I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4861 

To authorize the Federal Communications Commission to impose licensing 

conditions on digital audio radio to protect against the unauthorized 

distribution of transmitted content. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2006 

Mr. FERGUSON (for himself, Mr. TOWNS, Mrs. BONO, Mr. GORDON, and Mrs. 

BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Federal Communications Commission to 

impose licensing conditions on digital audio radio to protect against the unauthorized distribution of transmitted 

content. 

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 ‘‘Audio Broadcast Flag 

5 Licensing Act of 2006’’. 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
2 

•HR 4861 IH 

1 SEC. 2. LICENSING OF DEVICES FOR OVER-THE-AIR AND 

2 SATELLITE DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCASTING. 

3 Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934 

4 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 342. GRANT OF LIMITED AUTHORITY REGARDING 

7 THE LICENSING OF DEVICES FOR OVER-THE8 AIR AND SATELLITE DIGITAL AUDIO BROAD9 CASTING. 

10 ‘‘(a) GRANT OF AUTHORITY.—The Commission has 

11 authority— 

12 ‘‘(1) to require and enforce, subject to sub13 sections (b) and (c), in conjunction with the in-band, 

14 on-channel technical standard for digital audio 

15 broadcast transmissions under consideration in MM 

16 Docket No. 99–235, or any successor regulations, 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(A) all technologies necessary to make 

19 transmission and reception devices compliant 

20 with such technical standard are licensed on 

21 reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms; 

22 ‘‘(B) such licenses shall include prohibi23 tions against unauthorized copying and redis24 tribution of transmitted content through the 

25 use of a broadcast flag or similar technology, in 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
3 

•HR 4861 IH 

1 a manner generally consistent with the purposes 

2 of other applicable law; and 

3 ‘‘(C) licensees of the Commission providing 

4 digital audio broadcast service shall give effect 

5 to and comply with such prohibitions; and 

6 ‘‘(2) to require and enforce, subject to sub7 sections (b) and (c), as part of its regulation of sat8 ellite digital audio radio services (SDARS) pursuant 

9 to part 25 of the Commission rules, or any successor 

10 regulations, that— 

11 ‘‘(A) all technologies necessary to make 

12 transmission and reception devices capable of 

13 receiving satellite digital audio radio trans14 missions are licensed on reasonable and non15 discriminatory terms; 

16 ‘‘(B) such licenses shall include prohibi17 tions against unauthorized copying and redis18 tribution of transmitted content through the 

19 use of a broadcast flag or similar technology, in 

20 a manner generally consistent with the purposes 

21 of other applicable law; and 

22 ‘‘(C) licensees of the Commission providing 

23 satellite digital audio radio services shall give 

24 effect to and comply with such prohibitions. 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
4 

•HR 4861 IH 

1 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE.—Any rules and regulations pro2 mulgated pursuant to subsection (a) that apply to the use 

3 of transmissions, or content therein, shall require the full 

4 disclosure of any information required to enable the manu5 facture of compliant devices. 

6 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS ON REGULATIONS.—The adoption 

7 of any digital audio regulations pursuant to this section— 

8 ‘‘(1) shall not delay the adoption of final oper9 ational rules for digital audio broadcasting; 

10 ‘‘(2) shall not make obsolete any devices already 

11 manufactured and distributed in the marketplace be12 fore the implementation of such regulations; and 

13 ‘‘(3) shall not be inconsistent with the cus14 tomary use of broadcast content by consumers to the 

15 extent such use is consistent with the purposes of 

16 this act and other applicable law. 

17 ‘‘(d) REVISIONS PERMITTED.—The Commission may 

18 reconsider, amend, repeal, supplement, and otherwise 

19 modify, in whole or in part, any regulations adopted pur20 suant to subsection (a) in order to further the purposes 

21 of this section, except that any change in such regulations 

22 shall employ a broadcast flag or similar technology as the 

23 means to achieve those purposes. 

24 ‘‘(e) ACTIVITIES OF PERFORMING RIGHTS AND ME25 CHANICAL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS.—Nothing shall preVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:06 Mar 04, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4861.IH H4861

sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
5 

•HR 4861 IH 

1 clude or prevent a performing rights organization or a me2 chanical rights organization, or any entity owned in whole 

3 or in part by, or acting on behalf of, such organizations, 

4 from monitoring public performances or other uses of 

5 copyrighted works contained in such transmissions. The 

6 Commission may require that any such organization or en7 tity be given a license on either a gratuitous basis or for 

8 a de minimus fee to cover only the reasonable costs to 

9 the licensor of providing the license, and on reasonable, 

10 non-discriminatory terms, to access and retransmit as nec11 essary any content contained in such transmissions pro12 tected by content protection or similar technologies, pro13 vided that such licenses are for purposes of carrying out 

14 the activities of such organizations or entities in moni15 toring the public performance or other uses of copyrighted 

16 works and that such organizations or entities employ rea17 sonable methods to protect any such content accessed 

18 from further distribution.’’. 

Æ 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS