I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1856 

To repeal certain provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, title 17 

of the United States Code, and certain regulations, to allow for interim 

carriage of television broadcast signals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 11, 2021 

Mr. SCALISE (for himself and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and 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 repeal certain provisions of the Communications Act of 

1934, title 17 of the United States Code, and certain 

regulations, to allow for interim carriage of television 

broadcast signals, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modern Television Act 

5 of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AGREEMENTS FOR CARRIAGE OF BROADCAST PRO2 GRAMMING. 

3 (a) AGREEMENTS FOR CARRIAGE OF BROADCAST

4 PROGRAMMING.—Section 325 of the Communications Act 

5 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (b)(3)(C)— 

7 (A) by striking clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv); 

8 and 

9 (B) by redesignating clauses (v) and (vi) 

10 as clauses (ii) and (iii), respectively; and 

11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS FOR MARKETPLACE AGREE13 MENTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) NEGOTIATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 

16 days after the date of the enactment of the 

17 Modern Television Act of 2021, the Commission 

18 shall, by regulation— 

19 ‘‘(i) require a television broadcast sta20 tion and multichannel video programming 

21 distributor (and any large station group or 

22 qualified MVPD buying group negotiating 

23 for a marketplace agreement on behalf of 

24 a television broadcast station or multi25 channel video programming distributor, re26 spectively) to negotiate in good faith in any 


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1 effort to reach a marketplace agreement; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(ii) prohibit a television broadcast 

4 station from coordinating negotiations or 

5 negotiating on a joint basis with another 

6 television broadcast station in the same 

7 local market in an effort to reach a mar8 ketplace agreement with a multichannel 

9 video programming distributor, unless such 

10 stations are directly or indirectly under 

11 common de jure control permitted under 

12 the regulations of the Commission. 

13 ‘‘(B) GOOD FAITH REQUIREMENTS.—The 

14 regulations promulgated under paragraph 

15 (1)(A) shall provide— 

16 ‘‘(i) that it is a violation of the re17 quirement under paragraph (1)(A)(i)— 

18 ‘‘(I) for a multichannel video pro19 gramming distributor, a qualified 

20 MVPD buying group, a television 

21 broadcast station, or a large station 

22 group to refuse to declare an impasse 

23 for the sole purpose of avoiding bind24 ing arbitration under subsection (g), 


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1 as added by the Modern Television 

2 Act of 2021; or 

3 ‘‘(II) for a large station group to 

4 prohibit a qualified MVPD buying 

5 group from permitting a multichannel 

6 video programming distributor with 

7 which the large station group has an 

8 existing marketplace agreement to 

9 join a new marketplace agreement ne10 gotiated by the large station group 

11 and the qualified MVPD buying group 

12 upon the expiration of the existing 

13 marketplace agreement, if the multi14 channel video programming dis15 tributor was unable to join the new 

16 marketplace agreement at the time of 

17 the execution of the agreement be18 cause of the existing marketplace 

19 agreement; 

20 ‘‘(ii) that is not a violation of the re21 quirement under paragraph (1)(A)(i)— 

22 ‘‘(I) for a television broadcast 

23 station or large station group to enter 

24 into marketplace agreements con25 taining different terms and conditions, 


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1 including price terms and royalty fees, 

2 with different multichannel video pro3 gramming distributors or with dif4 ferent qualified MVPD buying groups 

5 if such different terms and conditions 

6 are based on competitive marketplace 

7 considerations; or 

8 ‘‘(II) for a multichannel video 

9 programming distributor or a quali10 fied MVPD buying group to enter into 

11 marketplace agreements containing 

12 different terms and conditions, includ13 ing price terms and royalty fees, with 

14 different television broadcast stations 

15 or with different large station groups 

16 if such different terms and conditions 

17 are based on competitive marketplace 

18 considerations; 

19 ‘‘(iii) that a multichannel video pro20 gramming distributor may satisfy its obli21 gations under paragraph (1)(A)(i) by des22 ignating a qualified MVPD buying group 

23 to negotiate on its behalf, so long as the 

24 qualified MVPD buying group itself nego25 tiates in good faith; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) that a qualified MVPD buying 

2 group may satisfy any obligations under 

3 paragraph (1)(A)(i) to designate a rep4 resentative with authority to make binding 

5 representations by designating such a rep6 resentative that can make binding rep7 resentations on the qualified MVPD buy8 ing group’s behalf. 

9 ‘‘(2) INTERIM CARRIAGE.—Not later than 90 

10 days after the date of the enactment of the Modern 

11 Television Act of 2021, the Commission shall, by 

12 regulation, require a multichannel video program13 ming distributor to retransmit a signal of a tele14 vision broadcast station and the television broadcast 

15 station to permit the retransmission of that signal— 

16 ‘‘(A) for a period not longer than 60 days 

17 beginning on the date on which a marketplace 

18 agreement entered into by the television broad19 cast station and the multichannel video pro20 gramming distributor (or by any large station 

21 group or qualified MVPD buying group negoti22 ating for a marketplace agreement on behalf of 

23 a television broadcast station or multichannel 

24 video programming distributor, respectively) ex25 pires; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) under the terms and conditions of 

2 such expired agreement. 

3 ‘‘(3) RETROACTIVITY OF MARKETPLACE AGREE4 MENT.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 

5 enactment of the Modern Television Act of 2021, the 

6 Commission shall require, by regulation, each mar7 ketplace agreement entered into on or after such 

8 date of enactment by a television broadcast station 

9 and a multichannel video programming distributor 

10 (or by any large station group or qualified MVPD 

11 buying group negotiating for a marketplace agree12 ment on behalf of a television broadcast station or 

13 multichannel video programming distributor, respec14 tively) to include a clause making the terms of the 

15 agreement retroactive to the expiration date of the 

16 most recent marketplace agreement entered into by 

17 or on behalf of the station and the distributor if the 

18 station and the distributor— 

19 ‘‘(A) had previously entered into a market20 place agreement; and 

21 ‘‘(B) are required to retransmit a signal or 

22 permit the retransmission of a signal, as the 

23 case may be, under paragraph (2) or subsection 

24 (g), as added by the Modern Television Act of 

25 2021. 


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1 ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING CERTAIN

2 PAYMENTS.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

3 of the enactment of the Modern Television Act of 

4 2021, the Commission shall, by regulation, prohibit 

5 a television broadcast station from requiring pay6 ment, either directly or indirectly, from a multi7 channel video programming distributor for cus8 tomers of the multichannel video programming dis9 tributor who do not receive the signals of the tele10 vision broadcast station from that distributor. 

11 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION.—The requirements under 

12 this subsection do not apply with respect to manda13 tory carriage of the signal of a television broadcast 

14 station that elects mandatory carriage under section 

15 338, 614, or 615. 

16 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

17 ‘‘(A) LARGE STATION GROUP.—The term 

18 ‘large station group’ means a group of tele19 vision broadcast stations that— 

20 ‘‘(i) are directly or indirectly under 

21 common de jure control permitted by the 

22 regulations of the Commission; 

23 ‘‘(ii) generally negotiate agreements 

24 for retransmission consent under this sec25 tion as a single entity; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) include only television broadcast 

2 stations that collectively have a national 

3 audience reach of more than 20 percent. 

4 ‘‘(B) LOCAL MARKET.—The term ‘local 

5 market’ has the meaning given such term in 

6 section 122(j) of title 17, United States Code. 

7 ‘‘(C) MARKETPLACE AGREEMENT.—The 

8 term ‘marketplace agreement’ means an agree9 ment, or agreements, for— 

10 ‘‘(i) the exclusive right under section 

11 106 of title 17, United States Code, to 

12 transmit a performance or display of a 

13 work embodied in primary transmission (as 

14 defined in section 111(f) of such title) of 

15 a television broadcast station and the roy16 alty fee payable; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) retransmission consent under 

18 subsection (b), as in effect before the re19 peal made by the Modern Television Act of 

20 2021. 

