications service,

16 using the transmission facilities of a cable system

17 that is an affiliate of such company, between local

18 access and transport areas within a cable system

19 franchise area in which such company is not, on the

20 date of the enactment of this Act, a provider of

21 wireline telephone exchange service;

22 ‘‘(3) providing commercial mobile services in ac23 cordance with section 332(c) of this Act and with

24 the regulations prescribed by the Commission pursu25 ant to paragraph (7) of such section;
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1 ‘‘(4) providing a service that permits a cus2 tomer that is located in one local access and trans3 port area to retrieve stored information from, or file

4 information for storage in, information storage fa5 cilities of such company that are located in another

6 local access and transport area;

7 ‘‘(5) providing signaling information used in

8 connection with the provision of telephone exchange

9 services to a local exchange carrier that, together

10 with any affiliated local exchange carriers, has ag11 gregate annual revenues of less than $100,000,000;

12 or

13 ‘‘(6) providing network control signaling infor14 mation to, and receiving such signaling information

15 from, common carriers offering interLATA services

16 at any location within the area in which such Bell

17 operating company provides telephone exchange

18 services or exchange access.

19 ‘‘(g) FORBEARANCE.—The Commission may not,

20 pursuant to section 229, forbear from applying any provi21 sion of this section or any regulation thereunder until at

22 least 5 years after the date of enactment of this part.

23 ‘‘(h) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall

24 cease to apply in any local exchange market, defined by

25 geographic area and class or category of service, that the
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1 Commission determines has become subject to full and

2 open competition.

3 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

4 ‘‘(1) AUDIO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘audio

5 programming’ means programming provided by, or

6 generally considered comparable to programming

7 provided by, a radio broadcast station.

8 ‘‘(2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘video

9 programming’ has the meaning provided in section

10 602.

11 ‘‘(3) OTHER PROGRAMMING SERVICES.—The

12 term ‘other programming services’ means informa13 tion (other than audio programming or video pro14 gramming) that the person who offers a video pro15 gramming service makes available to all subscribers

16 generally. For purposes of the preceding sentence,

17 the terms ‘information’ and ‘makes available to all

18 subscribers generally’ have the same meaning such

19 terms have under section 602(13) of this Act.

20 ‘‘SEC. 246. UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

21 ‘‘(a) JOINT BOARD TO PRESERVE UNIVERSAL SERV22 ICE.—Within 30 days after the date of enactment of this

23 part, the Commission shall convene a Federal-State Joint

24 Board under section 410(c) for the purpose of rec25 ommending actions to the Commission and State commis-
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1 sions for the preservation of universal service in further2 ance of the purposes set forth in section 1 of this Act.

3 In addition to the members required under section 410(c),

4 one member of the Joint Board shall be a State-appointed

5 utility consumer advocate nominated by a national organi6 zation of State utility consumer advocates.

7 ‘‘(b) PRINCIPLES.—The Joint Board shall base poli8 cies for the preservation of universal service on the follow9 ing principles:

10 ‘‘(1) JUST AND REASONABLE RATES.—A plan

11 adopted by the Commission and the States should

12 ensure the continued viability of universal service by

13 maintaining quality services at just and reasonable

14 rates.

15 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS OF INCLUDED SERVICES;

16 COMPARABILITY IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS.—

17 Such plan should recommend a definition of the na18 ture and extent of the services encompassed within

19 carriers’ universal service obligations. Such plan

20 should seek to promote access to advanced tele21 communications services and capabilities, and to

22 promote reasonably comparable services for the gen23 eral public in urban and rural areas, while maintain24 ing just and reasonable rates.
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1 ‘‘(3) ADEQUATE AND SUSTAINABLE SUPPORT

2 MECHANISMS.—Such plan should recommend spe3 cific and predictable mechanisms to provide ade4 quate and sustainable support for universal service.

5 ‘‘(4) EQUITABLE AND NONDISCRIMINATORY

6 CONTRIBUTIONS.—All providers of telecommuni7 cations services should make an equitable and non8 discriminatory contribution to the preservation of

9 universal service.

10 ‘‘(5) EDUCATIONAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED

11 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—To the extent

12 that a common carrier establishes advanced tele13 communications services, such plan should include

14 recommendations to ensure access to advanced tele15 communications services for students in elementary

16 and secondary schools.

17 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES.—Such other

18 principles as the Board determines are necessary

19 and appropriate for the protection of the public in20 terest, convenience, and necessity and consistent

21 with the purposes of this Act.

22 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE.—In rec23 ommending a definition of the nature and extent of the

24 services encompassed within carriers’ universal service ob-
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1 ligations under subsection (b)(2), the Joint Board shall

2 consider the extent to which—

3 ‘‘(1) a telecommunications service has, through

4 the operation of market choices by customers, been

5 subscribed to by a substantial majority of residential

6 customers;

7 ‘‘(2) such service or capability is essential to

8 public health, public safety, or the public interest;

9 ‘‘(3) such service has been deployed in the pub10 lic switched telecommunications network; and

11 ‘‘(4) inclusion of such service within carriers’

12 universal service obligations is otherwise consistent

13 with the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

14 The Joint Board may, from time to time, recommend to

15 the Commission modifications in the definition proposed

16 under subsection (b).

17 ‘‘(d) REPORT; COMMISSION RESPONSE.—The Joint

18 Board convened pursuant to subsection (a) shall report

19 its recommendations within 270 days after the date of en20 actment of this part. The Commission shall complete any

21 proceeding to act upon such recommendations and to com22 ply with the principles set forth in subsection (b) within

23 one year after such date of enactment.

24 ‘‘(e) STATE AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section

25 shall be construed to restrict the authority of any State
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1 to adopt regulations imposing universal service obligations

2 on the provisions of intrastate telecommunications serv3 ices.

4 ‘‘(f) SUNSET.—The Joint Board established by this

5 section shall cease to exist 5 years after the date of enact6 ment of this part.

7 ‘‘SEC. 247. PRICING FLEXIBILITY AND ABOLITION OF RATE8 OF-RETURN REGULATION.

9 ‘‘(a) PRICING FLEXIBILITY.—

10 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION CRITERIA.—Within 270 days

11 after the date of enactment of this part, the Com12 mission shall complete all actions necessary (includ13 ing any reconsideration) to establish—

14 ‘‘(A) criteria for determining whether a

15 telecommunications service or provider of such

16 service has become, or is substantially certain

17 to become, subject to competition, either within

18 a geographic area or within a class or category

19 of service; and

20 ‘‘(B) appropriate flexible pricing proce21 dures that afford a regulated provider of a serv22 ice described in subparagraph (A) the oppor23 tunity to respond fairly to such competition and

24 that are consistent with the protection of sub-
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1 scribers and the public interest, convenience,

2 and necessity.

3 ‘‘(2) STATE SELECTION.—A State commission

4 may utilize the flexible pricing procedures or proce5 dures (established under paragraph (1)(B)) that are

6 appropriate in light of the criteria established under

7 paragraph (1)(A).

8 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATIONS.—The Commission,

9 with respect to rates for interstate or foreign com10 munications, and State commissions, with respect to

11 rates for intrastate communications, shall, upon ap12 plication—

13 ‘‘(A) render determinations in accordance

14 with the criteria established under paragraph

15 (1)(A) concerning the services or providers that

16 are the subject of such application; and

17 ‘‘(B) upon a proper showing, implement

18 appropriate flexible pricing procedures consist19 ent with paragraphs (1)(B) and (2) with re20 spect to such services or providers.

21 The Commission and such State commission shall

22 approve or reject any such application within 180

23 days after the date of its submission.

24 ‘‘(b) ABOLITION OF RATE-OF-RETURN REGULA25 TION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to the
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1 extent that a carrier has complied with sections 242 and

2 244 of this part, the Commission, with respect to rates

3 for interstate or foreign communications, and State com4 missions, with respect to rates for intrastate communica5 tions, shall not require rate-of-return regulation.

6 ‘‘(c) TERMINATION OF PRICE REGULATION.—Not7 withstanding any other provision of law, to the extent that

8 a carrier has complied with sections 242 and 244 of this

9 part, the Commission, with respect to rates for interstate

10 or foreign communications, and State commissions, with

11 respect to rates for intrastate communications, shall not

12 regulate prices for services that are determined, in accord13 ance with the criteria established under subsection

14 (a)(1)(A), to be subject to competition that effectively pre15 vents rates for such services that are unjust or unreason16 able or unjustly or unreasonably discriminatory.

17 ‘‘(d) ABILITY TO CONTINUE AFFORDABLE VOICE18 GRADE SERVICE.—Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b),

19 and (c), each State commission shall permit residential

20 subscribers to continue to receive only basic voice-grade

21 local telephone service equivalent to the service generally

22 available to residential subscribers on the date of enact23 ment of this part, at just, reasonable, and affordable rates.

24 Determinations concerning the affordability of rates for

25 such services shall, for a period of 3 years after the effec-
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1 tive date of any flexible pricing procedure established

2 under this section, be based on the rates generally avail3 able to residential subscribers on such date of enactment

4 and the pricing rules established by the State commission.

5 ‘‘(e) EXCEPTION.—In the case of commercial mobile

6 services, the provisions of section 332(c)(1) shall apply in

7 lieu of the provisions of this section.

8 ‘‘(f) AVOIDANCE OF REDUNDANT REGULATIONS.—

9 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the

10 Commission or a State commission from enforcing regula11 tions prescribed prior to the date of enactment of this part

12 in fulfilling the requirements of this section, to the extent

13 that such regulations are consistent with the provisions

14 of this section.

15 ‘‘SEC. 248. NETWORK FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.

16 ‘‘(a) FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.—The

17 duty of a common carrier under section 201(a) to furnish

18 communications service includes the duty to furnish that

19 service in accordance with the standards established pur20 suant to this section.

21 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION FOR INTEROPERABILITY AND

22 ACCESSIBILITY.—The Commission shall establish—

23 ‘‘(1) procedures for the conduct of coordinated

24 network planning by common carriers and other pro25 viders of telecommunications services or information
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1 services, subject to Commission supervision, for the

2 effective and efficient interconnection and interoper3 ability of public and private networks; and

4 ‘‘(2) procedures for Commission oversight of

5 the development by appropriate industry standards6 setting organizations of—

7 ‘‘(A) standards for the interconnection and

8 interoperability of such networks;

9 ‘‘(B) standards that promote access to net10 work capabilities and services by individuals

11 with disabilities; and

12 ‘‘(C) standards that promote access to in13 formation services by subscribers to telephone

14 exchange service furnished by a rural telephone

15 company.

16 ‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS17 ABILITIES.—

18 ‘‘(1) ACCESSIBILITY.—Within 1 year after the

19 date of enactment of this section, the Commission

20 shall prescribe such regulations as are necessary to

21 ensure that advances in network services deployed by

22 local exchange carriers shall be accessible and usable

23 by individuals with disabilities, including individuals

24 with functional limitations of hearing, vision, move25 ment, manipulation, speech, and interpretation of in-
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1 formation, unless the cost of making the services ac2 cessible and usable would result in an undue burden

3 or adverse competitive impact. Such regulations

4 shall seek to permit the use of both standard and

5 special equipment, and seek to minimize the need of

6 individuals to acquire additional devices beyond

7 those used by the general public to obtain such ac8 cess. Throughout the process of developing such reg9 ulations, the Commission shall coordinate and con10 sult with representatives of individuals with disabil11 ities and interested equipment and service providers

12 to ensure their concerns and interests are given full

13 consideration in such process.

14 ‘‘(2) COMPATIBILITY.—Such regulations shall

15 require that whenever an undue burden or adverse

16 competitive impact would result from the require17 ments in paragraph (1), the local exchange carrier

18 that deploys the network service shall ensure that

19 the network service in question is compatible with

20 existing peripheral devices or specialized customer

21 premises equipment commonly used by persons with

22 disabilities to achieve access, unless doing so would

23 result in an undue burden or adverse competitive im24 pact.
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1 ‘‘(3) UNDUE BURDEN.—The term ‘undue bur2 den’ means significant difficulty or expense. In de3 termining whether the activity necessary to comply

4 with the requirements of this subsection would result

5 in an undue burden, the factors to be considered in6 clude the following:

7 ‘‘(A) The nature and cost of the activity.

8 ‘‘(B) The impact on the operation of the

9 facility involved in the deployment of the net10 work service.

11 ‘‘(C) The financial resources of the local

12 exchange carrier.

13 ‘‘(D) The type of operations of the local

14 exchange carrier.

15 ‘‘(4) ADVERSE COMPETITIVE IMPACT.—In de16 termining whether the activity necessary to comply

17 with the requirements of this subsection would result

18 in adverse competitive impact, the following factors

19 shall be considered:

20 ‘‘(A) Whether such activity would raise the

21 cost of the network service in question beyond

22 the level at which there would be sufficient

23 consumer demand by the general population to

24 make the network service profitable.
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1 ‘‘(B) Whether such activity would, with re2 spect to the network service in question, put the

3 local exchange carrier at a competitive dis4 advantage. This factor may be considered so

5 long as competing network service providers are

6 not held to the same obligation with respect to

7 access by persons with disabilities.

8 ‘‘(5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The regulations re9 quired by this subsection shall become effective 18

10 months after the date of enactment of this part.

11 ‘‘SEC. 249. ILLEGAL CHANGES IN SUBSCRIBER CARRIER SE12 LECTIONS.

13 ‘‘No common carrier shall submit or execute a change

14 in a subscriber’s selection of a provider of telephone ex15 change service or telephone toll service except in accord16 ance with such verification procedures as the Commission

17 shall prescribe. Nothing in this section shall preclude any

18 State commission from enforcing such procedures with re19 spect to intrastate services.

20 ‘‘SEC. 250. STUDY.

21 ‘‘At least once every three years, the Commission

22 shall conduct a study that—

23 ‘‘(1) reviews the definition of, and the adequacy

24 of support for, universal service, and evaluates the

25 extent to which universal service has been protected
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1 and access to advanced services has been facilitated

2 pursuant to this part and the plans and regulations

3 thereunder;

4 ‘‘(2) evaluates the extent to which access to ad5 vanced telecommunications services for students in

6 elementary and secondary school classrooms has

7 been attained pursuant to section 246(b)(5); and

8 ‘‘(3) determines whether the regulations estab9 lished under section 248(c) have ensured that ad10 vances in network services by providers of tele11 communications services and information services

12 are accessible and usable by individuals with disabil13 ities.

14 ‘‘SEC. 251. TERRITORIAL EXEMPTION.

15 ‘‘Until 5 years after the date of enactment of this

16 part, the provisions of this part shall not apply to any local

17 exchange carrier in any United States territory if (1) the

18 local exchange carrier is owned by the government of such

19 territory, and (2) on the date of enactment of this Act,

20 the number of households subscribing to telephone service

21 is less than 85 percent of the total households located in

22 such territory.’’.

23 (b) CONSOLIDATED RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—

24 The Commission shall conduct a single consolidated rule-
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1 making proceeding to prescribe or amend regulations nec2 essary to implement the requirements of—

3 (1) part II of title II of the Communications

4 Act of 1934 as added by subsection (a) of this sec5 tion;

6 (2) section 222 as amended by section 104 of

7 this Act; and

8 (3) section 224 as amended by section 105 of

9 this Act.

10 (c) DESIGNATION OF PART I.—Title II of the Act

11 is further amended by inserting before the heading of sec12 tion 201 the following new heading:

13 ‘‘PART I—REGULATION OF DOMINANT COMMON

14 CARRIERS’’.

15 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

16 (1) FEDERAL-STATE JURISDICTION.—Section

17 2(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

18 152(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘part II of title II,’’

19 after ‘‘227, inclusive,’’.

20 (2) FORFEITURES.—Sections 503(b)(1) and

21 504(b) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 503(b)) are each

22 amended by inserting ‘‘part I of’’ before ‘‘title II’’.
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1 SEC. 103. COMPETITION IN MANUFACTURING, INFORMA2 TION SERVICES, AND ALARM SERVICES.

3 (a) COMPETITION IN MANUFACTURING, INFORMA4 TION SERVICES, AND ALARM SERVICES..—Title II of the

5 Act is amended by adding at the end of part II (as added

6 by section 101) the following new part:

7 ‘‘PART III—SPECIAL AND TEMPORARY

8 PROVISIONS

9 ‘‘SEC. 271. MANUFACTURING BY BELL OPERATING COMPA10 NIES.

11 ‘‘(a) ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION.—It shall be

12 unlawful for a Bell operating company, directly or through

13 an affiliate, to manufacture or provide telecommunications

14 equipment, or to manufacture customer premises equip15 ment, until the Commission has approved under section

16 245(c) verifications that such Bell operating company, and

17 each Bell operating company with which it is affiliated,

18 are in compliance with the access and interconnection re19 quirements of part II of this title.

20 ‘‘(b) COLLABORATION.—Nothing in this section

21 (other than subsection (f)) shall be construed to limit or

22 restrict the ability of a Bell operating company and its

23 affiliates to engage in close collaboration with any manu24 facturer of customer premises equipment or telecommuni25 cations equipment during the design and development of
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1 hardware, software, or combinations thereof related to

2 such equipment.

3 ‘‘(c) EXISTING MANUFACTURING AUTHORITY.—

4 Nothing in this section shall prohibit any Bell operating

5 company from engaging, directly or through any affiliate,

6 in any manufacturing activity in which any Bell operating

7 company or affiliate was authorized to engage on the date

8 of enactment of this section.

9 ‘‘(d) INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS.—

10 ‘‘(1) INFORMATION ON PROTOCOLS AND TECH11 NICAL REQUIREMENTS.—Each Bell operating com12 pany shall, in accordance with regulations prescribed

13 by the Commission, maintain and file with the Com14 mission full and complete information with respect

15 to the protocols and technical requirements for con16 nection with and use of its telephone exchange serv17 ice facilities. Each such company shall report

18 promptly to the Commission any material changes or

19 planned changes to such protocols and requirements,

20 and the schedule for implementation of such changes

21 or planned changes.

22 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE TO AFFILIATES.—A Bell op23 erating company shall not disclose to any of its af24 filiates any information required to be filed under

25 paragraph (1) unless that information is filed
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1 promptly, as required by regulation by the Commis2 sion.

3 ‘‘(3) ACCESS BY COMPETITORS TO INFORMA4 TION.—The Commission may prescribe such addi5 tional regulations under this subsection as may be

6 necessary to ensure that manufacturers in competi7 tion with a Bell operating company’s manufacturing

8 affiliate have access to the information with respect

9 to the protocols and technical requirements for con10 nection with and use of its telephone exchange serv11 ice facilities required for such competition that such

12 company makes available to its manufacturing affili13 ate.

14 ‘‘(4) PLANNING INFORMATION.—Each Bell op15 erating company shall provide, to contiguous com16 mon carriers providing telephone exchange service,

17 timely information on the planned deployment of

18 telecommunications equipment.

19 ‘‘(e) ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT AUTHOR20 ITY.—For the purposes of administering and enforcing the

21 provisions of this section and the regulations prescribed

22 thereunder, the Commission shall have the same authority,

23 power, and functions with respect to any Bell operating

24 company or any affiliate thereof as the Commission has
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1 in administering and enforcing the provisions of this title

2 with respect to any common carrier subject to this Act.

3 ‘‘(f) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this section shall

4 be construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applica5 bility of any of the antitrust laws.

6 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

7 ‘manufacturing’ has the same meaning as such term has

8 under the Modification of Final Judgment.

9 ‘‘SEC. 272. ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING BY BELL OPERATING

10 COMPANIES.

11 ‘‘(a) LIMITATIONS.—No Bell operating company or

12 any affiliate may engage in the provision of electronic pub13 lishing that is disseminated by means of such Bell operat14 ing company’s or any of its affiliates’ basic telephone serv15 ice, except that nothing in this section shall prohibit a sep16 arated affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture oper17 ated in accordance with this section from engaging in the

18 provision of electronic publishing.

19 ‘‘(b) SEPARATED AFFILIATE OR ELECTRONIC PUB20 LISHING JOINT VENTURE REQUIREMENTS.—A separated

21 affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture shall be op22 erated independently from the Bell operating company.

23 Such separated affiliate or joint venture and the Bell oper24 ating company with which it is affiliated shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) maintain separate books, records, and ac2 counts and prepare separate financial statements;

3 ‘‘(2) not incur debt in a manner that would per4 mit a creditor of the separated affiliate or joint ven5 ture upon default to have recourse to the assets of

6 the Bell operating company;

7 ‘‘(3) carry out transactions (A) in a manner

8 consistent with such independence, (B) pursuant to

9 written contracts or tariffs that are filed with the

10 Commission and made publicly available, and (C) in

11 a manner that is auditable in accordance with gen12 erally accepted auditing standards;

13 ‘‘(4) value any assets that are transferred di14 rectly or indirectly from the Bell operating company

15 to a separated affiliate or joint venture, and record

16 any transactions by which such assets are trans17 ferred, in accordance with such regulations as may

18 be prescribed by the Commission or a State commis19 sion to prevent improper cross subsidies;

20 ‘‘(5) between a separated affiliate and a Bell

21 operating company—

22 ‘‘(A) have no officers, directors, and em23 ployees in common after the effective date of

24 this section; and

25 ‘‘(B) own no property in common;
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1 ‘‘(6) not use for the marketing of any product

2 or service of the separated affiliate or joint venture,

3 the name, trademarks, or service marks of an exist4 ing Bell operating company except for names, trade5 marks, or service marks that are or were used in

6 common with the entity that owns or controls the

7 Bell operating company;

8 ‘‘(7) not permit the Bell operating company—

9 ‘‘(A) to perform hiring or training of per10 sonnel on behalf of a separated affiliate;

11 ‘‘(B) to perform the purchasing, installa12 tion, or maintenance of equipment on behalf of

13 a separated affiliate, except for telephone serv14 ice that it provides under tariff or contract sub15 ject to the provisions of this section; or

16 ‘‘(C) to perform research and development

17 on behalf of a separated affiliate;

18 ‘‘(8) each have performed annually a compli19 ance review—

20 ‘‘(A) that is conducted by an independent

21 entity for the purpose of determining compli22 ance during the preceding calendar year with

23 any provision of this section; and

24 ‘‘(B) the results of which are maintained

25 by the separated affiliate or joint venture and
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1 the Bell operating company for a period of 5

2 years subject to review by any lawful authority;

3 ‘‘(9) within 90 days of receiving a review de4 scribed in paragraph (8), file a report of any excep5 tions and corrective action with the Commission and

6 allow any person to inspect and copy such report

7 subject to reasonable safeguards to protect any pro8 prietary information contained in such report from

9 being used for purposes other than to enforce or

10 pursue remedies under this section.

11 ‘‘(c) JOINT MARKETING.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para13 graph (2)—

14 ‘‘(A) a Bell operating company shall not

15 carry out any promotion, marketing, sales, or

16 advertising for or in conjunction with a sepa17 rated affiliate; and

18 ‘‘(B) a Bell operating company shall not

19 carry out any promotion, marketing, sales, or

20 advertising for or in conjunction with an affili21 ate that is related to the provision of electronic

22 publishing.

23 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE JOINT ACTIVITIES.—

24 ‘‘(A) JOINT TELEMARKETING.—A Bell op25 erating company may provide inbound
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1 telemarketing or referral services related to the

2 provision of electronic publishing for a sepa3 rated affiliate, electronic publishing joint ven4 ture, affiliate, or unaffiliated electronic pub5 lisher, provided that if such services are pro6 vided to a separated affiliate, electronic publish7 ing joint venture, or affiliate, such services shall

8 be made available to all electronic publishers on

9 request, on nondiscriminatory terms.

10 ‘‘(B) TEAMING ARRANGEMENTS.—A Bell

11 operating company may engage in nondiscrim12 inatory teaming or business arrangements to

13 engage in electronic publishing with any sepa14 rated affiliate or with any other electronic pub15 lisher if (i) the Bell operating company only

16 provides facilities, services, and basic telephone

17 service information as authorized by this sec18 tion, and (ii) the Bell operating company does

19 not own such teaming or business arrangement.

20 ‘‘(C) ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING JOINT

21 VENTURES.—A Bell operating company or affil22 iate may participate on a nonexclusive basis in

23 electronic publishing joint ventures with entities

24 that are not any Bell operating company, affili25 ate, or separated affiliate to provide electronic
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1 publishing services, if the Bell operating com2 pany or affiliate has not more than a 50 per3 cent direct or indirect equity interest (or the

4 equivalent thereof) or the right to more than 50

5 percent of the gross revenues under a revenue

6 sharing or royalty agreement in any electronic

7 publishing joint venture. Officers and employees

8 of a Bell operating company or affiliate partici9 pating in an electronic publishing joint venture

10 may not have more than 50 percent of the vot11 ing control over the electronic publishing joint

12 venture. In the case of joint ventures with

13 small, local electronic publishers, the Commis14 sion for good cause shown may authorize the

15 Bell operating company or affiliate to have a

16 larger equity interest, revenue share, or voting

17 control but not to exceed 80 percent. A Bell op18 erating company participating in an electronic

19 publishing joint venture may provide promotion,

20 marketing, sales, or advertising personnel and

21 services to such joint venture.

22 ‘‘(d) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—

23 ‘‘(1) DAMAGES.—Any person claiming that any

24 act or practice of any Bell operating company, affili25 ate, or separated affiliate constitutes a violation of
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1 this section may file a complaint with the Commis2 sion or bring suit as provided in section 207 of this

3 Act, and such Bell operating company, affiliate, or

4 separated affiliate shall be liable as provided in sec5 tion 206 of this Act; except that damages may not

6 be awarded for a violation that is discovered by a

7 compliance review as required by subsection (b)(7)

8 of this section and corrected within 90 days.

9 ‘‘(2) CEASE AND DESIST ORDERS.—In addition

10 to the provisions of paragraph (1), any person claim11 ing that any act or practice of any Bell operating

12 company, affiliate, or separated affiliate constitutes

13 a violation of this section may make application to

14 the Commission for an order to cease and desist

15 such violation or may make application in any dis16 trict court of the United States of competent juris17 diction for an order enjoining such acts or practices

18 or for an order compelling compliance with such re19 quirement.

20 ‘‘(e) SEPARATED AFFILIATE REPORTING REQUIRE21 MENT.—Any separated affiliate under this section shall

22 file with the Commission annual reports in a form sub23 stantially equivalent to the Form 10–K required by regula24 tions of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

25 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVE DATES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) TRANSITION.—Any electronic publishing

2 service being offered to the public by a Bell operat3 ing company or affiliate on the date of enactment of

4 this section shall have one year from such date of

5 enactment to comply with the requirements of this

6 section.

7 ‘‘(2) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section

8 shall not apply to conduct occurring after June 30,

9 2000.

10 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘electronic pub12 lishing’ means the dissemination, provision, publica13 tion, or sale to an unaffiliated entity or person, of

14 any one or more of the following: news (including

15 sports); business or financial reports; editorials, col16 umns, or features; advertising; photos or images of

17 a type used in publishing; archival material of a type

18 used in publishing legal notices; or other like or

19 similar information.

20 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘electronic pub21 lishing’ shall not include the following services:

22 ‘‘(A) Information access, as that term is

23 defined by the Modification of Final Judgment.

24 ‘‘(B) The transmission of information as a

25 common carrier.
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1 ‘‘(C) The transmission of information as

2 part of a gateway to an information service that

3 does not involve the generation or alteration of

4 the content of information, including data

5 transmission, address translation, protocol con6 version, billing management, introductory infor7 mation content, and navigational systems that

8 enable users to access electronic publishing

9 services, which do not affect the presentation of

10 such electronic publishing services to users.

11 ‘‘(D) Voice storage and retrieval services,

12 including voice messaging and electronic mail

13 services.

14 ‘‘(E) Data processing or transaction proc15 essing services that do not involve the genera16 tion or alteration of the content of information.

17 ‘‘(F) Electronic billing or advertising of a

18 Bell operating company’s regulated tele19 communications services.

20 ‘‘(G) Language translation or data format

21 conversion.

22 ‘‘(H) The provision of information nec23 essary for the management, control, or oper24 ation of a telephone company telecommuni25 cations system.
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1 ‘‘(I) The provision of directory assistance

2 that provides names, addresses, and telephone

3 numbers and does not include advertising.

4 ‘‘(J) Caller identification services.

5 ‘‘(K) Repair and provisioning databases

6 and credit card and billing validation for tele7 phone company operations.

8 ‘‘(L) 911–E and other emergency assist9 ance databases.

10 ‘‘(M) Any other network service of a type

11 that is like or similar to these network services

12 and that does not involve the generation or al13 teration of the content of information.

14 ‘‘(N) Any upgrades to these network serv15 ices that do not involve the generation or alter16 ation of the content of information.

17 ‘‘(O) Video programming or full motion

18 video entertainment on demand.

19 ‘‘(h) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—As used in this

20 section—

21 ‘‘(1) The term ‘affiliate’ means any entity that,

22 directly or indirectly, owns or controls, is owned or

23 controlled by, or is under common ownership or con24 trol with, a Bell operating company. Such term shall

25 not include a separated affiliate.
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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘basic telephone service’ means

2 wireline telephone exchange service provided by a

3 Bell operating company in a telephone exchange

4 area, except that such term does not include—

5 ‘‘(A) a competitive wireline telephone ex6 change service provided in a telephone exchange

7 area where another entity provides a wireline

8 telephone exchange service that was provided on

9 January 1, 1984, and

10 ‘‘(B) a commercial mobile service.

11 ‘‘(3) The term ‘basic telephone service informa12 tion’ means network and customer information of a

13 Bell operating company and other information ac14 quired by a Bell operating company as a result of

15 its engaging in the provision of basic telephone serv16 ice.

17 ‘‘(4) The term ‘control’ has the meaning that it

18 has in 17 C.F.R. 240.12b–2, the regulations promul19 gated by the Securities and Exchange Commission

20 pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

21 (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) or any successor provision

22 to such section.

23 ‘‘(5) The term ‘electronic publishing joint ven24 ture’ means a joint venture owned by a Bell operat25 ing company or affiliate that engages in the provi-
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1 sion of electronic publishing which is disseminated

2 by means of such Bell operating company’s or any

3 of its affiliates’ basic telephone service.

4 ‘‘(6) The term ‘entity’ means any organization,

5 and includes corporations, partnerships, sole propri6 etorships, associations, and joint ventures.

7 ‘‘(7) The term ‘inbound telemarketing’ means

8 the marketing of property, goods, or services by tele9 phone to a customer or potential customer who initi10 ated the call.

11 ‘‘(8) The term ‘own’ with respect to an entity

12 means to have a direct or indirect equity interest (or

13 the equivalent thereof) of more than 10 percent of

14 an entity, or the right to more than 10 percent of

15 the gross revenues of an entity under a revenue

16 sharing or royalty agreement.

17 ‘‘(9) The term ‘separated affiliate’ means a cor18 poration under common ownership or control with a

19 Bell operating company that does not own or control

20 a Bell operating company and is not owned or con21 trolled by a Bell operating company and that en22 gages in the provision of electronic publishing which

23 is disseminated by means of such Bell operating

24 company’s or any of its affiliates’ basic telephone

25 service.
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1 ‘‘(10) The term ‘Bell operating company’ has

2 the meaning provided in section 3, except that such

3 term includes any entity or corporation that is

4 owned or controlled by such a company (as so de5 fined) but does not include an electronic publishing

6 joint venture owned by such an entity or corpora7 tion.

8 ‘‘SEC. 273. ALARM MONITORING AND TELEMESSAGING

9 SERVICES BY BELL OPERATING COMPANIES.

10 ‘‘(a) DELAYED ENTRY INTO ALARM MONITORING.—

11 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—No Bell operating com12 pany or affiliate thereof shall engage in the provision

13 of alarm monitoring services before July 1, 2000.

14 ‘‘(2) EXISTING ACTIVITIES.—Paragraph (1)

15 shall not apply to any provision of alarm monitoring

16 services in which a Bell operating company or affili17 ate is lawfully engaged on the date of enactment of

18 this part.

19 ‘‘(b) NONDISCRIMINATION.—A common carrier en20 gaged in the provision of alarm monitoring services or

21 telemessaging services shall—

22 ‘‘(1) provide nonaffiliated entities, upon reason23 able request, with the network services it provides to

24 its own alarm monitoring or telemessaging oper-
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1 ations, on nondiscriminatory terms and conditions;

2 and

3 ‘‘(2) not subsidize its alarm monitoring services

4 or its telemessaging services with revenues from tele5 phone exchange service.

6 ‘‘(c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF COM7 PLAINTS.—The Commission shall establish procedures for

8 the receipt and review of complaints concerning violations

9 of subsection (b) or the regulations thereunder that result

10 in material financial harm to a provider of alarm monitor11 ing service or telemessaging service. Such procedures shall

12 ensure that the Commission will make a final determina13 tion with respect to any such complaint within 120 days

14 after receipt of the complaint. If the complaint contains

15 an appropriate showing that the alleged violation occurred,

16 as determined by the Commission in accordance with such

17 regulations, the Commission shall, within 60 days after

18 receipt of the complaint, order the common carrier and

19 its affiliates to cease engaging in such violation pending

20 such final determination.

21 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

22 ‘‘(1) ALARM MONITORING SERVICE.—The term

23 ‘alarm monitoring service’ means a service that uses

24 a device located at a residence, place of business, or

25 other fixed premises—
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1 ‘‘(A) to receive signals from other devices

2 located at or about such premises regarding a

3 possible threat at such premises to life, safety,

4 or property, from burglary, fire, vandalism,

5 bodily injury, or other emergency, and

6 ‘‘(B) to transmit a signal regarding such

7 threat by means of transmission facilities of a

8 Bell operating company or one of its affiliates

9 to a remote monitoring center to alert a person

10 at such center of the need to inform the cus11 tomer or another person or police, fire, rescue,

12 security, or public safety personnel of such

13 threat,

14 but does not include a service that uses a medical

15 monitoring device attached to an individual for the

16 automatic surveillance of an ongoing medical condi17 tion.

18 ‘‘(2) TELEMESSAGING SERVICES.—The term

19 ‘telemessaging services’ means voice mail and voice

20 storage and retrieval services provided over tele21 phone lines for telemessaging customers and any live

22 operator services used to answer, record, transcribe,

23 and relay messages (other than telecommunications

24 relay services) from incoming telephone calls on be-
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1 half of the telemessaging customers (other than any

2 service incidental to directory assistance).’’.

3 SEC. 103. FORBEARANCE FROM REGULATION.

4 Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 is

5 amended by inserting after section 228 (47 U.S.C. 228)

6 the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 229. FORBEARANCE FROM REGULATION.

8 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY TO FORBEAR.—The Commission

9 shall forbear from applying any provision of this part or

10 part II (other than sections 201, 202, 208, 243, and 247),

11 or any regulation thereunder, to a common carrier or serv12 ice, or class of carriers or services, in any or some of its

13 or their geographic markets, if the Commission determines

14 that—

15 ‘‘(1) enforcement of such provision or regula16 tion is not necessary to ensure that the charges,

17 practices, classifications, or regulations by, for, or in

18 connection with that carrier or service are just and

19 reasonable and are not unjustly or unreasonably dis20 criminatory;

21 ‘‘(2) enforcement of such regulation or provi22 sion is not necessary for the protection of consum23 ers; and

24 ‘‘(3) forbearance from applying such provision

25 or regulation is consistent with the public interest.
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1 ‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE EFFECT TO BE WEIGHED.—In

2 making the determination under subsection (a)(3), the

3 Commission shall consider whether forbearance from en4 forcing the provision or regulation will promote competi5 tive market conditions, including the extent to which such

6 forbearance will enhance competition among providers of

7 telecommunications services. If the Commission deter8 mines that such forbearance will promote competition

9 among providers of telecommunications services, that de10 termination may be the basis for a Commission finding

11 that forbearance is in the public interest.’’.

12 SEC. 104. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION.

13 (a) PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK

14 INFORMATION.—Title II of the Communications Act of

15 1934 is amended by inserting after section 221 (47 U.S.C.

16 221) the following new section:

17 ‘‘SEC. 222. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NET18 WORK INFORMATION.

19 ‘‘(a) SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMATION.—Notwith20 standing subsections (b), (c), and (d), a carrier that pro21 vides subscriber list information to any affiliated or unaf22 filiated service provider or person shall provide subscriber

23 list information on a timely and unbundled basis, under

24 nondiscriminatory and reasonable rates, terms, and condi25 tions, to any person upon request.
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1 ‘‘(b) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMON CAR2 RIERS.—A carrier—

3 ‘‘(1) shall not, except as required by law or with

4 the approval of the customer to which the informa5 tion relates—

6 ‘‘(A) use customer proprietary network in7 formation in the provision of any service except

8 to the extent necessary (i) in the provision of

9 common carrier services, (ii) in the provision of

10 a service necessary to or used in the provision

11 of common carrier services, including the pub12 lishing of directories, or (iii) to continue to pro13 vide a particular information service that the

14 carrier provided as of May 1, 1995, to persons

15 who were customers of such service on that

16 date;

17 ‘‘(B) use customer proprietary network in18 formation in the identification or solicitation of

19 potential customers for any service other than

20 the telephone exchange service or telephone toll

21 service from which such information is derived;

22 ‘‘(C) use customer proprietary network in23 formation in the provision of customer premises

24 equipment; or
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1 ‘‘(D) disclose customer proprietary net2 work information to any person except to the

3 extent necessary to permit such person to pro4 vide services or products that are used in and

5 necessary to the provision by such carrier of the

6 services described in subparagraph (A);

7 ‘‘(2) shall disclose customer proprietary net8 work information, upon affirmative written request

9 by the customer, to any person designated by the

10 customer;

11 ‘‘(3) shall, whenever such carrier provides any

12 aggregate information, notify the Commission of the

13 availability of such aggregate information and shall

14 provide such aggregate information on reasonable

15 terms and conditions to any other service or equip16 ment provider upon reasonable request therefor; and

17 ‘‘(4) except for disclosures permitted by para18 graph (1)(D), shall not unreasonably discriminate

19 between affiliated and unaffiliated service or equip20 ment providers in providing access to, or in the use

21 and disclosure of, individual and aggregate informa22 tion made available consistent with this subsection.

23 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall

24 not be construed to prohibit the use or disclosure of cus25 tomer proprietary network information as necessary—
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1 ‘‘(1) to render, bill, and collect for the services

2 identified in subparagraph (A);

3 ‘‘(2) to render, bill, and collect for any other

4 service that the customer has requested;

5 ‘‘(3) to protect the rights or property of the

6 carrier;

7 ‘‘(4) to protect users of any of those services

8 and other carriers from fraudulent, abusive, or un9 lawful use of or subscription to such service; or

10 ‘‘(5) to provide any inbound telemarketing, re11 ferral, or administrative services to the customer for

12 the duration of the call if such call was initiated by

13 the customer and the customer approves of the use

14 of such information to provide such service.

15 ‘‘(d) EXEMPTION PERMITTED.—The Commission

16 may, by rule, exempt from the requirements of subsection

17 (b) carriers that have, together with any affiliated carriers,

18 in the aggregate nationwide, fewer than 500,000 access

19 lines installed if the Commission determines that such ex20 emption is in the public interest or if compliance with the

21 requirements would impose an undue economic burden on

22 the carrier.

23 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
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1 ‘‘(1) CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK IN2 FORMATION.—The term ‘customer proprietary net3 work information’ means—

4 ‘‘(A) information which relates to the

5 quantity, technical configuration, type, destina6 tion, and amount of use of telephone exchange

7 service or telephone toll service subscribed to by

8 any customer of a carrier, and is made available

9 to the carrier by the customer solely by virtue

10 of the carrier-customer relationship;

11 ‘‘(B) information contained in the bills per12 taining to telephone exchange service or tele13 phone toll service received by a customer of a

14 carrier; and

15 ‘‘(C) such other information concerning the

16 customer as is available to the local exchange

17 carrier by virtue of the customer’s use of the

18 carrier’s telephone exchange service or tele19 phone toll services, and specified as within the

20 definition of such term by such rules as the

21 Commission shall prescribe consistent with the

22 public interest;

23 except that such term does not include subscriber

24 list information.
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1 ‘‘(2) SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMATION.—The

2 term ‘subscriber list information’ means any infor3 mation—

4 ‘‘(A) identifying the listed names of sub5 scribers of a carrier and such subscribers’ tele6 phone numbers, addresses, or primary advertis7 ing classifications, or any combination of such

8 listed names, numbers, addresses, or classifica9 tions; and

10 ‘‘(B) that the carrier or an affiliate has

11 published or accepted for future publication.’’.

12 ‘‘(3) AGGREGATE INFORMATION.—The term

13 ‘aggregate information’ means collective data that

14 relates to a group or category of services or cus15 tomers, from which individual customer identities

16 and characteristics have been removed.’’.

17 (b) CONVERGING COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES

18 AND CONSUMER PRIVACY.—

19 (1) COMMISSION EXAMINATION.—Within one

20 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the

21 Commission shall commence a proceeding—

22 (A) to examine the impact of the integra23 tion into interconnected communications net24 works of wireless telephone, cable, satellite, and

25 other technologies on the privacy rights and
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1 remedies of the consumers of those tech2 nologies;

3 (B) to examine the impact that the

4 globalization of such integrated communications

5 networks has on the international dissemination

6 of consumer information and the privacy rights

7 and remedies to protect consumers;

8 (C) to propose changes in the Commis9 sion’s regulations to ensure that the effect on

10 consumer privacy rights is considered in the in11 troduction of new telecommunications services

12 and that the protection of such privacy rights

13 is incorporated as necessary in the design of

14 such services or the rules regulating such serv15 ices;

16 (D) to propose changes in the Commis17 sion’s regulations as necessary to correct any

18 defects identified pursuant to subparagraph (A)

19 in such rights and remedies; and

20 (E) to prepare recommendations to the

21 Congress for any legislative changes required to

22 correct such defects.

