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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4572 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4572

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to extend expiring provisions 
   relating to the retransmission of signals of television broadcast 
                   stations, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 6, 2014

    Mr. Walden (for himself, Mr. Upton, Mr. Waxman, and Ms. Eshoo) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to extend expiring provisions 
   relating to the retransmission of signals of television broadcast 
                   stations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY.

    Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ``December 31, 2014'' 
        and inserting ``December 31, 2019''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ``January 1, 2015'' 
        each place it appears and inserting ``January 1, 2020''.

SEC. 3. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT NEGOTIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(3)(C)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(iv) prohibit a television broadcast station from 
        coordinating negotiations or negotiating on a joint basis with 
        another television broadcast station in the same local market 
        (as defined in section 122(j) of title 17, United States Code) 
        to grant retransmission consent under this section to a 
        multichannel video programming distributor, unless such 
        stations are directly or indirectly under common de jure 
        control permitted under the regulations of the Commission.''.
    (b) Margin Correction.--Section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(3)(C)) is further amended by moving the 
margin of clause (iii) 4 ems to the left.
    (c) Deadline for Regulations.--Not later than 9 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate 
regulations to implement the amendments made by this section.

SEC. 4. DELAYED APPLICATION OF JSA ATTRIBUTION RULE IN CASE OF WAIVER 
              PETITION.

    In the case of a party to a joint sales agreement (as defined in 
Note 2(k) to section 73.3555 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations) 
that is in effect on the effective date of the amendment to Note 
2(k)(2) to such section made by the Further Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking and Report and Order adopted by the Commission on March 31, 
2014 (FCC 14-28), and who, not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, submits to the Commission a petition for a 
waiver of the application to such agreement of the rule in such Note 
2(k)(2) (as so amended), such party shall not be considered to be in 
violation of the ownership limitations of such section by reason of the 
application of such rule to such agreement until the later of--
            (1) the date that is 18 months after the date on which the 
        Commission denies such petition; or
            (2) December 31, 2016.

SEC. 5. DELETION OR REPOSITIONING OF STATIONS DURING CERTAIN PERIODS.

    (a) In General.--Section 614(b)(9) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(b)(9)) is amended by striking the second sentence.
    (b) Revision of Rules.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall revise section 76.1601 
of its rules (47 C.F.R. 76.1601) and any note to such section by 
removing the prohibition against deletion or repositioning of a local 
commercial television station during a period in which major television 
ratings services measure the size of audiences of local television 
stations.

SEC. 6. REPEAL OF INTEGRATION BAN.

    (a) No Force or Effect.--The second sentence of section 
76.1204(a)(1) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, shall have no 
force or effect after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Removal From Rules.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete all actions 
necessary to remove the sentence described in subsection (a) from its 
rules.

SEC. 7. REPORT ON COMMUNICATIONS IMPLICATIONS OF STATUTORY LICENSING 
              MODIFICATIONS.

    (a) Study.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall 
conduct a study that analyzes and evaluates the changes to the carriage 
requirements currently imposed on multichannel video programming 
distributors under the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.) and the regulations promulgated by the Commission that would be 
required or beneficial to consumers, and such other matters as the 
Comptroller General considers appropriate, if Congress implemented a 
phase-out of the current statutory licensing requirements set forth 
under sections 111, 119, and 122 of title 17, United States Code. Among 
other things, the study shall consider the impact such a phase-out and 
related changes to carriage requirements would have on consumer prices 
and access to programming.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
appropriate congressional committees a report on the results of the 
study conducted under subsection (a), including any recommendations for 
legislative or administrative actions. Such report shall also include a 
discussion of any differences between such results and the results of 
the study conducted under section 303 of the Satellite Television 
Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (124 Stat. 1255).

SEC. 8. LOCAL NETWORK CHANNEL BROADCAST REPORTS.

    (a) Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--On the 270th day after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, and on each succeeding anniversary of 
        such 270th day, each satellite carrier shall submit an annual 
        report to the Commission setting forth--
                    (A) each local market in which it--
                            (i) retransmits signals of 1 or more 
                        television broadcast stations with a community 
                        of license in that market;
                            (ii) has commenced providing such signals 
                        in the preceding 1-year period; and
                            (iii) has ceased to provide such signals in 
                        the preceding 1-year period; and
                    (B) detailed information regarding the use and 
                potential use of satellite capacity for the 
                retransmission of local signals in each local market.
            (2) Termination.--The requirement under paragraph (1) shall 
        cease after each satellite carrier has submitted 5 reports 
        under such paragraph.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the terms ``local market'' and ``satellite carrier'' 
        have the meaning given such terms in section 339(d) of the 
        Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 339(d)); and
            (2) the term ``television broadcast station'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 325(b)(7) of the 
        Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(7)).

SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        Energy and Commerce and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
        House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
        Science, and Transportation and the Committee on the Judiciary 
        of the Senate.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
                                 <all>
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