I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7782 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for mandatory cable 

carriage of low power television stations sharing facilities of certain 

full power commercial VHF stations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2020 

Mr. PAYNE (for himself and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 

mandatory cable carriage of low power television stations 

sharing facilities of certain full power commercial VHF 

stations, 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 ‘‘Eliminating Local 

5 News Deserts Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CARRIAGE OF LOW POWER TELEVISION STATIONS 

2 SHARING FACILITIES OF CERTAIN FULL 

3 POWER COMMERCIAL VHF STATIONS. 

4 (a) CARRIAGE RIGHTS.—Section 614(c) of the Com5 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(c)) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para7 graph (3); and 

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR STA11 TIONS SHARING FACILITIES OF CERTAIN FULL

12 POWER COMMERCIAL VHF STATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A cable operator of a 

14 cable system shall carry on such system, in ad15 dition to any qualified low power station such 

16 operator is required to carry under paragraph 

17 (1), any television broadcast station— 

18 ‘‘(i) that is a qualified low power sta19 tion under subparagraph (B) of subsection 

20 (h)(2); and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the full power commercial very 

22 high frequency television broadcast station 

23 described in subsection (h)(2)(B)(ii)(II) 

24 with which such qualified low power sta25 tion shares facilities is in the same tele26 vision market as such cable system. 


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1 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In the case of a 

2 qualified low power station that is carried under 

3 subparagraph (A), such qualified low power sta4 tion shall have the same carriage rights as the 

5 full power commercial very high frequency tele6 vision broadcast station described in subpara7 graph (A)(ii) in the television market described 

8 in such subparagraph. 

9 ‘‘(C) TIMING.—The requirements of sub10 paragraph (A) shall apply, with respect to a tel11 evision broadcast station, beginning on the date 

12 that is 90 days after the Commission makes a 

13 determination under subparagraph (B) of sub14 section (h)(2) that such station is a qualified 

15 low power station under such subparagraph.’’. 

16 (b) QUALIFIED LOW POWER STATION DEFINED.— 

17 Section 614(h)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

18 U.S.C. 534(h)(2)) is amended— 

19 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through 

20 (F) as clauses (i) through (vi), respectively; 

21 (2) by striking ‘‘The term’’ and inserting the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term’’; 

24 (3) by striking ‘‘Nothing in this paragraph’’ 

25 and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

2 in this paragraph’’; and 

3 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (A) (as so 

4 designated) the following: 

5 ‘‘(B) STATIONS SHARING FACILITIES OF

6 CERTAIN FULL POWER COMMERCIAL VHF STA7 TIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘quali9 fied low power station’ also includes any 

10 television broadcast station for which there 

11 is in effect a determination by the Com12 mission that such station is a qualified low 

13 power station under this subparagraph. 

14 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The Commis15 sion shall determine that a television 

16 broadcast station is a qualified low power 

17 station under this subparagraph if— 

18 ‘‘(I) such station conforms to the 

19 rules established for low power tele20 vision stations contained in part 74 of 

21 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations; 

22 ‘‘(II) such low power station 

23 shares facilities with a licensee of a 

24 full power commercial very high fre25 quency television broadcast channel 


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1 allocated to a State under section 

2 331(a); 

3 ‘‘(III) such low power station 

4 maintains its main studios and offices 

5 in such State; 

6 ‘‘(IV) such State has no exclu7 sive, in-State broadcast television 

8 market within its boundaries, as de9 termined by Nielsen Media Research 

10 or any successor entity; 

11 ‘‘(V) there are no ‘big 4’ full 

12 power commercial network affiliates 

13 (ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX) that 

14 are licensed to, and principally oper15 ate within, such State; and 

16 ‘‘(VI) such low power station pro17 vides, for a minimum of 3 hours per 

18 day Monday through Friday and a 

19 minimum of 2 hours per day on Sat20 urday and Sunday, locally produced 

21 news, public affairs, and informational 

22 programming focused on, or of gen23 eral interest to, the many residents 

24 and communities throughout such 

25 State. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) PETITION AND DETERMINA2 TION.—Not later than 30 days after a tele3 vision broadcast station submits to the 

4 Commission a petition for a determination 

5 that such station is a qualified low power 

6 station under this subparagraph, the Com7 mission shall— 

8 ‘‘(I) if the Commission finds that 

9 the requirements of clause (ii) are met 

10 with respect to such station, grant 

11 such petition; or 

12 ‘‘(II) if the Commission finds 

13 that the requirements of clause (ii) 

14 are not met with respect to such sta15 tion, deny such petition. 

16 ‘‘(iv) ANNUAL CERTIFICATION.— 

17 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on 

18 the date that is 1 year after the date 

19 on which a qualified low power station 

20 under this subparagraph is first car21 ried on a cable system under sub22 section (c)(2), and annually there23 after, such station shall submit to the 

24 Commission a certification that— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) such station is pro2 viding locally produced news, 

3 public affairs, and informational 

4 programming as described in 

5 clause (ii)(VI); and 

6 ‘‘(bb) such station commits 

7 to the Commission that such sta8 tion will continue to provide such 

9 locally produced news, public af10 fairs, and informational program11 ming as described in such clause 

12 during the 1-year period begin13 ning on the date of the certifi14 cation. 

15 ‘‘(II) FAILURE TO CERTIFY.—If 

16 a qualified low power station under 

17 this subparagraph fails to submit a 

18 certification as required by subclause 

19 (I), the Commission may revoke the 

20 determination that such station is a 

21 qualified low power station under this 

22 subparagraph. 

23 ‘‘(III) SCHEDULE AND ADMINIS24 TRATION.—Not later than 30 days 

25 after the date of the enactment of this 


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1 subparagraph, the Commission shall 

2 by order establish the schedule and 

3 administration of the schedule for and 

4 other requirements relating to the ad5 ministration of the certifications re6 quired by this clause. 

7 ‘‘(v) GROUNDS FOR REVOCATION OF

8 DETERMINATION.—The Commission may 

9 not revoke a determination that a tele10 vision broadcast station is a qualified low 

11 power station under this subparagraph ex12 cept— 

13 ‘‘(I) as provided in clause 

14 (iv)(II); or 

15 ‘‘(II) if the requirements of 

16 clause (ii) are no longer met with re17 spect to such station.’’. 

Æ 


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