II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1244 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish signal quality and 

content requirements for the carriage of public, educational, and governmental channels, to preserve support of such channels, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2015 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; 

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

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish 

signal quality and content requirements for the carriage 

of public, educational, and governmental channels, to 

preserve support of such channels, 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 ‘‘Community Access 

5 Preservation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PEG SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT; PRESERVA2 TION OF SUPPORT OF PEG USE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 611 of the Communica4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub6 section (h); and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(f) SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A cable operator that oper11 ates a cable system with channel capacity designated 

12 under subsection (b) or that is required to provide 

13 channel capacity under subsection (g)(6) shall, with 

14 respect to such channel capacity— 

15 ‘‘(A) carry signals for public, educational, 

16 or governmental use from the point of origin of 

17 such signals to subscribers without material 

18 degradation and without altering or removing 

19 content or data provided as part of the public, 

20 educational, or governmental use; 

21 ‘‘(B) provide such signals to, and make 

22 such signals viewable by, every subscriber of the 

23 cable system without additional service or 

24 equipment charges; 

25 ‘‘(C) provide to the appropriate local gov26 ernment subdivision, free of charge, any transVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 May 13, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1244.IS S1244

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1 mission services and the use of any trans2 mission facilities that are necessary to meet the 

3 requirements of subparagraph (A); 

4 ‘‘(D) upon request by the appropriate local 

5 government subdivision, provide, not later than 

6 180 days after the date of the request, for the 

7 transmission of such signals in— 

8 ‘‘(i) high definition format; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) the highest quality format that is 

10 provided by a majority of local television 

11 broadcast stations in the applicable des12 ignated market area, if the quality of that 

13 format is better than high definition; and 

14 ‘‘(E) upon request by the appropriate local 

15 government subdivision, provide, not later than 

16 180 days after the date of the request, the abil17 ity for the programming schedules of such sig18 nals to be present and updated on the electronic 

19 program guide of the cable operator in the 

20 same manner and with the same functionality 

21 as television broadcast stations in the applicable 

22 designated market area— 

23 ‘‘(i) through the cable operator di24 rectly; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) by the cable operator facilitating 

2 the inclusion of the programming schedules 

3 through a third party vendor, at a rate not 

4 to exceed the actual incremental cost of the 

5 inclusion. 

6 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

7 paragraph (1)(D) shall be construed to— 

8 ‘‘(A) remove other obligations of a cable 

9 operator that are not specified under this Act; 

10 ‘‘(B) require a cable operator to upgrade 

11 the quality of a signal to comply with para12 graph (1)(D) if the appropriate local govern13 ment subdivision determines that it is not capa14 ble of producing and transmitting programming 

15 in the required format; or 

16 ‘‘(C) prohibit a cable operator from volun17 tarily upgrading the quality of a signal to com18 ply with paragraph (1)(D). 

19 ‘‘(3) ENFORCEMENT.—The requirements of this 

20 subsection may be enforced by— 

21 ‘‘(A) a local government subdivision; or 

22 ‘‘(B) a State. 

23 ‘‘(g) PRESERVATION OF SUPPORT OF PUBLIC, EDU24 CATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL USE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) LEVEL OF SUPPORT REQUIRED.—In a 

2 State that adopts legislation affecting cable system 

3 franchising requirements relating to support for 

4 public, educational, or governmental use of a cable 

5 system that becomes effective after May 31, 2005, 

6 notwithstanding such legislation, a cable operator 

7 owes to any local government subdivision in which 

8 the operator provides cable service during a year be9 ginning after the date of enactment of this sub10 section an amount for such year to be determined by 

11 the local government subdivision, but not to exceed 

12 the greatest of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) The amount of support provided in 

14 the last calendar year ending before the effec15 tive date of such State legislation. 

16 ‘‘(B) The average annual amount of sup17 port provided over the term of the franchise 

18 under which the cable operator was operating 

19 on the day before the effective date of such 

20 State legislation. 

21 ‘‘(C) The amount of support that the cable 

22 operator is required to provide to such local 

23 government subdivision under such State legis24 lation during the year involved. 


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1 ‘‘(D) An amount of support equal to 2 per2 cent of the gross revenues of the cable operator 

3 from the operation of the cable system to pro4 vide cable services in such local government 

5 subdivision during the year involved. 