21 ‘‘(D) MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PROGRAM22 MING DISTRIBUTOR.—The term ‘multichannel 

23 video programming distributor’ has the mean24 ing given such term in section 602. 


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1 ‘‘(E) QUALIFIED MVPD BUYING GROUP.— 

2 The term ‘qualified MVPD buying group’ 

3 means an entity that, with respect to a negotia4 tion with a large station group for retrans5 mission consent under this section— 

6 ‘‘(i) negotiates on behalf of two or 

7 more multichannel video programming dis8 tributors— 

9 ‘‘(I) none of which is a multi10 channel video programming dis11 tributor that serves more than 

12 500,000 subscribers nationally; and 

13 ‘‘(II) that do not collectively 

14 serve more than 25 percent of all 

15 households served by multichannel 

16 video programming distributors in any 

17 single local market in which the appli18 cable large station group operates; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(ii) negotiates agreements for such 

21 retransmission consent— 

22 ‘‘(I) that contain standardized 

23 contract provisions, including billing 

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1 gramming distributor on behalf of 

2 which the entity negotiates; and 

3 ‘‘(II) under which the entity as4 sumes liability to remit to the applica5 ble large station group all fees re6 ceived from the multichannel video 

7 programming distributors on behalf of 

8 which the entity negotiates. 

9 ‘‘(F) TELEVISION BROADCAST STATION.— 

10 The term ‘television broadcast station’ means 

11 an over-the-air commercial or noncommercial 

12 television broadcast station licensed by the 

13 Commission under subpart E of part 73 of title 

14 47, Code of Federal Regulations, except that 

15 such term does not include a low-power or 

16 translator television station.’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend18 ments made by this section, shall take effect on the date 

19 that is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

20 Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF REGULATORY INTERVENTION IN THE 

2 TELEVISION MARKETPLACE UNDER THE 

3 COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934. 

4 (a) REPEAL.—The following sections of the Commu5 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) are hereby 

6 repealed: 

7 (1) Section 325(b) (47 U.S.C. 325(b)). 

8 (2) Section 325(e) (47 U.S.C. 325(e)). 

9 (3) Section 339 (47 U.S.C. 339). 

10 (4) Section 340 (47 U.S.C. 340). 

11 (5) Section 341 (47 U.S.C. 341). 

12 (6) Section 342 (47 U.S.C. 342). 

13 (7) Section 612 (47 U.S.C. 532). 

14 (8) Section 712 (47 U.S.C. 612). 

15 (b) ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS.— 

16 (1) SECTION 338.—Section 338 of the Commu17 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 338) is amended— 

18 (A) in subsection (a)— 

19 (i) in paragraph (1)— 

20 (I) by inserting ‘‘or under a mar21 ketplace agreement (as that term is 

22 defined in section 325),’’ after 

23 ‘‘Code,’’; and 

24 (II) by striking ‘‘, subject to sec25 tion 325(b)’’; 


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1 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 

2 ‘‘501(f)’’ each place it appears and insert3 ing ‘‘501(e)’’; 

4 (iii) in paragraph (3)— 

5 (I) by striking ‘‘whose signals’’ 

6 and all that follows through ‘‘of title 

7 17, United States Code,’’; and 

8 (II) by inserting ‘‘or a market9 place agreement’’ after ‘‘such title’’; 

10 (iv) by amending paragraph (5) to 

11 read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(5) NONDISCRIMINATION IN CARRIAGE OF

13 HIGH DEFINITION SIGNALS OF NONCOMMERCIAL

14 EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION STATIONS.—If, on or 

15 after the date of enactment of the Satellite Tele16 vision Extension and Localism Act of 2010, an eligi17 ble satellite carrier initiates the provision of any sec18 ondary transmission in high definition format to 

