I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 681 

To amend the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 

and the Communications Act of 1934 to establish a new digital television 

transition date, to improve the digital-to-analog converter box program, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 26, 2009 

Mr. WAXMAN (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mrs. CAPPS, 

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. DOYLE, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. HILL, Mr. MARKEY

of Massachusetts, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. 

CASTOR of Florida, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. 

GRAYSON, Mr. RANGEL, and Mr. PIERLUISI) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 and the Communications Act of 1934 

to establish a new digital television transition date, to 

improve the digital-to-analog converter box program, and 

for other purposes. 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Television 

3 Transition Extension Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF DTV TRANSITION DEADLINE. 

2 (a) AMENDMENTS TO COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF

3 1934.— 

4 (1) SECTION 309.—Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the 

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

6 309(j)(14)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘February 

7 17, 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘June 12, 2009’’. 

8 (2) SECTION 337.—Section 337(e)(1) of the 

9 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(e)(1)) 

10 is amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 2009’’ and in11 serting ‘‘June 12, 2009’’. 

12 (b) AMENDMENTS TO DIGITAL TELEVISION TRANSI13 TION AND PUBLIC SAFETY ACT OF 2005.— 

14 (1) SECTION 3002.—Section 3002(b) of the Dig15 ital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 

16 2005 is amended by striking ‘‘February 18’’ each 

17 place it appears and inserting ‘‘June 13’’. 

18 (2) SECTION 3005.—Section 3005(c)(1) of such 

19 Act is amended by striking ‘‘March 31, 2009’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘July 31, 2009’’. 

21 (3) SECTION 3008.—Section 3008(a)(1) of such 

22 Act is amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 2009’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘June 12, 2009’’. 

24 (c) LICENSE TERMS.— 

25 (1) EXTENSION.—The Federal Communications 

26 Commission shall extend the terms of the licenses 


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1 for the recovered spectrum, including the license pe2 riod and construction requirements associated with 

3 those licenses, for a 116-day period. 

4 (2) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this sub5 section, the term ‘‘recovered spectrum’’ means— 

6 (A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such 

7 term is defined in section 309(j)(15)(C)(vi) of 

8 the Communications Act of 1934; and 

9 (B) the spectrum excluded from the defini10 tion of recovered analog spectrum by subclauses 

11 (I) and (II) of such section. 

12 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CON13 VERTER BOX PROGRAM. 

14 (a) TREATMENT OF EXPIRED COUPONS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3005(c)(1) of the 

16 Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act 

17 of 2005 is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing new subparagraph: 

19 ‘‘(D) EXPIRED COUPONS.—The Assistant 

20 Secretary shall issue to a household, upon re21 quest by the household, one replacement coupon 

22 for each coupon that was issued to such house23 hold and that expired without being re24 deemed.’’. 


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

2 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition 

3 and Public Safety Act of 2005 is amended by strik4 ing ‘‘receives’’ and inserting ‘‘redeems’’. 

5 (b) EXPEDITING DELIVERY.— 

6 (1) FIRST CLASS MAIL.—Within 7 days after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec8 retary for Communications and Information of the 

9 Department of Commerce shall expedite the distribu10 tion of coupons issued under section 3005 of the 

11 Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act 

12 of 2005 by directing that, if coupons are delivered 

13 via the United States Postal Service, such coupons 

14 shall be delivered via pre-sorted first class mail serv15 ice. 

16 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

17 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition 

18 and Public Safety Act of 2005 is further amended 

19 by striking ‘‘, via the United States Postal Service,’’. 

20 (c) CONDITION OF MODIFICATIONS.—The amend21 ments made by this section shall not take effect until the 

22 enactment of new budget authority to carry out the ana23 log-to-digital converter box program under section 3005 

24 of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act 

25 of 2005. 


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1 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION. 

