II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1349 

To promote deployment of competitive video services, eliminate redundant 

and unnecessary regulation, and further the development of next generation broadband networks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 30, 2005 

Mr. SMITH (for himself and Mr. ROCKEFELLER) introduced the following bill; 

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

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL

To promote deployment of competitive video services, eliminate redundant and unnecessary regulation, and further 

the development of next generation broadband networks.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Video Choice Act of 

5 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Cable rates continue to rise substantially 

9 faster than the overall rate of inflation. 
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1 (2) Wire-based competition in video services is 

2 limited to very few markets. According to the Fed3 eral Communications Commission, only 2 percent of 

4 all cable subscribers have the opportunity to choose 

5 between 2 or more wire-based video service pro6 viders. 

7 (3) It is only through wire-based video competi8 tion that price competition exists. The Government 

9 Accountability Office has confirmed that where wire10 based competition exists, cable rates are 15 percent 

11 lower than in markets without competition. 

12 (4) It is in the public interest to further wire13 based competition in the video services market in 

14 order to provide greater consumer choice and lower 

15 prices for video services. 

16 (5) To spur competition in the communications 

17 industry, Congress has decreased the regulatory bur18 den on new entrants, thereby increasing entry into 

19 the market and creating competition. 

20 (6) The United States continues to fall behind 

21 in broadband deployment rates. According to a re22 cent study by the International Telecommunications 

23 Union, the United States is now ranked 16th in the 

24 world in broadband deployment. 
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1 (7) The deployment of advanced high capacity 

2 networks would greatly spur economic development 

3 in rural America. 

4 (8) The deployment of advanced networks that 

5 can offer substantially higher capacity are critical to 

6 the long-term competitiveness of the United States. 

7 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO COMMUNICATIONS ACT. 

8 Title VI of the Communication Act of 1934 (47 

9 U.S.C. 521 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘PART VI—VIDEO CHOICE 

12 ‘‘SEC. 661. DEFINITION. 

13 ‘‘In this part, the term ‘competitive video services 

14 provider’ means any provider of video programming, inter15 active on-demand services, other programming services, or 

16 any other video services who has any right, permission, 

17 or authority to access public rights-of-way independent of 

18 any cable franchise obtained pursuant to section 621 or 

19 pursuant to any other Federal, State, or local law. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 662. REGULATORY FRAMEWORK. 

21 ‘‘(a) REDUNDANT FRANCHISES PROHIBITED.—Not22 withstanding any other provision of this Act, no competi23 tive video services provider may be required, whether pur24 suant to section 621 or to any other provision of Federal, 

25 State, or local law, to obtain a franchise in order to pro-
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1 vide any video programming, interactive on-demand serv2 ices, other programming services, or any other video serv3 ices in any area where such provider has any right, per4 mission, or authority to access public rights-of-way inde5 pendent of any cable franchise obtained pursuant to sec6 tion 621 or pursuant to any other Federal, State, or local 

7 law. 

8 ‘‘(b) FEES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any competitive video serv10 ices provider who provides a service that otherwise 

11 would qualify as a cable service provided over a cable 

12 system shall be subject to the payment of fees to a 

13 local franchise authority based on the gross revenues 

14 of such provider that are attributable to the provi15 sion of such service within such provider’s service 

16 area. 

17 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining the 

18 fees required by this subsection— 

19 ‘‘(A)(i) the rate at which fees are imposed 

20 shall not exceed the rate at which franchise fees 

21 are imposed on any cable operator providing 

22 cable service in the franchise area, as deter23 mined in accordance with section 622 and any 

24 related regulations; or 
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1 ‘‘(ii) in any jurisdiction in which no cable 

2 operator provides service, the rate at which 

3 franchise fees are imposed shall not exceed the 

4 statewide average; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the only revenues that shall be con6 sidered are those attributable to services that 

7 would be considered in calculating franchise 

8 fees if such provider were deemed a cable oper9 ator for purposes of section 622 and any re10 lated regulations. 

11 ‘‘(3) BILLING.—A competitive video services 

12 provider shall designate that portion of the bill of a 

13 subscriber attributable to the fee under paragraph 

14 (2) as a separate item on the bill. 

15 ‘‘(c) TERMS OF SERVICE.—A competitive video serv16 ices provider shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) be subject to the retransmission consent 

18 provisions of section 325(b); 

19 ‘‘(2)(A) carry, within each local franchise area, 

20 any public, educational, or governmental use chan21 nels that are carried by cable operators within such 

22 franchise area pursuant to section 611; or 

23 ‘‘(B) provide, in any jurisdiction in which no 

24 cable operator provides service, reasonable public, 
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1 educational and government access facilities pursu2 ant to section 611; 

3 ‘‘(3) be subject to the must-carry provisions of 

4 section 614; 

5 ‘‘(4) carry noncommercial, educational channels 

6 as required by section 615; 

7 ‘‘(5) be considered a multichannel video pro8 gramming distributor for purposes of section 628 

9 and be entitled to the benefits and protection of that 

10 section; 

11 ‘‘(6) protect the personally identifiable informa12 tion of its subscribers as required in section 631; 

13 ‘‘(7) comply with any consumer protection and 

14 customer service requirements promulgated by the 

15 Commission pursuant to section 632; 

16 ‘‘(8) not be subject to any other provisions of 

17 this title; and 

18 ‘‘(9) not deny services to any group of potential 

19 residential subscribers because of the income of the 

20 residents of the local area in which such group re21 sides. 

22 ‘‘(d) REGULATORY TREATMENT.—Except to the ex23 tent expressly provided in this part, neither the Commis24 sion nor any State or political subdivision thereof may reg25 ulate the rates, charges, terms, conditions for, entry into, 
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1 exit from, deployment of, provision of, or any other aspect 

2 of the services provided by a competitive video services 

3 provider. 

4 ‘‘(e) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHOR5 ITY.—Except as provided in subsection (a), nothing in this 

6 section affects the authority of a State or local government 

7 to manage the public rights-of-way or to enact or enforce 

8 any consumer protection law.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. REGULATION OF COMMON CARRIERS. 

10 Section 651(a)(3) of the Federal Communications 

11 Act (47 U.S.C. 571(a)(3)) is amended— 

12 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ after 

13 the semicolon; 

14 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

15 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) if such carrier is a competitive video 

18 services provider providing video programming 

19 pursuant to part VI of this title, such carrier 

20 shall not be subject to the requirements of this 

21 title but instead shall be subject only to the 

22 provisions of part VI of this title.’’. 

23 SEC. 5. EXISTING FRANCHISE AGREEMENTS. 

24 Any franchise agreement entered into by a fran25 chising authority and a competitive video service provider 
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1 for the provision of video service prior to the date of enact2 ment of this Act shall be exempt from the provisions of 

3 this Act for the term of such agreement.

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