23 (2) SUBJECTS FOR EXAMINATION.—In conduct24 ing the examination required by paragraph (1), the

25 Commission shall determine whether consumers are
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1 able, and, if not, the methods by which consumers

2 may be enabled—

3 (A) to have knowledge that consumer in4 formation is being collected about them through

5 their utilization of various communications

6 technologies;

7 (B) to have notice that such information

8 could be used, or is intended to be used, by the

9 entity collecting the data for reasons unrelated

10 to the original communications, or that such in11 formation could be sold (or is intended to be

12 sold) to other companies or entities; and

13 (C) to stop the reuse or sale of that infor14 mation.

15 (3) SCHEDULE FOR COMMISSION RESPONSES.—

16 The Commission shall, within 18 months after the

17 date of enactment of this Act—

18 (A) complete any rulemaking required to

19 revise Commission regulations to correct defects

20 in such regulations identified pursuant to para21 graph (1); and

22 (B) submit to the Congress a report con23 taining the recommendations required by para24 graph (1)(C).
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1 SEC. 105. POLE ATTACHMENTS.

2 Section 224 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

3 U.S.C. 244) is amended—

4 (1) in subsection (a)(4)—

5 (A) by inserting after ‘‘system’’ the follow6 ing: ‘‘or a provider of telecommunications serv7 ice’’; and

8 (B) by inserting after ‘‘utility’’ the follow9 ing: ‘‘, which attachment may be used by such

10 cable television system to provide cable service

11 or any other service,’’;

12 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) of

13 subsection (b) as paragraphs (2) and (3), respec14 tively;

15 (3) by inserting before paragraph (2) of sub16 section (b) (as so redesignated) the following:

17 ‘‘(b)(1) A utility shall provide a cable television sys18 tem or other provider of telecommunications services with

19 nondiscriminatory access to any pole, duct, conduit, or

20 right-of-way owned or controlled by the utility.’’;

21 (4) in subsection (c)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘cable

22 television services’’ and inserting ‘‘the services of23 fered via such attachments’’;

24 (5) by redesignating subsection (d)(2) as sub25 section (d)(4); and
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1 (6) by striking subsection (d)(1) and inserting

2 the following:

3 ‘‘(d)(1) For purposes of subsection (b) of this section,

4 the Commission shall, no later than 1 year after the date

5 of enactment of the Communication Act of 1995, prescribe

6 regulations for ensuring that utilities charge just and rea7 sonable and nondiscriminatory rates for pole attachments

8 provided to all providers of telecommunications services,

9 including such attachments used by cable television sys10 tems to provide telecommunications services (as defined

11 in section 3 of this Act). Such regulations shall—

12 ‘‘(A) apportion the cost of the entire pole, duct,

13 conduit, or right-of-way according to the percentage

14 of usable space required for each entity, and

15 ‘‘(B) allow for reasonable terms and conditions

16 relating to health, safety, and the provision of reli17 able utility service.

18 ‘‘(2) An entity that obtains an attachment to a pole,

19 conduit, or right-of-way shall not be required to bear any

20 of the costs of rearranging or replacing its attachment,

21 if such rearrangement or replacement is required as a re22 sult of an additional attachment or the modification of an

23 existing attachment sought by any other entity (including

24 the owner of such pole, conduct, or right-of-way).
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1 ‘‘(3) Whenever the owner of a conduit or right-of-way

2 has made such conduit or right-of-way accessible, the

3 owner shall provide written notification of such action to

4 any entity that has obtained an attachment to such con5 duit or right-of-way so that such entity may have a reason6 able opportunity to add to or modify its existing attach7 ment. Any entity that adds to or modifies its existing at8 tachment after receiving such notification shall bear an

9 equitable share of the costs incurred by the owner in mak10 ing such conduit or right-of-way accessible.’’.

11 SEC. 106. PREEMPTION OF FRANCHISING AUTHORITY REG12 ULATION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERV13 ICES.

14 (a) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—Section

15 621(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

16 541(c)) is amended by adding at the end thereof the fol17 lowing new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(3)(A) To the extent that a cable operator or affili19 ate thereof is engaged in the provision of telecommuni20 cations services—

21 ‘‘(i) such cable operator or affiliate shall not be

22 required to obtain a franchise under this title; and

23 ‘‘(ii) the provisions of this title shall not apply

24 to such cable operator or affiliate.
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1 ‘‘(B) A franchising authority may not impose any re2 quirement that has the purpose or effect of prohibiting,

3 limiting, restricting, or conditioning the provision of a tele4 communications service by a cable operator or an affiliate

5 thereof.

6 ‘‘(C) A franchising authority may not order a cable

7 operator or affiliate thereof—

8 ‘‘(i) to discontinue the provision of a tele9 communications service, or

10 ‘‘(ii) to discontinue the operation of a cable sys11 tem, to the extent such cable system is used for the

12 provision of a telecommunications service, by reason

13 of the failure of such cable operator or affiliate

14 thereof to obtain a franchise or franchise renewal

15 under this title with respect to the provision of such

16 telecommunications service.

17 ‘‘(D) A franchising authority may not require a cable

18 operator to provide any telecommunications service or fa19 cilities as a condition of the initial grant of a franchise

20 or a franchise renewal.’’.

21 (b) FRANCHISE FEES.—Section 622(b) of the Com22 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 542(b)) is amended

23 by inserting ‘‘to provide cable services’’ immediately before

24 the period at the end of the first sentence thereof.
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1 SEC. 107. MOBILE SERVICE ACCESS TO LONG DISTANCE

2 CARRIERS.

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 332(c) of the Commu4 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by

5 adding at the end the following new paragraph:

6 ‘‘(7) MOBILE SERVICES ACCESS.—(A) The

7 Commission shall prescribe regulations to afford

8 subscribers of two-way switched voice commercial

9 mobile radio services access to a provider of tele10 phone toll service of the subscriber’s choice, except

11 to the extent that such provider is engaged in the

12 provision of a mobile satellite service. The Commis13 sion may exempt carriers or classes of carriers from

14 the requirements of such regulations to the extent

15 the Commission determines such exemption is con16 sistent with the public interest, convenience, and ne17 cessity. For purposes of this paragraph, ‘access’

18 shall mean access to a provider of telephone toll

19 service through the use of carrier identification

20 codes assigned to each such provider.

21 ‘‘(B) The regulations prescribed by the Com22 mission pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall super23 sede any inconsistent requirements imposed by the

24 Modification of Final Judgment or any order in

25 United States v. AT&T Corp. and McCaw Cellular

26 Communications, Inc., Civil Action No. 94–01555
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1 (United States District Court, District of Colum2 bia).’’.

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

4 Section 6002(c)(2)(B) of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili5 ation Act of 1993 is amended by striking ‘‘section

6 332(c)(6)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (6) and (7) of sec7 tion 332(c)’’.

8 TITLE II—CABLE COMMUNICA9 TIONS COMPETITIVENESS

10 SEC. 201. CABLE SERVICE PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE COM11 PANIES.

12 (a) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—

13 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 613(b) of the Com14 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 533(b)) is

15 amended to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(b)(1) Subject to the requirements of part V and

17 the other provisions of this title, any common carrier sub18 ject in whole or in part to title II of this Act may, either

19 through its own facilities or through an affiliate, provide

20 video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone

21 service area.

22 ‘‘(2) Subject to the requirements of part V and the

23 other provisions of this title, any common carrier subject

24 in whole or in part to title II of this Act may provide chan25 nels of communications or pole, line, or conduit space, or
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1 other rental arrangements, to any entity which is directly

2 or indirectly owned, operated, or controlled by, or under

3 common control with, such common carrier, if such facili4 ties or arrangements are to be used for, or in connection

5 with, the provision of video programming directly to sub6 scribers in its telephone service area.

7 ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), an af8 filiate that—

9 ‘‘(A) is, consistent with section 656, owned, op10 erated, or controlled by, or under common control

11 with, a common carrier subject in whole or in part

12 to title II of this Act, and

13 ‘‘(B) provides video programming to subscribers

14 in the telephone service area of such carrier, but

15 ‘‘(C) does not utilize the local exchange facili16 ties or services of any affiliated common carrier in

17 distributing such programming,

18 shall not be subject to the requirements of part V, but

19 shall be subject to the requirements of this part and parts

20 III and IV.’’.

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 602

22 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531)

23 is amended—

24 (A) in paragraph (6)(B), by inserting ‘‘or

25 use’’ after ‘‘the selection’’;
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1 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (18) and

2 (19) as paragraphs (19) and (20) respectively;

3 and

4 (C) by inserting after paragraph (17) the

5 following new paragraph:

6 ‘‘(18) the term ‘telephone service area’ when

7 used in connection with a common carrier subject in

8 whole or in part to title II of this Act means the

9 area within which such carrier provides telephone ex10 change service as of May 1, 1995, but if any com11 mon carrier after such date transfers its exchange

12 service facilities to another common carrier, the area

13 to which such facilities provide telephone exchange

14 service shall be treated as part of the telephone serv15 ice area of the acquiring common carrier and not of

16 the selling common carrier;’’.

17 (b) PROVISIONS FOR REGULATION OF CABLE SERV18 ICE PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE COMPANIES.—Title VI of

19 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.)

20 is amended by adding at the end the following new part:

21 ‘‘PART V—VIDEO PROGRAMMING SERVICES

22 PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE COMPANIES

23 ‘‘SEC. 651. DEFINITIONS.

24 ‘‘For purposes of this part—

25 ‘‘(1) the term ‘control’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) an ownership interest in which an en2 tity has the right to vote more than 50 percent

3 of the outstanding common stock or other own4 ership interest; or

5 ‘‘(B) if no single entity directly or indi6 rectly has the right to vote more than 50 per7 cent of the outstanding common stock or other

8 ownership interest, actual working control, in

9 whatever manner exercised, as defined by the

10 Commission by regulation on the basis of rel11 evant factors and circumstances, which shall in12 clude partnership and direct ownership inter13 ests, voting stock interests, the interests of offi14 cers and directors, and the aggregation of vot15 ing interests; and

16 ‘‘(2) the term ‘rural area’ means a geographic

17 area that does not include either—

18 ‘‘(A) any incorporated or unincorporated

19 place of 10,000 inhabitants or more, or any

20 part thereof; or

21 ‘‘(B) any territory, incorporated or unin22 corporated, included in an urbanized area, as

23 defined by the Bureau of the Census.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 652. SEPARATE VIDEO PROGRAMMING AFFILIATE.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

3 (d) of this section, a common carrier subject to title II

4 of this Act shall not provide video programming directly

5 to subscribers in its telephone service area unless such

6 video programming is provided through a video program7 ming affiliate that is separate from such carrier.

8 ‘‘(b) BOOKS AND MARKETING.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A video programming affili10 ate of a common carrier shall—

11 ‘‘(A) maintain books, records, and ac12 counts separate from such carrier which iden13 tify all transactions with such carrier;

14 ‘‘(B) carry out directly (or through any

15 nonaffiliated person) its own promotion, except

16 that institutional advertising carried out by

17 such carrier shall be permitted so long as each

18 party bears its pro rata share of the costs; and

19 ‘‘(C) not own real or personal property in

20 common with such carrier.

21 ‘‘(2) INBOUND TELEMARKETING AND REFER22 RAL.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(B), a com23 mon carrier may provide telemarketing or referral

24 services in response to the call of a customer or po25 tential customer related to the provision of video

26 programming by a video programming affiliate of
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1 such carrier. If such services are provided to a video

2 programming affiliate, such services shall be made

3 available to any video programmer or cable operator

4 on request, on nondiscriminatory terms, at just and

5 reasonable prices, and subject to regulations of the

6 Commission to ensure that the carrier’s method of

7 providing telemarketing or referral and its price

8 structure do not competitively disadvantage any

9 video programmer or cable operator, regardless of

10 size, including those which do not use the carrier’s

11 telemarketing services.

12 ‘‘(3) JOINT MARKETING.—Notwithstanding

13 paragraph (1)(B), a common carrier may market

14 video programming directly upon a showing to the

15 Commission that a cable operator or other entity di16 rectly or indirectly provides telecommunications serv17 ices within the telephone service area of the common

18 carrier, and markets such telecommunications serv19 ices jointly with video programming services. The

20 common carrier shall specify the geographic region

21 covered by the showing. The Commission shall ap22 prove or disapprove such showing within 60 days

23 after the date of its submission.

24 ‘‘(c) BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS WITH CARRIER.—

25 Any contract, agreement, arrangement, or other manner
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1 of conducting business, between a common carrier and its

2 video programming affiliate, providing for—

3 ‘‘(1) the sale, exchange, or leasing of property

4 between such affiliate and such carrier,

5 ‘‘(2) the furnishing of goods or services between

6 such affiliate and such carrier, or

7 ‘‘(3) the transfer to or use by such affiliate for

8 its benefit of any asset or resource of such carrier,

9 shall be on a fully compensatory and auditable basis, shall

10 be without cost to the telephone service ratepayers of the

11 carrier, shall be filed with the Commission, and shall be

12 in compliance with regulations established by the Commis13 sion that will enable the Commission to assess the compli14 ance of any transaction.

15 ‘‘(d) WAIVER.—

16 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA FOR WAIVER.—The Commission

17 may waive any of the requirements of this section

18 for small telephone companies or telephone compa19 nies serving rural areas, if the Commission deter20 mines, after notice and comment, that—

21 ‘‘(A) such waiver will not affect the ability

22 of the Commission to ensure that all video pro23 gramming activity is carried out without any

24 support from telephone ratepayers;
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1 ‘‘(B) the interests of telephone ratepayers

2 and cable subscribers will not be harmed if such

3 waiver is granted;

4 ‘‘(C) such waiver will not adversely affect

5 the ability of persons to obtain access to the

6 video platform of such carrier; and

7 ‘‘(D) such waiver otherwise is in the public

8 interest.

9 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—The Commission

10 shall act to approve or disapprove a waiver applica11 tion within 180 days after the date it is filed.

12 ‘‘(3) CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF SECTION

13 656.—In the case of a common carrier that obtains

14 a waiver under this subsection, any requirement that

15 section 656 applies to a video programming affiliate

16 shall instead apply to such carrier.

17 ‘‘(e) SUNSET OF REQUIREMENTS.—The provisions of

18 this section shall cease to be effective on July 1, 2000.

19 ‘‘SEC. 653. ESTABLISHMENT OF VIDEO PLATFORM.