19 subscribers located within the local market of a tele20 vision broadcast station of a primary transmission 

21 made by that station, then such satellite carrier shall 

22 carry the signals in high-definition format of all 

23 qualified noncommercial educational television sta24 tions located within that local market.’’; and 


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1 (B) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘seeking 

2 carriage under subsection (a)(1)’’ after ‘‘signal 

3 of a local television broadcast station’’; 

4 (C) by striking subsection (h); 

5 (D) by redesignating subsections (i), (j), 

6 (k), and (l) as subsections (h), (i), (j), and (k), 

7 respectively; 

8 (E) in subsection (j), as so redesignated— 

9 (i) by striking paragraph (1); 

10 (ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2), 

11 (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (10) as 

12 paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), 

13 (8), and (9), respectively; 

14 (iii) in paragraph (3), as so redesig15 nated, by striking ‘‘122(j)’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘122(g)’’; 

17 (iv) in paragraph (6), as so redesig18 nated, by striking ‘‘119(d)’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘111(f)’’; 

20 (v) in paragraph (7), as so redesig21 nated, by striking ‘‘119(d)’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘111(f)’’; 

23 (vi) in paragraph (8), as so redesig24 nated, by striking ‘‘122(j)’’ and inserting 

25 ‘‘122(g)’’; and 


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1 (vii) in paragraph (9), as so redesig2 nated, by striking ‘‘325(b)(7)’’ and insert3 ing ‘‘325’’; and 

4 (F) in subsection (k), as so redesignated, 

5 by striking paragraph (5). 

6 (2) SECTION 623.—Section 623 of the Commu7 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended— 

8 (A) by striking subsections (a), (b), (c), 

9 (d), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), (m), (n), and (o); 

10 (B) by redesignating subsections (e) and 

11 (f) as subsections (a) and (b), respectively; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(c) REGULATION OF RATES AND BROADCAST SIG14 NAL CARRIAGE.—No Federal agency, State, or fran15 chising authority may regulate— 

16 ‘‘(1) the rates for the provision of multichannel 

17 video programming services of a multichannel video 

18 programming distributor; or 

19 ‘‘(2) the retransmission of television broadcast 

20 signals by a multichannel video programming dis21 tributor except in accordance with the requirements 

22 of sections 325, 338, 614, and 615.’’. 

23 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (1) SECTION 343.—Section 343 of the Commu2 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 343) is redesig3 nated as section 339 of such Act. 

4 (2) SECTION 615.—Section 615 of the Commu5 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 535) is amended— 

6 (A) by striking subsection (f); and 

7 (B) in subsection (l), by striking para8 graph (1) and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED NONCOMMERCIAL EDU10 CATIONAL TELEVISION STATION.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

12 noncommercial educational television station’ 

13 means any full-power television broadcast sta14 tion which— 

15 ‘‘(i) under the rules and regulations of 

16 the Commission in effect on March 29, 

17 1990, is licensed by the Commission as a 

18 noncommercial educational television 

19 broadcast station and is owned and oper20 ated by a public agency, nonprofit founda21 tion, nonprofit corporation, or nonprofit 

22 association; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) is owned and operated by a mu24 nicipality and transmits predominantly 


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1 noncommercial programs for educational 

2 purposes. 

3 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—Such term includes— 

4 ‘‘(i) the translator of any noncommer5 cial educational television station with five 

6 watts or higher power serving the franchise 

7 area; 

8 ‘‘(ii) a full-service station or trans9 lator if such station or translator is li10 censed to a channel reserved for non11 commercial educational use pursuant to 

12 section 73.606 of title 47, Code of Federal 

13 Regulations, or any successor regulations 

14 thereto; and 

15 ‘‘(iii) such stations and translators op16 erating on channels not so reserved as the 

17 Commission determines are qualified as 

18 noncommercial educational stations.’’. 