2 (a) PERMISSIVE EARLY TERMINATION UNDER EX3 ISTING REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act is intended 

4 to prevent a licensee of a television broadcast station

5 from terminating the broadcasting of such station’s analog 

6 television signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively 

7 in the digital television service) prior to the date estab8 lished by law under section 3002(b) of the Digital Tele9 vision Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termi10 nation of all licenses for full-power television stations in 

11 the analog television service (as amended by section 2 of 

12 this Act) so long as such prior termination is conducted 

13 in accordance with the Federal Communications Commis14 sion’s requirements in effect on the date of enactment of 

15 this Act, including the flexible procedures established in 

16 the Matter of Third Periodic Review of the Commission’s 

17 Rules and Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Tel18 evision (FCC 07–228, MB Docket No. 07–91, released 

19 December 31, 2007). 

20 (b) PUBLIC SAFETY RADIO SERVICES.— 

21 (1) USE ON CLEARED SPECTRUM.—Notwith22 standing the amendments made by section 2, if— 

23 (A) a television broadcast station ceases 

24 the broadcasting of such station’s analog tele25 vision service under subsection (a) of this sec26 tion prior to June 12, 2009, and 


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1 (B) as a consequence of such cessation, 

2 spectrum between frequencies 768 and 776 

3 megahertz, inclusive, and 798 and 806 mega4 hertz, inclusive, becomes available for non-tele5 vision broadcast use prior to June 12, 2009, 

6 the Federal Communications Commission shall per7 mit the use of such spectrum for authorized public 

8 safety radio services if the Commission determines 

9 that such use is in the public interest and does not 

10 cause harmful interference to full-power television 

11 stations in the analog or digital television service. 

12 (2) EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.—The Federal 

13 Communications Commission is authorized to use 

14 expedited procedures, and to waive such rules as 

15 may be necessary, to make a determination on an 

16 application made under paragraph (1) to begin such 

17 use of such spectrum by a public safety agency (as 

18 such term is defined in section 3006(d)(1) of the 

19 Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act 

20 of 2005) in not less than 2 weeks after the date of 

21 submission of such application. 

22 (c) EXPEDITED RULEMAKING.—Notwithstanding 

23 any other provision of law, the Federal Communications 

24 Commission and the National Telecommunications and 

25 Information Administration shall, not later than 30 days 


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1 after the date of enactment of this Act, each adopt or re2 vise its rules, regulations, or orders or take such other ac3 tions as may be necessary or appropriate to implement the 

4 provisions, and carry out the purposes, of this Act and 

5 the amendments made by this Act. 

6 SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY. 

7 Section 309(j)(11) of the Communications Act of 

8 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking 

9 ‘‘2011’’ and inserting ‘‘2012’’. 

10 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

11 (a) MONTHLY REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Begin12 ning one month after enactment of this Act and ending 

13 on October 31, 2009, the Assistant Secretary shall trans14 mit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 

15 House of Representatives and the Committee on Com16 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a 

17 monthly report detailing— 

18 (1) the number of unredeemed and unexpired 

19 coupons still held by consumers; 

20 (2) the number of replacement coupons the Na21 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin22 istration has issued for expired coupons pursuant to 

23 section 3005(c)(1) of the Digital Television Transi24 tion and Public Safety Act of 2005, as amended by 

25 section 3(a) of this Act, during the 30 days prior to 


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1 the monthly reporting date required by this sub2 section; 

3 (3) the approximate number of analog-to-digital 

4 converter boxes available for purchase by consumers; 

5 (4) the number of new and replacement cou6 pons issued by the National Telecommunications 

7 and Information Administration via postal mail and 

8 other delivery methods, including electronic mail; 

9 and 

10 (5) the remaining amount of funds available to 

11 the National Telecommunications and Information 

12 Administration to carry out section 3005 of the Dig13 ital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 

14 2005, as amended by this Act and any other Act. 

15 (b) REPORT ABOUT RURAL AREAS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 30, 

17 2009, the Federal Communications Commission 

18 shall transmit to the Committee on Energy and 

19 Commerce of the House of Representatives and the 

20 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor21 tation of the Senate a report about the effect of the 

22 digital television transition on consumers in rural 

23 areas in the United States. 


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1 (2) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.—The report re2 quired under paragraph (1) shall include informa3 tion on the following: 

4 (A) Whether rural areas experienced dis5 proportionately more service disruptions than 

6 urban and suburban areas. 

7 (B) Whether gaps in over-the-air broadcast 

8 coverage exist for rural consumers due to the 

9 shorter range for digital signals, as compared to 

10 analog signals. 

11 (C) Recommendations for rectifying signifi12 cant problems that have arisen in rural areas in 

13 the United States as a result of the digital tele14 vision transition. 

Æ 


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