20 ‘‘(a) VIDEO PLATFORM.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any common carrier sub22 ject to title II of this Act, and that provides video

23 programming directly to subscribers in its telephone

24 service area, shall establish a video platform. This

25 paragraph shall not apply to any carrier to the ex-
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1 tent that it provides video programming directly to

2 subscribers in its telephone service area solely

3 through a cable system acquired in accordance with

4 section 655(b).

5 ‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION OF DEMAND FOR CAR6 RIAGE.—Any common carrier subject to the require7 ments of paragraph (1) shall, prior to establishing a

8 video platform, submit a notice to the Commission

9 of its intention to establish channel capacity for the

10 provision of video programming to meet the bona

11 fide demand for such capacity. Such notice shall—

12 ‘‘(A) be in such form and contain informa13 tion concerning the geographic area intended to

14 be served and such information as the Commis15 sion may require by regulations pursuant to

16 subsection (b);

17 ‘‘(B) specify the methods by which any en18 tity seeking to use such channel capacity should

19 submit to such carrier a specification of its

20 channel capacity requirements; and

21 ‘‘(C) specify the procedures by which such

22 carrier will determine (in accordance with the

23 Commission’s regulations under subsection

24 (b)(1)(B)) whether such requests for capacity

25 are bona fide.
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1 The Commission shall submit any such notice for

2 publication in the Federal Register within 5 working

3 days.

4 ‘‘(3) RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR CARRIAGE.—

5 After receiving and reviewing the requests for capac6 ity submitted pursuant to such notice, such common

7 carrier shall establish channel capacity that is suffi8 cient to provide carriage for—

9 ‘‘(A) all bona fide requests submitted pur10 suant to such notice,

11 ‘‘(B) any additional channels required pur12 suant to section 656, and

13 ‘‘(C) any additional channels required by

14 the Commission’s regulations under subsection

15 (b)(1)(C).

16 ‘‘(4) RESPONSES TO CHANGES IN DEMAND FOR

17 CAPACITY.—Any common carrier that establishes a

18 video platform under this section shall—

19 ‘‘(A) immediately notify the Commission

20 and each video programming provider of any

21 delay in or denial of channel capacity or service,

22 and the reasons therefor;

23 ‘‘(B) continue to receive and grant, to the

24 extent of available capacity, carriage in re25 sponse to bona fide requests for carriage from
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1 existing or additional video programming pro2 viders;

3 ‘‘(C) if at any time the number of channels

4 required for bona fide requests for carriage may

5 reasonably be expected soon to exceed the exist6 ing capacity of such video platform, imme7 diately notify the Commission of such expecta8 tion and of the manner and date by which such

9 carrier will provide sufficient capacity to meet

10 such excess demand; and

11 ‘‘(D) construct such additional capacity as

12 may be necessary to meet such excess demand.

13 ‘‘(5) DISPUTE RESOLUTION.—The Commission

14 shall have the authority to resolve disputes under

15 this section and the regulations prescribed there16 under. Any such dispute shall be resolved within 180

17 days after notice of such dispute is submitted to the

18 Commission. At that time or subsequently in a sepa19 rate damages proceeding, the Commission may

20 award damages sustained in consequence of any vio21 lation of this section to any person denied carriage,

22 or require carriage, or both. Any aggrieved party

23 may seek any other remedy available under this Act.

24 ‘‘(b) COMMISSION ACTIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 months after the

2 date of the enactment of this section, the Commis3 sion shall complete all actions necessary (including

4 any reconsideration) to prescribe regulations that—

5 ‘‘(A) consistent with the requirements of

6 section 656, prohibit a common carrier from

7 discriminating among video programming pro8 viders with regard to carriage on its video plat9 form, and ensure that the rates, terms, and

10 conditions for such carriage are just, reason11 able, and nondiscriminatory;

12 ‘‘(B) prescribe definitions and criteria for

13 the purposes of determining whether a request

14 shall be considered a bona fide request for pur15 poses of this section;

16 ‘‘(C) permit a common carrier to carry on

17 only one channel any video programming service

18 that is offered by more than one video program19 ming provider (including the common carrier’s

20 video programming affiliate), provided that sub21 scribers have ready and immediate access to

22 any such video programming service;

23 ‘‘(D) establish a requirement that video

24 platforms contain a suitable margin of unused
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1 channel capacity to meet reasonable growth in

2 bona fide demand for such capacity;

3 ‘‘(E) extend to the distribution of video

4 programming over video platforms the Commis5 sion’s regulations concerning network non6 duplication (47 C.F.R. 76.92 et seq.) and syn7 dicated exclusivity (47 C.F.R. 76.151 et seq.);

8 ‘‘(F) require the video platform to provide

9 service, transmission, interconnection, and

10 interoperability for unaffiliated or independent

11 video programming providers that is equivalent

12 to that provided to the common carrier’s video

13 programming affiliate, except that the video

14 platform shall not discriminate between analog

15 and digital video programming offered by such

16 unaffiliated or independent video programming

17 providers;

18 ‘‘(G)(i) prohibit a common carrier from

19 discriminating among video programming pro20 viders with regard to material or information

21 provided by the common carrier to subscribers

22 for the purposes of selecting programming on

23 the video platform, or in the way such material

24 or information is presented to subscribers;
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1 ‘‘(ii) require a common carrier to ensure

2 that video programming providers or copyright

3 holders (or both) are able suitably and uniquely

4 to identify their programming services to sub5 scribers; and

6 ‘‘(iii) if such identification is transmitted

7 as part of the programming signal, require the

8 carrier to transmit such identification without

9 change or alteration; and

10 ‘‘(H) prohibit a common carrier from ex11 cluding areas from its video platform service

12 area on the basis of the ethnicity, race, or in13 come of the residents of that area, and provide

14 for public comments on the adequacy of the

15 proposed service area on the basis of the stand16 ards set forth under this subparagraph.

17 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY TO OTHER HIGH CAPACITY

18 SYSTEMS.—The Commission shall apply the require19 ments of this section, in lieu of the requirements of

20 section 612, to any cable operator of a cable system

21 that has installed a switched, broadband video pro22 gramming delivery system, except that the Commis23 sion shall not apply the requirements of the regula24 tions prescribed pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(D) or
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1 any other requirement that the Commission deter2 mines is inappropriate.

3 ‘‘(c) REGULATORY STREAMLINING.—With respect to

4 the establishment and operation of a video platform, the

5 requirements of this section shall apply in lieu of, and not

6 in addition to, the requirements of title II.

7 ‘‘(d) COMMISSION INQUIRY.—The Commission shall

8 conduct a study of whether it is in the public interest to

9 extend the requirements of subsection (a) to any other

10 cable operators in lieu of the requirements of section 612.

11 The Commission shall submit to the Congress a report on

12 the results of such study not later than 2 years after the

13 date of enactment of this section.

14 ‘‘SEC. 654. AUTHORITY TO PROHIBIT CROSS-SUBSIDIZA15 TION.

16 ‘‘Nothing in this part shall prohibit a State commis17 sion that regulates the rates for telephone exchange serv18 ice or exchange access based on the cost of providing such

19 service or access from—

20 ‘‘(1) prescribing regulations to prohibit a com21 mon carrier from engaging in any practice that re22 sults in the inclusion in rates for telephone exchange

23 service or exchange access of any operating ex24 penses, costs, depreciation charges, capital invest25 ments, or other expenses directly associated with the
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1 provision of competing video programming services

2 by the common carrier or affiliate; or

3 ‘‘(2) ensuring such competing video program4 ming services bear a reasonable share of the joint

5 and common costs of facilities used to provide tele6 phone exchange service or exchange access and com7 peting video programming services.

8 ‘‘SEC. 655. PROHIBITION ON BUY OUTS.

9 ‘‘(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—No common carrier

10 that provides telephone exchange service, and no entity

11 owned by or under common ownership or control with such

12 carrier, may purchase or otherwise obtain control over any

13 cable system that is located within its telephone service

14 area and is owned by an unaffiliated person.

15 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a),

16 a common carrier may—

17 ‘‘(1) obtain a controlling interest in, or form a

18 joint venture or other partnership with, a cable sys19 tem that serves a rural area;

20 ‘‘(2) obtain, in addition to any interest, joint

21 venture, or partnership obtained or formed pursuant

22 to paragraph (1), a controlling interest in, or form

23 a joint venture or other partnership with, any cable

24 system or systems if—
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1 ‘‘(A) such systems in the aggregate serve

2 less than 10 percent of the households in the

3 telephone service area of such carrier; and

4 ‘‘(B) no such system serves a franchise

5 area with more than 35,000 inhabitants, except

6 that a common carrier may obtain such interest

7 or form such joint venture or other partnership

8 with a cable system that serves a franchise area

9 with more than 35,000 but not more than

10 50,000 inhabitants if such system is not affili11 ated with any other system whose franchise

12 area is contiguous to the franchise area of the

13 acquired system;

14 ‘‘(3) obtain, with the concurrence of the cable

15 operator on the rates, terms, and conditions, the use

16 of that part of the transmission facilities of such a

17 cable system extending from the last multi-user ter18 minal to the premises of the end user, if such use

19 is reasonably limited in scope and duration, as deter20 mined by the Commission; or

21 ‘‘(4) obtain a controlling interest in, or form a

22 joint venture or other partnership with, or provide

23 financing to, a cable system (hereinafter in this

24 paragraph referred to as ‘the subject cable system’),

25 if—
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1 ‘‘(A) the subject cable system operates in

2 a television market that is not in the top 25

3 markets, and that has more than 1 cable sys4 tem operator, and the subject cable system is

5 not the largest cable system in such television

6 market;

7 ‘‘(B) the subject cable system and the larg8 est cable system in such television market held

9 on May 1, 1995, cable television franchises

10 from the largest municipality in the television

11 market and the boundaries of such franchises

12 were identical on such date;

13 ‘‘(C) the subject cable system is not owned

14 by or under common ownership or control of

15 any one of the 50 largest cable system opera16 tors as existed on May 1, 1995; and

17 ‘‘(D) the largest system in the television

18 market is owned by or under common owner19 ship or control of any one of the 10 largest

20 cable system operators as existed on May 1,

21 1995.

22 ‘‘(c) WAIVER.—

23 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA FOR WAIVER.—The Commission

24 may waive the restrictions in subsection (a) of this

25 section only upon a showing by the applicant that—
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1 ‘‘(A) because of the nature of the market

2 served by the cable system concerned—

3 ‘‘(i) the incumbent cable operator

4 would be subjected to undue economic dis5 tress by the enforcement of such sub6 section; or

7 ‘‘(ii) the cable system would not be

8 economically viable if such subsection were

9 enforced; and

10 ‘‘(B) the local franchising authority ap11 proves of such waiver.

12 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—The Commission

13 shall act to approve or disapprove a waiver applica14 tion within 180 days after the date it is filed.

15 ‘‘SEC. 656. APPLICABILITY OF PARTS I THROUGH IV.

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any provision that applies to a

17 cable operator under—

18 ‘‘(1) sections 613, 616, 617, 628, 631, 632,

19 and 634 of this title, shall apply,

20 ‘‘(2) sections 611, 612, 614, and 615 of this

21 title, and section 325 of title III, shall apply in ac22 cordance with the regulations prescribed under sub23 section (b), and

24 ‘‘(3) parts III and IV (other than sections 628,

25 631, 632, and 634) of this title shall not apply,
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1 to any video programming affiliate established by a com2 mon carrier in accordance with the requirements of this

3 part.

4 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—

5 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION ACTION.—The Commission

6 shall prescribe regulations to ensure that a common

7 carrier in the operation of its video platform shall

8 provide (A) capacity, services, facilities, and equip9 ment for public, educational, and governmental use,

10 (B) capacity for commercial use, (C) carriage of

11 commercial and non-commercial broadcast television

12 stations, and (D) an opportunity for commercial

13 broadcast stations to choose between mandatory car14 riage and reimbursement for retransmission of the

15 signal of such station. In prescribing such regula16 tions, the Commission shall, to the extent possible,

17 impose obligations that are no greater or lesser than

18 the obligations contained in the provisions described

19 in subsection (a)(2) of this section.

20 ‘‘(2) FEES.—A video programming affiliate of

21 any common carrier that establishes a video plat22 form under this part, and any multichannel video

23 programming distributor offering a competing serv24 ice using such video platform (as determined in ac25 cordance with regulations of the Commission), shall
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1 be subject to the payment of fees imposed by a local

2 franchising authority, in lieu of the fees required

3 under section 622. The rate at which such fees are

4 imposed shall not exceed the rate at which franchise

5 fees are imposed on any cable operator transmitting

6 video programming in the same service area.

7 ‘‘SEC. 657. RURAL AREA EXEMPTION.

8 ‘‘The provisions of sections 652, 653, and 655 shall

9 not apply to video programming provided in a rural area

10 by a common carrier that provides telephone exchange

11 service in the same area.’’.

12 SEC. 202. COMPETITION FROM CABLE SYSTEMS.

13 (a) DEFINITION OF CABLE SERVICE.—Section

14 602(6)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

15 522(6)(B)) is amended by inserting ‘‘or use’’ after ‘‘the

16 selection’’.

17 (b) CLUSTERING.—Section 613 of the Communica18 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 533) is amended by adding

19 at the end the following new subsection:

20 ‘‘(i) ACQUISITION OF CABLE SYSTEMS.—The Com21 mission may not require divestiture of, or restrict or pre22 vent the acquisition of, an ownership interest in a cable

23 system by any person based in whole or in part on the

24 geographic location of such cable system.’’.
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1 (c) EQUIPMENT.—Section 623(a) of the Communica2 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543(a)) is amended—

3 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through

4 (6) as paragraphs (4) through (7), respectively; and

5 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the follow6 ing new paragraph:

7 ‘‘(3) EQUIPMENT.—If the Commission finds

8 that a cable system is subject to effective competi9 tion under subparagraph (D) of subsection (l)(1),

10 the rates for equipment, installations, and connec11 tions for additional television receivers (other than

12 equipment, installations, and connections furnished

13 by such system to subscribers who receive only a

14 rate regulated basic service tier) shall not be subject

15 to regulation by the Commission or by a State or

16 franchising authority. If the Commission finds that

17 a cable system is subject to effective competition

18 under subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of subsection

19 (l)(1), the rates for any equipment, installations, and

20 connections furnished by such system to any sub21 scriber shall not be subject to regulation by the

22 Commission, or by a State or franchising authority.

23 No Federal agency, State, or franchising authority

24 may establish the price or rate for the installation,

25 sale, or lease of any equipment furnished to any sub-
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1 scriber by a cable system solely in connection with

2 video programming offered on a per channel or per

3 program basis.’’.