19 (3) SECTION 621.—Section 621(b)(3)(D) of the 

20 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

21 541(b)(3)(D)) is amended by striking ‘‘sections 611 

22 and 612’’ and inserting ‘‘section 611’’. 

23 (4) SECTION 622.—Section 622(c) of the Com24 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 542(c)) is 

25 amended by striking ‘‘pursuant to section 623’’. 


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1 (5) SECTION 625.—Section 625 of the Commu2 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 545) is amended— 

3 (A) in subsection (c)— 

4 (i) by striking ‘‘rearrange, replace,’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘replace’’; 

6 (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; 

7 or’’ and inserting a period; 

8 (iii) by striking paragraph (2); and 

9 (iv) by striking ‘‘franchise if—’’ and 

10 all that follows through ‘‘such service is no 

11 longer’’ and inserting ‘‘franchise if such 

12 service is no longer’’; and 

13 (B) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘, if the 

14 rates’’ and all that follows and inserting a pe15 riod. 

16 (6) SECTION 632.—Section 632(c) of the Com17 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 552(c)) is 

18 amended by striking ‘‘section 623(b)(6) or’’. 

19 (7) SECTION 638.—Section 638 of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 558) is amended 

21 by striking ‘‘governmental use or on any other chan22 nel obtained under section 612 or under similar ar23 rangements’’ and inserting ‘‘or governmental use’’. 

24 (8) SECTION 653.—Section 653 of the Commu25 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 573) is amended— 


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1 (A) in subsection (b)(1)— 

2 (i) in subparagraph (C), by adding 

3 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

4 (ii) by striking subparagraph (D) and 

5 redesignating subparagraph (E) as sub6 paragraph (D); and 

7 (B) in subsection (c)(1)— 

8 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

9 (I) by striking ‘‘(other than sub10 section (a) thereof)’’; and 

11 (II) by striking ‘‘623(f)’’ and in12 serting ‘‘623(b)’’; 

13 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

14 ‘‘, and section 325 of title III,’’; and 

15 (iii) in subparagraph (C)— 

16 (I) by striking ‘‘sections 612 and 

17 617’’ and inserting ‘‘section 617’’; 

18 and 

19 (II) by striking ‘‘623(f)’’ and in20 serting ‘‘623(b)’’. 

21 SEC. 4. BINDING ARBITRATION. 

22 Section 325 of the Communications Act of 1934, as 

23 amended by sections 2 and 3, is further amended by add24 ing at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(g) BINDING ARBITRATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Beginning on the date 

2 that is 90 days after the date on which this sub3 section takes effect, the Commission shall, by regula4 tion— 

5 ‘‘(A) provide that the Commission may re6 quire a television broadcast station and multi7 channel video programming distributor negoti8 ating a marketplace agreement (and any large 

9 station group or qualified MVPD buying group 

10 negotiating for a marketplace agreement on be11 half of a television broadcast station or multi12 channel video programming distributor, respec13 tively) to submit to binding arbitration— 

14 ‘‘(i) upon— 

15 ‘‘(I) a declaration of an impasse 

16 in negotiations by all parties negoti17 ating the agreement; 

18 ‘‘(II) a preliminary finding by the 

19 Commission of a violation of the good 

20 faith requirement under subsection 

21 (f)(1)(A)(i); or 

22 ‘‘(III) the failure of the television 

23 broadcast station and multichannel 

24 programming distributor (or any large 

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1 ing group negotiating for a market2 place agreement on behalf of a tele3 vision broadcast station or multi4 channel video programming dis5 tributor, respectively) to reach a mar6 ketplace agreement by the date that is 

7 60 days after the date on which a 

8 marketplace agreement entered into 

9 by the television broadcast station and 

10 the multichannel video programming 

11 distributor (or by any large station 

12 group or qualified MVPD buying 

13 group negotiating for a marketplace 

14 agreement on behalf of a television 

15 broadcast station or multichannel 

16 video programming distributor, re17 spectively) expires; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) in a form substantially similar to 