6 ‘‘(2) FORMS OF SUPPORT.—For purposes of 

7 paragraph (1), support for public, educational, or 

8 governmental use of a cable system means all cash 

9 payments, in-kind support, and free services that the 

10 operator of the cable system, or its predecessor, pro11 vides to the local government subdivision for such 

12 use of the cable system. 

13 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—For a 

14 year beginning on or after the effective date de15 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

16 (1), on the date that the Gross National Product 

17 Price Index is first published by the Bureau of Eco18 nomic Analysis after the end of June of such year, 

19 the amounts specified in such subparagraphs shall 

20 be increased by the percentage increase, if any, in 

21 the Index published on such date from the Index 

22 first published after the end of June of the pre23 ceding year. 

24 ‘‘(4) CASH PAYMENTS.—A cable operator that 

25 owes amounts under paragraph (1) shall, beginning 


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1 not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 

2 of this subsection, pay such amounts in cash— 

3 ‘‘(A) in accordance with the schedule for 

4 payment of franchise fees, communications 

5 taxes, or other similar assessments under any 

6 applicable franchise; or 

7 ‘‘(B) if there is no payment schedule for 

8 such assessments under an applicable franchise, 

9 in accordance with the most frequent payment 

10 schedule for such assessments under applicable 

11 State or local law. 

12 ‘‘(5) USES; DISPUTES.— 

13 ‘‘(A) USES.—Support provided to any local 

14 government subdivision under this subsection 

15 shall be dedicated to public, educational, or gov16 ernmental use of channel capacity. 

17 ‘‘(B) DISPUTES.— 

18 ‘‘(i) MEDIATION.—If there is a dis19 pute as to amounts owed under this sub20 section, undisputed amounts shall be paid 

21 to the local government subdivision, dis22 puted amounts shall be paid into an escrow 

23 account, and the parties shall submit to 

24 nonbinding mediation. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) COURT PROCEEDINGS.—If the 

2 dispute cannot be settled using mediation, 

3 either party may seek relief from a court 

4 of competent jurisdiction. 

5 ‘‘(6) CHANNELS.—In a State that adopts legis6 lation affecting cable system franchising require7 ments relating to the number of channels for public, 

8 educational, or governmental use of a cable system 

9 that becomes effective after May 31, 2005, a cable 

10 operator shall, notwithstanding such legislation, pro11 vide in a local government subdivision at least the 

12 greater of the following number of channels for such 

13 use: 

14 ‘‘(A) The number of channels for such use 

15 that the operator was providing in the local gov16 ernment subdivision on the day before the effec17 tive date of such State legislation. 

18 ‘‘(B) If the operator provided fewer than 3 

19 channels for such use in the local government 

20 subdivision on the day before the effective date 

21 of such State legislation, a number specified by 

22 the local government subdivision, but not to ex23 ceed 3. 

24 ‘‘(7) ENFORCEMENT.—The requirements of this 

25 subsection may be enforced by— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a local government subdivision; or 

2 ‘‘(B) a State.’’. 

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.— 

4 (1) CABLE SERVICE.—Section 602(6) of the 

5 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(6)) is 

6 amended by striking ‘‘means’’ and inserting ‘‘means, 

7 regardless of the technology or transmission protocol 

8 used in the provision of service’’. 

9 (2) LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUBDIVISION.—Sec10 tion 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

11 U.S.C. 522) is amended— 

12 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (13) 

13 through (20) as paragraphs (14) through (21), 

14 respectively; and 

15 (B) by inserting after paragraph (12) the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(13) the term ‘local government subdivision’ 

18 means— 

19 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

20 (B), a franchising authority that derives its 

21 power to grant a franchise from State or local 

22 law; and 

23 ‘‘(B) in a State that adopts legislation af24 fecting cable system franchising requirements 

25 relating to support for public, educational, or 


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1 governmental use of a cable system that be2 comes effective after May 31, 2005, an entity 

3 that was considered a franchising authority de4 riving its power to grant a franchise from State 

5 or local law as of the day before the effective 

6 date of such State legislation;’’. 

7 (3) FRANCHISE FEE.—Section 622(g)(2) of the 

8 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 542(g)(2)) 

9 is amended— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘in 

11 the case of any franchise in effect on the date 

12 of enactment of this title,’’; 

13 (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and 

14 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 

15 and (E) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respec16 tively. 

Æ 


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