4 (d) LIMITATION ON BASIC TIER RATE INCREASES;

5 SCOPE OF REVIEW.—Section 623(a) of the Communica6 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543(a)) is further amended

7 by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(8) LIMITATION ON BASIC TIER RATE IN9 CREASES; SCOPE OF REVIEW.—A cable operator may

10 not increase its basic service tier rate more than

11 once every 6 months. Such increase may be imple12 mented, using any reasonable billing or proration

13 method, 30 days after providing notice to subscrib14 ers and the appropriate regulatory authority. The

15 rate resulting from such increase shall be deemed

16 reasonable and shall not be subject to reduction or

17 refund if the franchising authority or the Commis18 sion, as appropriate, does not complete its review

19 and issue a final order within 90 days after imple20 mentation of such increase. The review by the fran21 chising authority or the Commission of any future

22 increase in such rate shall be limited to the incre23 mental change in such rate effected by such in24 crease.’’.
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1 (e) NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE DE2 VELOPMENT.—Section 623(a) of the Communications Act

3 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is further amended by adding

4 at the end the following new paragraph:

5 ‘‘(9) NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUC6 TURE.—

7 ‘‘(A) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this

8 paragraph to—

9 ‘‘(i) promote the development of the

10 National Information Infrastructure;

11 ‘‘(ii) enhance the competitiveness of

12 the National Information Infrastructure by

13 ensuring that cable operators have incen14 tives comparable to other industries to de15 velop such infrastructure; and

16 ‘‘(iii) encourage the rapid deployment

17 of digital technology necessary to the de18 velopment of the National Information In19 frastructure.

20 ‘‘(B) AGGREGATION OF EQUIPMENT

21 COSTS.—The Commission shall allow cable op22 erators, pursuant to any rules promulgated

23 under subsection (b)(3), to aggregate, on a

24 franchise, system, regional, or company level,

25 their equipment costs into broad categories,
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1 such as converter boxes, regardless of the vary2 ing levels of functionality of the equipment

3 within each such broad category. Such aggrega4 tion shall not be permitted with respect to

5 equipment used by subscribers who receive only

6 a rate regulated service tier.

7 ‘‘(C) REVISION TO COMMISSION RULES;

8 FORMS.—Within 90 days of the date of enact9 ment of this paragraph, the Commission shall

10 issue revisions to the appropriate rules and

11 forms necessary to implement subparagraph

12 (B).’’.

13 (f) COMPLAINT THRESHOLD; SCOPE OF COMMISSION

14 REVIEW.—Section 623(c) of the Communications Act of

15 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543(c)) is amended—

16 (1) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the

17 following:

18 ‘‘(3) REVIEW OF COMPLAINTS.—

19 ‘‘(A) COMPLAINT THRESHOLD.—The Com20 mission shall have the authority to review any

21 increase in the rates for cable programming

22 services implemented after the date of enact23 ment of the Communications Act of 1995 only

24 if, within 90 days after such increase becomes

25 effective, at least 10 subscribers to such serv-
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1 ices or 5 percent of the subscribers to such

2 services, whichever is greater, file separate, in3 dividual complaints against such increase with

4 the Commission in accordance with the require5 ments established under paragraph (1)(B).

6 ‘‘(B) TIME PERIOD FOR COMMISSION RE7 VIEW.—The Commission shall complete its re8 view of any such increase and issue a final

9 order within 90 days after it receives the num10 ber of complaints required by subparagraph

11 (A).

12 ‘‘(4) TREATMENT OF PENDING CABLE PRO13 GRAMMING SERVICES COMPLAINTS.—Upon enact14 ment of the Communications Act of 1995, the Com15 mission shall suspend the processing of all pending

16 cable programming services rate complaints. These

17 pending complaints shall be counted by the Commis18 sion toward the complaint threshold specified in

19 paragraph (3)(A). Parties shall have an additional

20 90 days from the date of enactment of such Act to

21 file complaints about prior increases in cable pro22 gramming services rates if such rate increases were

23 already subject to a valid, pending complaint on the

24 date of enactment. At the expiration of such 90-day

25 period, the Commission shall dismiss all pending
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1 cable programming services rate cases for which the

2 complaint threshold has not been met, and may re3 sume its review of those pending cable programming

4 services rate cases for which the complaint threshold

5 has been met, which review shall be completed with6 in 180 days after the date of the Communications

7 Act of 1995.

8 ‘‘(5) SCOPE OF COMMISSION REVIEW.—A cable

9 programming services rate shall be deemed not un10 reasonable and shall not be subject to reduction or

11 refund if—

12 ‘‘(A) such rate was not the subject of a

13 pending complaint at the time of enactment of

14 the Communications Act of 1995;

15 ‘‘(B) such rate was the subject of a com16 plaint that was dismissed pursuant to para17 graph (4);

18 ‘‘(C) such rate resulted from an increase

19 for which the complaint threshold specified in

20 paragraph (3)(A) has not been met;

21 ‘‘(D) the Commission does not complete its

22 review and issue a final order in the time period

23 specified in paragraph (3)(B) or (4); or

24 ‘‘(E) the Commission issues an order find25 ing such rate to be not unreasonable.
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1 The review by the Commission of any future in2 crease in such rate shall be limited to the incremen3 tal change in such rate effected by such increase.’’;

4 (2) in paragraph (1)(B) by striking ‘‘obtain

5 Commission consideration and resolution of whether

6 the rate in question is unreasonable’’ and inserting

7 ‘‘be counted toward the complaint threshold speci8 fied in paragraph (3)(A)’’; and

9 (3) in paragraph (1)(C) by striking ‘‘such com10 plaint’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘the first com11 plaint’’.

12 (g) UNIFORM RATE STRUCTURE.—Section 623(d) of

13 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543(d)) is

14 amended to read as follows:

15 ‘‘(d) UNIFORM RATE STRUCTURE.—A cable operator

16 shall have a uniform rate structure throughout its fran17 chise area for the provision of cable services that are regu18 lated by the Commission or the franchising authority.

19 Bulk discounts to multiple dwelling units shall not be sub20 ject to this requirement.’’.

21 (h) EFFECTIVE COMPETITION.—Section 623(l)(1) of

22 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543(l)(1))

23 is amended—

24 (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii)—
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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘all’’ before ‘‘multichannel

2 video programming distributors’’; and

3 (B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end thereof;

4 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub5 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

6 (3) by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(D) with respect to cable programming

8 services and subscriber equipment, installations,

9 and connections for additional television receiv10 ers (other than equipment, installations, and

11 connections furnished to subscribers who receive

12 only a rate regulated basic service tier)—

13 ‘‘(i) a common carrier has been au14 thorized by the Commission to construct

15 facilities to provide video dialtone service

16 in a cable operator’s franchise area;

17 ‘‘(ii) a common carrier has been au18 thorized by the Commission or pursuant to

19 a franchise to provide video programming

20 directly to subscribers in the franchise

21 area; or

22 ‘‘(iii) the Commission has completed

23 all actions necessary (including any recon24 sideration) to prescribe regulations pursu-
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1 ant to section 653(b)(1) relating to video

2 platforms.’’.

3 (i) RELIEF FOR CABLE OPERATORS.—Section 623 of

4 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is

5 amended by adding at the end the following new sub6 section:

7 ‘‘(m) SMALL CABLE OPERATORS.—

8 ‘‘(1) SMALL CABLE OPERATOR RELIEF.—A

9 small cable operator shall not be subject to sub10 sections (a), (b), (c), or (d) in any franchise area

11 with respect to the provision of cable programming

12 services, or a basic service tier where such tier was

13 the only tier offered in such area on December 31,

14 1994.

15 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF SMALL CABLE OPERA16 TOR.—For purposes of this subsection, ‘small cable

17 operator’ means a cable operator that—

18 ‘‘(A) directly or through an affiliate, serves

19 in the aggregate fewer than 1 percent of all

20 cable subscribers in the United States; and

21 ‘‘(B) is not affiliated with any entity or en22 tities whose gross annual revenues in the aggre23 gate exceed $250,000,000.’’.

24 (j) TECHNICAL STANDARDS.—Section 624(e) of the

25 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 544(e)) is
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1 amended by striking the last two sentences and inserting

2 the following: ‘‘No State or franchising authority may pro3 hibit, condition, or restrict a cable system’s use of any type

4 of subscriber equipment or any transmission technology.’’.

5 (k) CABLE SECURITY SYSTEMS.—Section 624A(b)(2)

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

7 544a(b)(2)) is amended to read as follows:

8 ‘‘(2) CABLE SECURITY SYSTEMS.—No federal

9 agency, State, or franchising authority may prohibit

10 or limit a cable operator’s use of any security system

11 (including scrambling, encryption, traps, and inter12 diction), except that the Commission may prohibit or

13 limit the use of any such system solely with respect

14 to the delivery of a basic service tier that, as of Jan15 uary 1, 1995, contained only the signals and pro16 gramming specified in section 623(b)(7)(A), unless

17 the use of such system is necessary to prevent the

18 unauthorized reception of such tier.’’.

19 (l) RETIERING OF BASIC TIER SERVICES.—Section

20 625(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

21 543(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following

22 new sentence: ‘‘Any signals or services carried on the basic

23 service tier but not required under section 623(b)(7)(A)

24 may be moved from the basic service tier at the operator’s

25 sole discretion, except to the extent that the removal of
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1 such a signal or service from the basic service tier is pro2 hibited by contract. The movement of such signals or serv3 ices to an unregulated package of services shall not subject

4 such package to regulation.’’.

5 (m) SUBSCRIBER NOTICE.—Section 632 of the Com6 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 552) is amended—

7 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub8 section (d); and

9 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow10 ing new subsection:

11 ‘‘(c) SUBSCRIBER NOTICE.—A cable operator may

12 provide notice of service and rate changes to subscribers

13 using any reasonable written means at its sole discretion.

14 Notwithstanding section 623(b)(6) or any other provision

15 of this Act, a cable operator shall not be required to pro16 vide prior notice of any rate change that is the result of

17 a regulatory fee, franchise fee, or any other fee, tax, as18 sessment, or charge of any kind imposed by any Federal

19 agency, State, or franchising authority on the transaction

20 between the operators and subscriber.’’.

21 SEC. 203. COMPETITIVE AVAILABILITY OF NAVIGATION DE22 VICES.

23 Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 is

24 amended by adding at the end the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 713. COMPETITIVE AVAILABILITY OF NAVIGATION

2 DEVICES.

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

4 ‘‘(1) The term ‘telecommunications subscription

5 service’ means the provision directly to subscribers

6 of video, voice, or data services for which a sub7 scriber charge is made.

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘telecommunications system’ or a

9 ‘telecommunications system operator’ means a pro10 vider of telecommunications subscription service.

11 ‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE CONSUMER AVAILABILITY OF

12 CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT.—The Commission

13 shall adopt regulations to assure competitive availability,

14 to consumers of telecommunications subscription services,

15 of converter boxes, interactive communications devices,

16 and other customer premises equipment from manufactur17 ers, retailers, and other vendors not affiliated with any

18 telecommunications system operator. Such regulations

19 shall take into account the needs of owners and distribu20 tors of video programming and information services to en21 sure system and signal security and prevent theft of serv22 ice. Such regulations shall not prohibit any telecommuni23 cations system operator from also offering devices and

24 customer premises equipment to consumers, provided that

25 the system operator’s charges to consumers for such de26 vices and equipment are separately stated and not bundled
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1 with or subsidized by charges for any telecommunications

2 subscription service.

3 ‘‘(c) WAIVER FOR NEW NETWORK SERVICES.—The

4 Commission may waive a regulation adopted pursuant to

5 subsection (b) for a limited time upon an appropriate

6 showing by a telecommunications system operator that

7 such waiver is necessary to the introduction of a new tele8 communications subscription service.

9 ‘‘(d) SUNSET.—The regulations adopted pursuant to

10 this section shall be terminated when the Commission de11 termines that there exists a fully competitive market for

12 the acquisition of converter boxes, interactive communica13 tions devices, and other customer premises equipment.’’.

14 SEC. 204. VIDEO PROGRAMMING ACCESSIBILITY.

15 (a) COMMISSION INQUIRY.—Within 180 days after

16 the date of enactment of this section, the Federal Commu17 nications Commission shall complete an inquiry to ascer18 tain the level at which video programming is closed cap19 tioned. Such inquiry shall examine the extent to which ex20 isting or previously published programming is closed cap21 tioned, the size of the video programming provider or pro22 gramming owner providing closed captioning, the size of

23 the market served, the relative audience shares achieved,

24 or any other related factors. The Commission shall submit

25 to the Congress a report on the results of such inquiry.
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1 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY CRITERIA.—Within 18 months

2 after the date of enactment, the Commission shall pre3 scribe such regulations as are necessary to implement this

4 section. Such regulations shall ensure that—

5 (1) video programming first published or exhib6 ited after the effective date of such regulations is

7 fully accessible through the provision of closed cap8 tions, except as provided in subsection (d); and

9 (2) video programming providers or owners

10 maximize the accessibility of video programming

11 first published or exhibited prior to the effective date

12 of such regulations through the provision of closed

13 captions, except as provided in subsection (d).

14 (c) DEADLINES FOR CAPTIONING.—Such regulations

15 shall include an appropriate schedule of deadlines for the

16 provision of closed captioning of video programming.

17 (d) EXEMPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection

18 (b)—

19 (1) the Commission may exempt by regulation

20 programs, classes of programs, or services for which

21 the Commission has determined that the provision of

22 closed captioning would be economically burdensome

23 to the provider or owner of such programming;

24 (2) a provider of video programming or the

25 owner of any program carried by the provider shall
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1 not be obligated to supply closed captions if such ac2 tion would be inconsistent with contracts in effect on

3 the date of enactment of this Act, except that noth4 ing in this section shall be construed to relieve a

5 video programming provider of its obligations to pro6 vide services required by Federal law; and

7 (3) a provider of video programming or pro8 gram owner may petition the Commission for an ex9 emption from the requirements of this section, and

10 the Commission may grant such petition upon a

11 showing that the requirements contained in this sec12 tion would result in an undue burden.