19 that imposed in Section VII of Appendix A 

20 of the Memorandum Opinion and Order in 

21 the matter of Applications of Comcast Cor22 poration, General Electric Company and 

23 NBC Universal, Inc. For Consent to As24 sign Licenses and Transfer Control of Li25 censees that was adopted by the CommisVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856

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1 sion on January 18, 2011 (FCC 11–4); 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) provide that the Commission may re4 quire a multichannel video programming dis5 tributor to retransmit a signal of a television 

6 broadcast station and the television broadcast 

7 station to permit the retransmission of that sig8 nal— 

9 ‘‘(i) during any period in which the 

10 television broadcast station and the multi11 channel video programming distributor (or 

12 any large station group or qualified MVPD 

13 buying group negotiating for a marketplace 

14 agreement on behalf of a television broad15 cast station or multichannel video pro16 gramming distributor, respectively) are re17 quired to submit to binding arbitration 

18 under subparagraph (A); and 

19 ‘‘(ii) in accordance with the interim 

20 carriage provisions imposed in Section VII 

21 of Appendix A of the Memorandum Opin22 ion and Order described under subpara23 graph (A)(ii). 

24 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

25 terms ‘large station group’, ‘marketplace agreement’, 


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1 ‘multichannel video programming distributor’, ‘quali2 fied MVPD buying group’, and ‘television broadcast 

3 station’ have the meaning given those terms in sub4 section (f).’’. 

5 SEC. 5. REPEAL OF REGULATORY INTERVENTION IN THE 

6 COPYRIGHT ACT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (1) REPEAL.—Section 119 of title 17, United 

9 States Code, is hereby repealed. 

10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

11 sections at the beginning of chapter 1 of title 17, 

12 United States Code, is amended by striking the item 

13 related to section 119. 

14 (b) SECTION 111.—Section 111 of title 17, United 

15 States Code, is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ‘‘section 

17 119 or’’; 

18 (2) in subsection (c)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘broadcast station licensed 

20 by the Federal Communications Commission or 

21 by an appropriate governmental authority of 

22 Canada or Mexico’’ and inserting ‘‘qualified 

23 broadcast station’’ each place it appears; and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘where 

2 the carriage’’ and all that follows before the pe3 riod at the end; 

4 (3) in subsection (d)(1)(A), by striking the sec5 ond sentence; and 

6 (4) in subsection (f)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking 

8 ‘‘122(j)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘122(g)(2)(C)’’; 

9 and 

10 (B) by adding at the end, the following: 

11 ‘‘(14) QUALIFIED BROADCAST STATION.—The 

12 term ‘qualified broadcast station’ means a broadcast 

13 station licensed by the Federal Communications 

14 Commission, or by an appropriate governmental au15 thority of Canada or Mexico, that elects mandatory 

16 carriage under section 614 or 615 of the Commu17 nications Act of 1934. 

18 ‘‘(15) SATELLITE CARRIER.—The term ‘sat19 ellite carrier’ means an entity that uses the facilities 

20 of a satellite or satellite service licensed by the Fed21 eral Communications Commission and operates in 

22 the Fixed-Satellite Service or the Direct Broadcast 

23 Satellite Service under part 25 of title 47, Code of 

24 Federal Regulations, to establish and operate a 

25 channel of communications for point-to-multipoint 


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1 distribution of television station signals, and that 

2 owns or leases a capacity or service on a satellite in 

3 order to provide such point-to-multipoint distribu4 tion, except to the extent that such entity provides 

5 such distribution pursuant to tariff under the Com6 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), 

7 other than for private home viewing.’’. 

