II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 760 

To provide certain counties with the ability to receive television broadcast 

signals of their choice. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 5, 2007 

Mr. SALAZAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To provide certain counties with the ability to receive 

television broadcast signals of their choice. 

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 ‘‘Four Corners Tele5 vision Access Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SATELLITE CARRIAGE OF TELEVISION BROADCAST 

7 SIGNALS. 

8 Section 119(a)(2)(C) of title 17, United States Code, 

9 is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating clause (v) as clause (vi); 


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1 (2) by inserting after clause (v) the following: 

2 ‘‘(v) FURTHER ADDITIONAL STA3 TIONS.—If 2 adjacent counties in a single 

4 State are in a local market comprised prin5 cipally of counties located in another State, 

6 the statutory license provided for in sub7 paragraph (A) shall apply to the secondary 

8 transmission by a satellite carrier to sub9 scribers in those 2 counties of the primary 

10 transmissions of any network station lo11 cated in the capital of the State in which 

12 such 2 counties are located, if— 

13 ‘‘(I) the 2 counties are located in 

14 the 46th largest designated market 

15 area for the year 2005 according to 

16 Nielsen Media Research; and 

17 ‘‘(II) the total number of tele18 vision households in the 2 counties 

19 combined did not exceed 30,000 for 

20 the year 2005 according to Nielsen 

21 Media Research.’’; and 

22 (3) in clause (vi) as redesignated, by striking 

23 ‘‘and (iv)’’ and inserting ‘‘(iv), and (v)’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. WAIVER OF RETRANSMISSION RULES FOR CERTAIN 

2 SATELLITE CARRIERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 17, United 

4 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 119 the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘§ 119A. Waiver of secondary transmission rules 

7 ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a sat8 ellite carrier, cable system, or translator station that elects 

9 to provide the secondary transmission of a performance 

10 or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission 

11 made by a network station located in a State only to sub12 scribers in that State who otherwise would not receive the 

13 primary transmission of such network because such sub14 scribers are determined to be located in a designated mar15 ket area outside of that State may do so if— 

16 ‘‘(1) the Federal Communications Commission 

17 determines that it is in the best interest of the pub18 lic welfare; and 

19 ‘‘(2) such satellite carrier, cable system, or 

20 translator station agrees to also provide the sec21 ondary transmission of the primary transmission of 

22 the network station in the assigned designated mar23 ket area.’’. 

24 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

25 The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 17, United 


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1 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat2 ing to section 119 the following: 

‘‘119A. Waiver of secondary transmission rules.’’. 

3 SEC. 4. CABLE CARRIAGE OF TELEVISON BROADCAST SIG4 NALS. 

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

6 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 342. CARRIAGE OF SIGNALS TO CERTAIN TELEVISION 

9 MARKET AREAS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro11 vision of law, each cable operator providing service in an 

12 eligible area may elect to carry the primary signal of any 

13 network station located in the capital of the State in which 

14 such area is located. 

15 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE AREA.—The term ‘eligible area’ 

17 means 1 of 2 counties that— 

18 ‘‘(A) are all in a single State; 

19 ‘‘(B) on the date of enactment of the Four 

20 Corners Television Access Act of 2007, were 

21 each located in— 

22 ‘‘(i) the 46th largest designated mar23 ket area for the year 2005 according to 

24 Nielsen Media Research; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) a designated market area com2 prised principally of counties located in an3 other State; and 

4 ‘‘(C) as a group had a total number of tel5 evision households that when combined did not 

6 exceed 30,000 for the year 2005 according to 

7 Nielsen Media Research. 

8 ‘‘(2) NETWORK STATION.—The term ‘network 

9 station’ has the same meaning as in section 119(d) 

10 of title 17, United States Code.’’. 

Æ 


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