13 (e) UNDUE BURDEN.—The term ‘undue burden’

14 means significant difficulty or expense. In determining

15 whether the closed captions necessary to comply with the

16 requirements of this paragraph would result in an undue

17 economic burden, the factors to be considered include—

18 (1) the nature and cost of the closed captions

19 for the programming;

20 (2) the impact on the operation of the provider

21 or program owner;

22 (3) the financial resources of the provider or

23 program owner; and

24 (4) the type of operations of the provider or

25 program owner.
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1 (f) VIDEO DESCRIPTIONS INQUIRY.—Within 6

2 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Com3 mission shall commence an inquiry to examine the use of

4 video descriptions on video programming in order to en5 sure the accessibility of video programming to persons

6 with visual impairments, and report to Congress on its

7 findings. The Commission’s report shall assess appro8 priate methods and schedules for phasing video descrip9 tions into the marketplace, technical and quality standards

10 for video descriptions, a definition of programming for

11 which video descriptions would apply, and other technical

12 and legal issues that the Commission deems appropriate.

13 Following the completion of such inquiry, the Commission

14 may adopt regulation it deems necessary to promote the

15 accessibility of video programming to persons with visual

16 impairments.

17 (g) VIDEO DESCRIPTION.—For purposes of this sec18 tion, ‘‘video description’’ means the insertion of audio nar19 rated descriptions of a television program’s key visual ele20 ments into natural pauses between the program’s dia21 logue.

22 SEC. 205. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

23 (a) RETRANSMISSION.—Section 325(b)(2)(D) of the

24 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(2)(D))

25 is amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘(D) retransmission by a cable operator or

2 other multichannel video programming distributor of

3 the signal of a superstation if (i) the customers

4 served by the cable operator or other multichannel

5 video programming distributor reside outside the

6 originating station’s television market, as defined by

7 the Commission for purposes of section

8 614(h)(1)(C); (ii) such signal was obtained from a

9 satellite carrier or terrestrial microwave common

10 carrier; and (iii) and the origination station was a

11 superstation on May 1, 1991.’’.

12 (b) MARKET DETERMINATIONS.—Section

13 614(h)(1)(C)(i) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

14 U.S.C. 534(h)(1)(C)(i)) is amended by striking out ‘‘in the

15 manner provided in section 73.3555(d)(3)(i) of title 47,

16 Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on May 1,

17 1991,’’ and inserting ‘‘by the Commission by regulation

18 or order using, where available, commercial publications

19 which delineate television markets based on viewing

20 patterns,’’.
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1 TITLE III—BROADCAST COMMU2 NICATIONS COMPETITIVE3 NESS

4 SEC. 301. BROADCASTER SPECTRUM FLEXIBILITY.

5 Title III of the Communications Act of 1934 is

6 amended by inserting after section 335 (47 U.S.C. 335)

7 the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 336. BROADCAST SPECTRUM FLEXIBILITY.

9 ‘‘(a) COMMISSION ACTION.—If the Commission de10 termines to issue additional licenses for advanced tele11 vision services, the Commission shall—

12 ‘‘(1) limit the initial eligibility for such licenses

13 to persons that, as of the date of such issuance, are

14 licensed to operate a television broadcast station or

15 hold a permit to construct such a station (or both);

16 and

17 ‘‘(2) adopt regulations that allow such licensees

18 or permittees to offer such ancillary or supple19 mentary services on designated frequencies as may

20 be consistent with the public interest, convenience,

21 and necessity.

22 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF REGULATIONS.—In prescribing

23 the regulations required by subsection (a), the Commission

24 shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) only permit such licensee or permittee to

2 offer ancillary or supplementary services if the use

3 of a designated frequency for such services is con4 sistent with the technology or method designated by

5 the Commission for the provision of advanced tele6 vision services;

7 ‘‘(2) limit the broadcasting of ancillary or sup8 plementary services on designated frequencies so as

9 to avoid derogation of any advanced television serv10 ices, including high definition television broadcasts,

11 that the Commission may require using such fre12 quencies;

13 ‘‘(3) apply to any other ancillary or supple14 mentary service such of the Commission’s regula15 tions as are applicable to the offering of analogous

16 services by any other person;

17 ‘‘(4) adopt such technical and other require18 ments as may be necessary or appropriate to assure

19 the quality of the signal used to provide advanced

20 television services, and may adopt regulations that

21 stipulate the minimum number of hours per day that

22 such signal must be transmitted; and

23 ‘‘(5) prescribe such other regulations as may be

24 necessary for the protection of the public interest,

25 convenience, and necessity.
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1 ‘‘(c) RECOVERY OF LICENSE.—

2 ‘‘(1) CONDITIONS REQUIRED.—If the Commis3 sion grants a license for advanced television services

4 to a person that, as of the date of such issuance, is

5 licensed to operate a television broadcast station or

6 holds a permit to construct such a station (or both),

7 the Commission shall, as a condition of such license,

8 require that, upon a determination by the Commis9 sion pursuant to the regulations prescribed under

10 paragraph (2), either the additional license or the

11 original license held by the licensee be surrendered

12 to the Commission in accordance with such regula13 tions for reallocation or reassignment (or both) pur14 suant to Commission regulation.

15 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—The Commission shall pre16 scribe criteria for rendering determinations concern17 ing license surrender pursuant to license conditions

18 required by paragraph (1). Such criteria shall—

19 ‘‘(A) require such determinations to be

20 based on whether the substantial majority of

21 the public have obtained television receivers

22 that are capable of receiving advanced television

23 services; and

24 ‘‘(B) not require the cessation of the

25 broadcasting under either the original or addi-
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1 tional license if such cessation would render the

2 television receivers of a substantial portion of

3 the public useless, or otherwise cause undue

4 burdens on the owners of such television receiv5 ers.

6 ‘‘(d) FEES.—

7 ‘‘(1) SERVICES TO WHICH FEES APPLY.—If the

8 regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (a)

9 permit a licensee to offer ancillary or supplementary

10 services on a designated frequency—

11 ‘‘(A) for which the payment of a subscrip12 tion fee is required in order to receive such

13 services, or

14 ‘‘(B) for which the licensee directly or indi15 rectly receives compensation from a third party

16 in return for transmitting material furnished by

17 such third party (other than commercial adver18 tisements used to support broadcasting for

19 which a subscription fee is not required),

20 the Commission shall establish a program to assess

21 and collect from the licensee for such designated fre22 quency an annual fee or other schedule or method

23 of payment that promotes the objectives described in

24 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2).
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1 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION OF FEES.—The program re2 quired by paragraph (1) shall—

3 ‘‘(A) be designed (i) to recover for the pub4 lic a portion of the value of the public spectrum

5 resource made available for such commercial

6 use, and (ii) to avoid unjust enrichment

7 through the method employed to permit such

8 uses of that resource;

9 ‘‘(B) recover for the public an amount

10 that, to the extent feasible, equals but does not

11 exceed (over the term of the license) the

12 amount that would have been recovered had

13 such services been licensed pursuant to the pro14 visions of section 309(j) of this Act and the

15 Commission’s regulations thereunder; and

16 ‘‘(C) be adjusted by the Commission from

17 time to time in order to continue to comply with

18 the requirements of this paragraph.

19 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF REVENUES.—

20 ‘‘(A) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided

21 in subparagraph (B), all proceeds obtained pur22 suant to the regulations required by this sub23 section shall be deposited in the Treasury in ac24 cordance with chapter 33 of title 31, United

25 States Code.
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1 ‘‘(B) RETENTION OF REVENUES.—Not2 withstanding subparagraph (A), the salaries

3 and expenses account of the Commission shall

4 retain as an offsetting collection such sums as

5 may be necessary from such proceeds for the

6 costs of developing and implementing the pro7 gram required by this section and regulating

8 and supervising advanced television services.

9 Such offsetting collections shall be available for

10 obligation subject to the terms and conditions

11 of the receiving appropriations account, and

12 shall be deposited in such accounts on a quar13 terly basis.

14 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Within 5 years after the date of

15 the enactment of this section, the Commission shall

16 report to the Congress on the implementation of the

17 program required by this subsection, and shall annu18 ally thereafter advise the Congress on the amounts

19 collected pursuant to such program.

20 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION.—Within 10 years after the date

21 the Commission first issues additional licenses for ad22 vanced television services, the Commission shall conduct

23 an evaluation of the advanced television services program.

24 Such evaluation shall include—
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1 ‘‘(1) an assessment of the willingness of con2 sumers to purchase the television receivers necessary

3 to receive broadcasts of advanced television services;

4 ‘‘(2) an assessment of alternative uses, includ5 ing public safety use, of the frequencies used for

6 such broadcasts; and

7 ‘‘(3) the extent to which the Commission has

8 been or will be able to reduce the amount of spec9 trum assigned to licensees in order to issue addi10 tional licenses for the provision of advanced tele11 vision services.

12 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

13 ‘‘(1) ADVANCED TELEVISION SERVICES.—The

14 term ‘advanced television services’ means television

15 services provided using digital or other advanced

16 technology to enhance audio quality and video reso17 lution, as further defined in the opinion, report, and

18 order of the Commission entitled ‘Advanced Tele19 vision Systems and Their Impact Upon the Existing

20 Television Broadcast Service’, MM Docket 87–268,

21 adopted September 17, 1992, and successor proceed22 ings.

23 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATED FREQUENCIES.—The term

24 ‘designated frequency’ means each of the frequencies
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1 designated by the Commission for licenses for ad2 vanced television services.

3 ‘‘(3) HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION.—The term

4 ‘high definition television’ refers to systems that

5 offer approximately twice the vertical and horizontal

6 resolution of receivers generally available on the date

7 of enactment of this section, as further defined in

8 the proceedings described in paragraph (1) of this

9 subsection.’’.

10 SEC. 302. TERM OF LICENSES.

11 Section 307(c) of the Communications Act of 1934

12 (47 U.S.C. 307(c)) is amended to read as follows:

13 ‘‘(c) TERMS OF LICENSES.—

14 ‘‘(1) INITIAL AND RENEWAL LICENSES.—Each

15 license granted for the operation of a broadcasting

16 station shall be for a term of not to exceed seven

17 years. Upon application therefor, a renewal of such

18 license may be granted from time to time for a term

19 of not to exceed seven years from the date of expira20 tion of the preceding license, if the Commission finds

21 that public interest, convenience, and necessity

22 would be served thereby. Consistent with the fore23 going provisions of this subsection, the Commission

24 may by rule prescribe the period or periods for

25 which licenses shall be granted and renewed for par-
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1 ticular classes of stations, but the Commission may

2 not adopt or follow any rule which would preclude it,

3 in any case involving a station of a particular class,

4 from granting or renewing a license for a shorter pe5 riod than that prescribed for stations of such class

6 if, in its judgment, public interest, convenience, or

7 necessity would be served by such action.

8 ‘‘(2) MATERIALS IN APPLICATION.—In order to

9 expedite action on applications for renewal of broad10 casting station licenses and in order to avoid need11 less expense to applicants for such renewals, the

12 Commission shall not require any such applicant to

13 file any information which previously has been fur14 nished to the Commission or which is not directly

15 material to the considerations that affect the grant16 ing or denial of such application, but the Commis17 sion may require any new or additional facts it

18 deems necessary to make its findings.

19 ‘‘(3) CONTINUATION PENDING DECISION.—

20 Pending any hearing and final decision on such an

21 application and the disposition of any petition for re22 hearing pursuant to section 405, the Commission

23 shall continue such license in effect.’’.
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1 SEC. 303. BROADCAST LICENSE RENEWAL PROCEDURES.

2 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 309 of the Communica3 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309) is amended by adding

4 at the end thereof the following new subsection:

5 ‘‘(k) BROADCAST STATION RENEWAL PROCE6 DURES.—

7 ‘‘(1) STANDARDS FOR RENEWAL.—If the li8 censee of a broadcast station submits an application

9 to the Commission for renewal of such license, the

10 Commission shall grant the application if it finds,

11 with respect to that station, during the preceding

12 term of its license—

13 ‘‘(A) the station has served the public in14 terest, convenience, and necessity;

15 ‘‘(B) there have been no serious violations

16 by the licensee of this Act or the rules and reg17 ulations of the Commission; and

18 ‘‘(C) there have been no other violations by

19 the licensee of this Act or the rules and regula20 tions of the Commission which, taken together,

21 would constitute a pattern of abuse.

22 ‘‘(2) CONSEQUENCE OF FAILURE TO MEET

23 STANDARD.—If any licensee of a broadcast station

24 fails to meet the requirements of this subsection, the

25 Commission may deny the application for renewal in

26 accordance with paragraph (3), or grant such appli-
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1 cation on terms and conditions as are appropriate,

2 including renewal for a term less than the maximum

3 otherwise permitted.

4 ‘‘(3) STANDARDS FOR DENIAL.—If the Commis5 sion determines, after notice and opportunity for a

6 hearing as provided in subsection (e), that a licensee

7 has failed to meet the requirements specified in

8 paragraph (1) and that no mitigating factors justify

9 the imposition of lesser sanctions, the Commission

10 shall—

11 ‘‘(A) issue an order denying the renewal

12 application filed by such licensee under section

13 308; and

14 ‘‘(B) only thereafter accept and consider

15 such applications for a construction permit as

16 may be filed under section 308 specifying the

17 channel or broadcasting facilities of the former

18 licensee.

19 ‘‘(4) COMPETITOR CONSIDERATION PROHIB20 ITED.—In making the determinations specified in

21 paragraph (1) or (2), the Commission shall not con22 sider whether the public interest, convenience, and

23 necessity might be served by the grant of a license

24 to a person other than the renewal applicant.’’.
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 309(d) of

2 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(d)) is

3 amended by inserting after ‘‘with subsection (a)’’ each

4 place such term appears the following: ‘‘(or subsection (k)

5 in the case of renewal of any broadcast station license)’’.