8 (c) SECTION 122.—Section 122 of title 17, United 

9 States Code, is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘television broadcast stations’’ 

11 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘qualified tele12 vision broadcast stations’’; 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘television broadcast station’’ 

14 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘qualified tele15 vision broadcast station’’; 

16 (3) in subsection (a)— 

17 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

19 the semicolon at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

20 and’’; 

21 (ii) by striking subparagraph (B); and 

22 (iii) by redesignating subparagraph 

23 (C) as subparagraph (B); 

24 (B) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), and 

25 (5); 


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1 (C) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

2 paragraph (2); and 

3 (D) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated, 

4 by striking ‘‘SPECIAL EXCEPTIONS.—A sec5 ondary transmission of a performance or dis6 play’’ and all that follows through ‘‘In the case 

7 of a system’’ and inserting ‘‘SPECIAL EXCEP8 TION.—In the case of a system’’; 

9 (4) by striking subsections (b), (f), and (g); 

10 (5) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), 

11 (h), (i), and (j) as subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), 

12 and (g), respectively; 

13 (6) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘television broadcast sta15 tion’’ each place it appears and inserting 

16 ‘‘qualified television broadcast station’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘television broadcast sig18 nals’’ and inserting ‘‘signal of a qualified tele19 vision broadcast stations’’; and 

20 (C) by striking ‘‘, if the satellite carrier’’ 

21 and all that follows before the period at the 

22 end; 

23 (7) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by 

24 striking ‘‘television broadcast station’’ each place it 


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1 appears and inserting ‘‘qualified television broadcast 

2 station’’; 

3 (8) in subsection (f), as so redesignated, by 

4 striking ‘‘and section 119’’; and 

5 (9) in subsection (g), as so redesignated— 

6 (A) in paragraph (2)(E), by striking 

7 ‘‘338(l)’’ and inserting ‘‘338(k)’’; 

8 (B) by amending paragraph (4) to read as 

9 follows: 

10 ‘‘(4) NETWORK STATION.—The term ‘network 

11 station’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) a television station licensed by the 

13 Federal Communications Commission, including 

14 any translator station or terrestrial satellite sta15 tion that rebroadcasts all or substantially all of 

16 the programming broadcast by a network sta17 tion, that is owned or operated by, or affiliated 

18 with, one or more of the television networks in 

19 the United States that offer an interconnected 

20 program service on a regular basis for 15 or 

21 more hours per week to at least 25 of its affili22 ated television licensees in 10 or more States; 

23 or 


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1 ‘‘(B) a noncommercial educational broad2 cast station (as defined in section 397 of the 

3 Communications Act of 1934); 

4 except that the term does not include the signal of 

5 the Alaska Rural Communications Service, or any 

6 successor entity to that service.’’. 

7 (C) by redesignating paragraphs (5), (6), 

8 and (7) as paragraphs (6), (7), and (8), respec9 tively; 

10 (D) by inserting after paragraph (4), the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(5) NON-NETWORK STATION.—The term ‘non13 network station’ means a television station, other 

14 than a network station, licensed by the Federal 

15 Communications Commission, that is secondarily 

16 transmitted by a satellite carrier.’’; and 

17 (E) in paragraph (8), as so redesignated— 

18 (i) in the heading, by striking ‘‘TELE19 VISION BROADCAST STATION’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘QUALIFIED TELEVISION BROADCAST

21 STATION’’; 

22 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

23 ‘‘, that elects mandatory carriage pursuant 

24 to section 338 of the Communications Act 

25 of 1934’’ after ‘‘Regulations’’; and 


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1 (iii) in subparagraph (B)— 

2 (I) by inserting ‘‘that elects man3 datory carriage pursuant to section 

4 338 of the Communications Act of 

5 1934,’’ after ‘‘Mexico’’; and 

6 (II) by striking ‘‘as defined in 

7 section 119(d)(2)(A)’’. 

