I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3745 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for carriage and 

display of public, educational, and government channels in a manner 

consistent with commercial channels, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 7, 2009 

Ms. BALDWIN 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 

carriage and display of public, educational, and government channels in a manner consistent with commercial 

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’’ or the ‘‘CAP Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 611 of the Communica8 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub2 section (h); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol4 lowing new subsections: 

5 ‘‘(f) EQUIVALENCE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any fran7 chise under which channel capacity is designated 

8 under subsection (b), such channel capacity shall 

9 be— 

10 ‘‘(A) at least equivalent in quality, accessi11 bility, functionality, and placement to— 

12 ‘‘(i) channel capacity used for re13 quired carriage of local commercial tele14 vision stations, as defined in section 

15 614(h)(1); or 

16 ‘‘(ii) if no such stations are required 

17 to be carried, the channel capacity used to 

18 carry the primary signal of the network-af19 filiated commercial television stations car20 ried on the cable system; and 

21 ‘‘(B) provided to and viewable by every 

22 subscriber of a cable system without additional 

23 service or equipment charges. 

24 ‘‘(2) SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT.—A cable 

25 operator shall— 


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

2 or governmental use from the point of origin of 

3 such signals to subscribers without material 

4 degradation and without altering or removing 

5 content provided as part of the public, edu6 cational, or governmental use; and 

7 ‘‘(B) provide facilities adequate to fulfill 

8 such requirements. 

9 ‘‘(3) WAIVER.—The requirements of paragraph 

10 (1) may be waived by a franchising authority if the 

11 franchise contains an explicit provision that such re12 quirements shall not apply and such provision was 

13 adopted after a proceeding the conduct of which af14 forded the public adequate notice and an oppor15 tunity to participate. 

16 ‘‘(4) ENFORCEMENT.—The requirements of this 

17 subsection may be enforced by a franchising author18 ity or by the Commission. 

19 ‘‘(5) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in 

20 this subsection prevents a franchising authority from 

21 establishing additional requirements with respect to 

22 the quality, accessibility, functionality, placement, 

23 and provision of channel capacity designated for 

24 public, educational, or governmental use. 


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1 ‘‘(g) PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, AND

2 GOVERNMENTAL USE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—Within 180 days after the date 

4 of enactment of the Community Access Preservation 

5 Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a re6 port containing— 

7 ‘‘(A) an analysis of the impact of the en8 actment of State video service franchising laws 

9 since 2005 on public, educational, and govern10 mental use of cable systems; 

11 ‘‘(B) an analysis of the impact of the con12 version from analog to digital transmission 

13 technologies on public, educational, and govern14 mental use of cable systems; and 

15 ‘‘(C) recommendations for changes re16 quired to this Act to preserve and advance lo17 calism and public, educational, and govern18 mental use of advanced communications sys19 tems. 

20 ‘‘(2) SUPPORT.—In States that adopted legisla21 tion affecting cable system franchising requirements 

22 relating to support for public, educational, or gov23 ernmental use of a cable system that became effec24 tive after May 31, 2005, a cable operator shall, not25 withstanding such legislation— 


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1 ‘‘(A) pay to any political subdivision in 

2 which the operator provides service the greater 

3 of— 

4 ‘‘(i) the historical support that the op5 erator, or its predecessor, provided for 

6 public, educational, or governmental use of 

7 the cable system in such subdivision in ac8 cordance with this subsection; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) the amount of any cash payment 

10 that the operator is required to pay to 

11 such subdivision under such State legisla12 tion affecting cable system franchising re13 quirements; 

14 ‘‘(B) carry signals for public, educational, 

15 or governmental use from the point of origin of 

16 such signals to subscribers and provide facilities 

17 adequate to fulfill such requirements in accord18 ance with subsection (f)(2); and 

19 ‘‘(C) provide at least the number of chan20 nels for public, educational, or governmental 

21 use that it was providing as of May 31, 2005. 

22 ‘‘(3) CALCULATION OF HISTORICAL SUPPORT.— 

23 Historical support includes the value of all support 

24 provided for public, educational, or governmental 

25 use, including in-kind support and free services. The 


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1 cable operator shall pay support equal to the greater 

2 of— 

3 ‘‘(A) the value of the support provided in 

4 the most recent calendar year prior to the effec5 tive date of such State legislation affecting 

6 cable system franchising requirements; or 

7 ‘‘(B) the value of the annual average sup8 port provided over the term of the franchise 

9 pursuant to which it operated prior to such ef10 fective date, taking into account the time value 

11 of money. 

12 ‘‘(4) PAYMENTS.—The amounts owed to the po13 litical subdivision under paragraph (2)(A) shall be 

14 paid annually, in quarterly installments, with the 

15 first payment being due 30 days after the date of 

16 enactment of the Community Access Preservation 

17 Act. 

18 ‘‘(5) USES; DISPUTES.— 

19 ‘‘(A) USES.—Support provided to any 

20 State or local political subdivision under this 

21 subsection shall be dedicated to public, edu22 cational, or governmental use of channel capac23 ity. 

24 ‘‘(B) DISPUTES.—If there is a dispute as 

25 to amounts owed under this subsection, undisVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:14 Oct 08, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3745.IH H3745

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1 puted amounts shall be paid, and the Commis2 sion shall determine on an expedited basis what, 

3 if any, additional amounts are owed.’’. 

4 (b) FRANCHISE FEE DEFINITION.—Section 

5 622(g)(2) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 542(g)(2)) is amend6 ed— 

7 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘in the 

8 case of any franchise in effect on the date of the en9 actment of this title,’’; 

10 (2) by striking subparagraph (C); and 

11 (3) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and 

12 (E) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively. 

13 (c) CABLE SERVICE DEFINITION.—Section 602(6) of 

14 such Act (47 U.S.C. 522(6)) is amended by striking 

15 ‘‘means’’ and inserting ‘‘means, regardless of the tech16 nology or transmission protocol used in the provision of 

17 service’’. 

Æ 


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