6 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

7 this section shall apply to any application for renewal filed

8 on or after May 31, 1995.

9 SEC. 304. EXCLUSIVE FEDERAL JURISDICTION OVER DI10 RECT BROADCAST SATELLITE SERVICE.

11 Section 303 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

12 U.S.C. 303) is amended by adding at the end thereof the

13 following new subsection:

14 ‘‘(v) Have exclusive jurisdiction over the regulation

15 of the direct broadcast satellite service.’’.

16 SEC. 305. AUTOMATED SHIP DISTRESS AND SAFETY SYS17 TEMS.

18 Notwithstanding any provision of the Communica19 tions Act of 1934, a ship documented under the laws of

20 the United States operating in accordance with the Global

21 Maritime Distress and Safety System provisions of the

22 Safety of Life at Sea Convention shall not be required to

23 be equipped with a radio station operated by one or more

24 radio officers or operators.
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1 SEC. 306. RESTRICTIONS ON OVER-THE-AIR RECEPTION DE2 VICES.

3 Within 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the

4 Commission shall, pursuant to section 303, promulgate

5 regulations to prohibit restrictions that inhibit a viewer’s

6 ability to receive video programming services through sig7 nal receiving devices designed for off-the-air reception of

8 television broadcast signals.

9 SEC. 307. DBS SIGNAL SECURITY.

10 Section 705(e)(4) of the Communications Act of

11 1934 (47 U.S.C. 605(e)) is amended by inserting after

12 ‘‘satellite cable programming’’ the following: ‘‘or program13 ming of a licensee in the direct broadcast satellite service’’.

14 TITLE IV—EFFECT ON OTHER

15 LAWS

16 SEC. 401. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.

17 (a) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—Parts II

18 and III of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (as

19 added by this Act) shall supersede the Modification of

20 Final Judgment, except that such part shall not affect—

21 (1) section I of the Modification of Final Judg22 ment, relating to AT&T reorganization,

23 (2) section II(A) (including appendix B) and

24 II(B) of the Modification of Final Judgment, relat25 ing to equal access and nondiscrimination,
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1 (3) section IV(F) and IV(I) of the Modification

2 of Final Judgment, with respect to the requirements

3 included in the definitions of ‘‘exchange access’’ and

4 ‘‘information access’’,

5 (4) section VIII(B) of the Modification of Final

6 Judgment, relating to printed advertising directories,

7 (5) section VIII(E) of the Modification of Final

8 Judgment, relating to notice to customers of AT&T,

9 (6) section VIII(F) of the Modification of Final

10 Judgment, relating to less than equal exchange ac11 cess,

12 (7) section VIII(G) of the Modification of Final

13 Judgment, relating to transfer of AT&T assets, in14 cluding all exceptions granted thereunder before the

15 date of the enactment of this Act, and

16 (8) with respect to the parts of the Modification

17 of Final Judgment described in paragraphs (1)

18 through (7)—

19 (A) section III of the Modification of Final

20 Judgment, relating to applicability and effect,

21 (B) section IV of the Modification of Final

22 Judgment, relating to definitions,

23 (C) section V of the Modification of Final

24 Judgment, relating to compliance,
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1 (D) section VI of the Modification of Final

2 Judgment, relating to visitorial provisions,

3 (E) section VII of the Modification of

4 Final Judgment, relating to retention of juris5 diction, and

6 (F) section VIII(I) of the Modification of

7 Final Judgment, relating to the court’s sua

8 sponte authority.

9 (b) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this Act shall be

10 construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability

11 of any of the antitrust laws.

12 (c) FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW.—(1) Except

13 as provided in paragraph (2), parts II and III of title II

14 of the Communications Act of 1934 shall not be construed

15 to modify, impair, or supersede Federal, State, or local

16 law unless expressly so provided in such part.

17 (2) Parts II and III of title II of the Communications

18 Act of 1934 shall supersede State and local law to the

19 extent that such law would impair or prevent the operation

20 of such part.

21 (d) TERMINATION.—The provisions of the GTE con22 sent decree shall cease to be effective on the date of enact23 ment of this Act. For purposes of this subsection, the term

24 ‘‘GTE consent decree’’ means the order entered on De25 cember 21, 1984 (as restated on January 11, 1985), in
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1 United States v. GTE Corporation, Civil Action No. 83–

2 1298, in the United States District Court for the District

3 of Columbia, and includes any judgment or order with re4 spect to such action entered on or after December 21,

5 1984.

6 (e) INAPPLICABILITY OF FINAL JUDGMENT TO

7 WIRELESS SUCCESSORS.—No person shall be subject to

8 the provisions of the Modification of Final Judgment by

9 reason of having acquired wireless exchange assets or op10 erations previously owned by a Bell operating company or

11 an affiliate of a Bell operating company.

12 (f) ANTITRUST LAWS.—As used in this section, the

13 term ‘‘antitrust laws’’ has the meaning given it in sub14 section (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15

15 U.S.C. 12(a)), except that such term includes the Act of

16 June 19, 1936 (49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13 et seq.), com17 monly known as the Robinson Patman Act, and section

18 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45)

19 to the extent that such section 5 applies to unfair methods

20 of competition.

21 SEC. 402. PREEMPTION OF LOCAL TAXATION WITH RE22 SPECT TO DBS SERVICES.

23 (a) PREEMPTION.—A provider of direct-to-home sat24 ellite service, or its agent or representative for the sale

25 or distribution of direct-to-home satellite services, shall be
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1 exempt from the collection or remittance, or both, of any

2 tax or fee, as defined by subsection (b)(4), imposed by any

3 local taxing jurisdiction with respect to the provision of

4 direct broadcast satellite services. Nothing in this section

5 shall be construed to exempt from collection or remittance

6 any tax or fee on the sale of equipment.

7 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this sec8 tion—

9 (1) DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE SERVICE.—

10 The term ‘‘direct-to-home satellite service’’ means

11 the transmission or broadcasting by satellite of pro12 gramming directly to the subscribers’ premises with13 out the use of ground receiving or distribution equip14 ment, except at the subscribers’ premises or in the

15 uplink process to the satellite.

16 (2) DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE PRO17 VIDER.—For purposes of this section, a ‘‘provider of

18 direct-to-home satellite service’’ means a person who

19 transmits or broadcasts direct-to-home satellite serv20 ices.

21 (3) LOCAL TAXING JURISDICTION.—The term

22 ‘‘local taxing jurisdiction’’ means any municipality,

23 city, county, township, parish, transportation dis24 trict, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other local
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1 jurisdiction with the authority to impose a tax or

2 fee.

3 (4) TAX OR FEE.—The terms ‘‘tax’’ and ‘‘fee’’

4 mean any local sales tax, local use tax, local intangi5 ble tax, local income tax, business license tax, utility

6 tax, privilege tax, gross receipts tax, excise tax, fran7 chise fees, local telecommunications tax, or any other

8 tax, license, or fee that is imposed for the privilege

9 of doing business, regulating, or raising revenue for

10 a local taxing jurisdiction.

11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall be effective

12 as of June 1, 1994.

13 TITLE V—DEFINITIONS

14 SEC. 501. DEFINITIONS.

15 (a) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Act

16 (47 U.S.C. 153) is amended—

17 (1) in subsection (r)—

18 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘means’’; and

19 (B) by inserting before the period at the

20 end the following: ‘‘, or (B) service provided

21 through a system of switches, transmission

22 equipment, or other facilities (or combination

23 thereof) by which a subscriber can originate

24 and terminate a telecommunications service
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1 within a State but which does not result in the

2 subscriber incurring a telephone toll charge’’;

3 (2) by indenting such paragraphs 2 em spaces;

4 and

5 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

6 ‘‘(35) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘affiliate’, when

7 used in relation to any person or entity, means an8 other person or entity who owns or controls, is

9 owned or controlled by, or is under common owner10 ship or control with, such person or entity.

11 ‘‘(36) BELL OPERATING COMPANY.—The term

12 ‘Bell operating company’ means—

13 ‘‘(A) Bell Telephone Company of Nevada,

14 Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell

15 Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan

16 Bell Telephone Company, New England Tele17 phone and Telegraph Company, New Jersey

18 Bell Telephone Company, New York Telephone

19 Company, U S West Communications Com20 pany, South Central Bell Telephone Company,

21 Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Com22 pany, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company,

23 The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania,

24 The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Com25 pany, The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone
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1 Company of Maryland, The Chesapeake and

2 Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia, The

3 Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company

4 of West Virginia, The Diamond State Tele5 phone Company, The Ohio Bell Telephone

6 Company, The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph

7 Company, or Wisconsin Telephone Company;

8 ‘‘(B) any successor or assign of any such

9 company that provides telephone exchange serv10 ice.

11 ‘‘(37) CABLE SYSTEM.—The term ‘cable sys12 tem’ has the meaning given such term in section

13 602(7) of this Act.

14 ‘‘(38) CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT.—The

15 term ‘customer premises equipment’ means equip16 ment employed on the premises of a person (other

17 than a carrier) to originate, route, or terminate tele18 communications.

19 ‘‘(39) DIALING PARITY.—The term ‘dialing par20 ity’ means that a person that is not an affiliated en21 terprise of a local exchange carrier is able to provide

22 telecommunications services in such a manner that

23 customers have the ability to route automatically,

24 without the use of any access code, their tele25 communications to the telecommunications services
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1 provider of the customer’s designation from among

2 2 or more telecommunications services providers (in3 cluding such local exchange carrier).

4 ‘‘(40) EXCHANGE ACCESS.—The term ‘ex5 change access’ means the offering of telephone ex6 change services or facilities for the purpose of the

7 origination or termination of interLATA services.

8 ‘‘(41) INFORMATION SERVICE.—The term ‘in9 formation service’ means the offering of a capability

10 for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming,

11 processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available

12 information via telecommunications, and includes

13 electronic publishing, but does not include any use

14 of any such capability for the management, control,

15 or operation of a telecommunications system or the

16 management of a telecommunications service.

17 ‘‘(42) INTERLATA SERVICE.—The term

18 ‘interLATA service’ means telecommunications be19 tween a point located in a local access and transport

20 area and a point located outside such area.

21 ‘‘(43) LOCAL ACCESS AND TRANSPORT AREA.—

22 The term ‘local access and transport area’ or

23 ‘LATA’ means a contiguous geographic area—

24 ‘‘(A) established by a Bell operating com25 pany such that no exchange area includes
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1 points within more than 1 metropolitan statis2 tical area, consolidated metropolitan statistical

3 area, or State, except as expressly permitted

4 under the Modification of Final Judgment be5 fore the date of the enactment of this Act; or

6 ‘‘(B) established or modified by a Bell op7 erating company after the date of enactment of

8 this paragraph and approved by the Commis9 sion.

10 ‘‘(44) LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER.—The term

11 ‘local exchange carrier’ means any person that is en12 gaged in the provision of telephone exchange service

13 or exchange access. Such term does not include a

14 person insofar as such person is engaged in the pro15 vision of a commercial mobile service under section

16 332(c), except to the extent that the Commission

17 finds that such service as provided by such person

18 in a State is a replacement for a substantial portion

19 of the wireline telephone exchange service within

20 such State.

21 ‘‘(45) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—

22 The term ‘Modification of Final Judgment’ means

23 the order entered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust

24 action styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil

25 Action No. 82–0192, in the United States District
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1 Court for the District of Columbia, and includes any

2 judgment or order with respect to such action en3 tered on or after August 24, 1982.

4 ‘‘(46) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The term ‘num5 ber portability’ means the ability of users of tele6 communications services to retain existing tele7 communications numbers without impairment of

8 quality, reliability, or convenience when switching

9 from one provider of telecommunications services to

10 another, as long as such user continues to be located

11 within the same exchange area.

12 ‘‘(47) TELECOMMUNICATIONS.—The term ‘tele13 communications’ means the transmission, between or

14 among points specified by the subscriber, of informa15 tion of the subscriber’s choosing, without change in

16 the form or content of the information as sent and

17 received, by means of an electromagnetic trans18 mission medium, including all instrumentalities, fa19 cilities, apparatus, and services (including the collec20 tion, storage, forwarding, switching, and delivery of

21 such information) essential to such transmission.

22 ‘‘(48) TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT.—

23 The term ‘telecommunications equipment’ means

24 equipment, other than customer premises equipment,

25 used by a carrier to provide telecommunications
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1 services, and includes software integral to such

2 equipment (including upgrades).

3 ‘‘(49) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The

4 term ‘telecommunications service’ means the offer5 ing, on a common carrier basis, of telecommuni6 cations facilities, or of telecommunications by means

7 of such facilities. Such term does not include an in8 formation service.’’.

9 (b) STYLISTIC CONSISTENCY.—Section 3 of the Com10 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153) is amended—

11 (1) in subsections (e) and (n), by redesignating

12 clauses (1), (2) and (3), as clauses (A), (B), and

13 (C), respectively;

14 (2) in subsection (w), by redesignating para15 graphs (1) through (5) as subparagraphs (A)

16 through (E), respectively;

17 (3) in subsections (y) and (z), by redesignating

18 paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and

19 (B), respectively;

20 (4) by redesignating subsections (a) through

21 (hh) as paragraphs (1) through (34);

22 (5) by indenting such paragraphs 2 em spaces;

23 (6) by inserting after the designation of each

24 such paragraph—
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1 (A) a heading, in a form consistent with

2 the form of the heading of this subsection, con3 sisting of the term defined by such paragraph,

4 or the first term so defined if such paragraph

5 defines more than one term; and

6 (B) the words ‘‘The term’’; and

7 (7) by changing the first letter of each defined

8 term in such paragraphs from a capital to a lower

9 case letter; and

10 (8) by recording such paragraphs and the addi11 tional paragraphs added by subsection (a) in alpha12 betical order based on the headings of such para13 graphs and renumbering such paragraphs as so reor14 dered.

15 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Communica16 tions Act of 1934 is amended—

17 (1) in section 225(a)(1), by striking ‘‘section

18 3(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3’’;

19 (2) in section 332(d), by striking ‘‘section 3(n)’’

20 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘section 3’’; and

21 (3) in sections 621(d)(3), 636(d), and

22 637(a)(2), by striking ‘‘section 3(v)’’ and inserting

23 ‘‘section 3’’.

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