8 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Title 17, United 

9 States Code, is amended— 

10 (1) in section 501— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘local service area’’ each 

12 place it appears and inserting ‘‘designated mar13 ket area’’; 

14 (B) by striking subsection (e); 

15 (C) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub16 section (e); and 

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

18 ‘‘(f) In this section, the term ‘designated market 

19 area’ means a designated market area, as determined by 

20 Nielsen Media Research and published in the 1999–2000 

21 Nielsen Station Index Directory and Nielsen Station Index 

22 United States Television Household Estimates or any suc23 cessor publication.’’; 

24 (2) in section 708(a)(10), by striking ‘‘119 or’’; 

25 (3) in section 801— 


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1 (A) in subsection (b)(1), by striking 

2 ‘‘119,’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘, 119,’’ each place it ap4 pears; 

5 (4) in section 803— 

6 (A) in subsection (b)(1)(A)(i), in the mat7 ter preceding subclause (I), by striking ‘‘, 119’’; 

8 (B) in subsection (d)(2)(C)(i), by striking 

9 ‘‘, 119’’; 

10 (C) in subsection (e)(2), by striking ‘‘118, 

11 or 119’’ and inserting ‘‘or 118’’; and 

12 (5) in section 804— 

13 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘, 119’’; 

14 and 

15 (B) in subsection (b)(8), by striking ‘‘, 

16 119,’’. 

17 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF COMMISSION’S RULES RELATED TO 

18 REGULATORY INTERVENTION. 

19 The Federal Communications Commission shall take 

20 all actions necessary to— 

21 (1) repeal section 73.658 of the Commission’s 

22 rules (47 CFR 73.658); 

23 (2) repeal subpart F of part 76 of the Commis24 sion’s rules; and 


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1 (3) modify subpart S of part 76 of the Commis2 sion’s rules by eliminating any requirements relating 

3 to network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity 

4 for open video systems. 

5 SEC. 7. REPORT. 

6 Section 13 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

7 U.S.C. 163) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (b)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

10 and inserting a semicolon; 

11 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe12 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(6) if the Commission determines under sub15 section (e)(2) that the totality of the measurements 

16 have presented a net negative impact in the two 

17 years preceding the report, include specific policies 

18 to improve market functioning.’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY.— 

21 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—Not later than 4 years after the 

22 date of the enactment of the Modern Television Act 

23 of 2021, and every two years thereafter, the Comp24 troller General of the United States, in consultation 

25 with the Commission, shall study the effect of the 


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1 regime established under such Act, and the amend2 ments made by such Act, by measuring— 

3 ‘‘(A) the price consumers pay for video 

4 programming, adjusted to reflect national mon5 etary inflation or deflation; 

6 ‘‘(B) the satisfaction of consumers with 

7 the quality of video programming and the serv8 ices of multichannel video programming dis9 tributors; 

10 ‘‘(C) the— 

11 ‘‘(i) number of interruptions to the 

12 distribution of programming to consumers 

13 because of impasses in negotiations be14 tween multichannel video programming 

15 distributors and television broadcast sta16 tions; 

17 ‘‘(ii) duration of each interruption; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(iii) number of consumers impacted 

20 by each interruption; and 

21 ‘‘(D) consumer access to local program22 ming, including news, weather, sports, and pub23 lic, educational, and governmental program24 ming. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION BY COMMISSION.—The 

2 Commission shall determine under the study de3 scribed in paragraph (1) if the totality of the meas4 urements described in such paragraph present a net 

5 positive, net negative, or indeterminate impact to 

6 consumers and to the marketplace. 

7 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection, the 

8 terms ‘video programming’ and ‘multichannel video 

9 programming distributor’ have the meaning given 

10 those terms in section 602.’’. 

11 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY. 

12 If any provision of this Act or any amendment made 

13 by this Act, or any application of such provision or amend14 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be uncon15 stitutional, the remainder of the provisions of this Act and 

16 the amendments made by this Act, and the application of 

17 the provision or amendment to any other person or cir18 cumstance, shall not be affected. 

19 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 Except as provided in section 2, this Act, and the 

21 amendments made by this Act, shall take effect on the 

22 date that is 42 months after the date of the enactment 

23 of this Act. 

Æ 


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