I 

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. 

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 ‘‘STELA Reauthoriza5 tion Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY. 

7 Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 

8 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘December 

2 31, 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2019’’; and 

3 (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ‘‘January 

4 1, 2015’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Janu5 ary 1, 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 3. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT NEGOTIATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Com8 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(3)(C)) is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

11 (2) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the 

12 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(iv) prohibit a television broadcast station 

15 from coordinating negotiations or negotiating on a 

16 joint basis with another television broadcast station 

17 in the same local market (as defined in section 

18 122(j) of title 17, United States Code) to grant re19 transmission consent under this section to a multi20 channel video programming distributor, unless such 

21 stations are directly or indirectly under common de 

22 jure control permitted under the regulations of the 

23 Commission.’’. 

24 (b) MARGIN CORRECTION.—Section 325(b)(3)(C) of 

25 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 


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1 325(b)(3)(C)) is further amended by moving the margin 

2 of clause (iii) 4 ems to the left. 

3 (c) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—Not later than 

4 9 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Commission shall promulgate regulations to implement 

6 the amendments made by this section. 

7 SEC. 4. DELAYED APPLICATION OF JSA ATTRIBUTION RULE 

8 IN CASE OF WAIVER PETITION. 

9 In the case of a party to a joint sales agreement (as 

10 defined in Note 2(k) to section 73.3555 of title 47, Code 

11 of Federal Regulations) that is in effect on the effective 

12 date of the amendment to Note 2(k)(2) to such section 

13 made by the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and 

14 Report and Order adopted by the Commission on March 

15 31, 2014 (FCC 14–28), and who, not later than 90 days 

16 after the date of the enactment of this Act, submits to 

17 the Commission a petition for a waiver of the application 

18 to such agreement of the rule in such Note 2(k)(2) (as 

19 so amended), such party shall not be considered to be in 

20 violation of the ownership limitations of such section by 

21 reason of the application of such rule to such agreement 

22 until the later of— 

23 (1) the date that is 18 months after the date 

24 on which the Commission denies such petition; or 

25 (2) December 31, 2016. 


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1 SEC. 5. DELETION OR REPOSITIONING OF STATIONS DUR2 ING CERTAIN PERIODS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 614(b)(9) of the Commu4 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(b)(9)) is amended 

5 by striking the second sentence. 

6 (b) REVISION OF RULES.—Not later than 90 days 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis8 sion shall revise section 76.1601 of its rules (47 C.F.R. 

9 76.1601) and any note to such section by removing the 

10 prohibition against deletion or repositioning of a local 

11 commercial television station during a period in which 

12 major television ratings services measure the size of audi13 ences of local television stations. 

14 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF INTEGRATION BAN. 

15 (a) NO FORCE OR EFFECT.—The second sentence of 

16 section 76.1204(a)(1) of title 47, Code of Federal Regula17 tions, shall have no force or effect after the date of the 

18 enactment of this Act. 

19 (b) REMOVAL FROM RULES.—Not later than 180 

20 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Com21 mission shall complete all actions necessary to remove the 

22 sentence described in subsection (a) from its rules. 

23 SEC. 7. REPORT ON COMMUNICATIONS IMPLICATIONS OF 

24 STATUTORY LICENSING MODIFICATIONS. 

25 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

26 States shall conduct a study that analyzes and evaluates 


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1 the changes to the carriage requirements currently im2 posed on multichannel video programming distributors 

3 under the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 

4 et seq.) and the regulations promulgated by the Commis5 sion that would be required or beneficial to consumers, 

6 and such other matters as the Comptroller General con7 siders appropriate, if Congress implemented a phase-out 

8 of the current statutory licensing requirements set forth 

9 under sections 111, 119, and 122 of title 17, United 

10 States Code. Among other things, the study shall consider 

11 the impact such a phase-out and related changes to car12 riage requirements would have on consumer prices and ac13 cess to programming. 

14 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

16 shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

17 a report on the results of the study conducted under sub18 section (a), including any recommendations for legislative 

19 or administrative actions. Such report shall also include 

20 a discussion of any differences between such results and 

21 the results of the study conducted under section 303 of 

22 the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 

23 2010 (124 Stat. 1255). 

24 SEC. 8. LOCAL NETWORK CHANNEL BROADCAST REPORTS. 

25 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—On the 270th day after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, and on each suc3 ceeding anniversary of such 270th day, each satellite 

4 carrier shall submit an annual report to the Com5 mission setting forth— 

6 (A) each local market in which it— 

7 (i) retransmits signals of 1 or more 

8 television broadcast stations with a com9 munity of license in that market; 

10 (ii) has commenced providing such 

11 signals in the preceding 1-year period; and 

12 (iii) has ceased to provide such signals 

13 in the preceding 1-year period; and 

14 (B) detailed information regarding the use 

15 and potential use of satellite capacity for the re16 transmission of local signals in each local mar17 ket. 

18 (2) TERMINATION.—The requirement under 

19 paragraph (1) shall cease after each satellite carrier 

20 has submitted 5 reports under such paragraph. 

21 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

22 (1) the terms ‘‘local market’’ and ‘‘satellite car23 rier’’ have the meaning given such terms in section 

24 339(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

25 U.S.C. 339(d)); and 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘television broadcast station’’ has 

2 the meaning given such term in section 325(b)(7) of 

3 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

4 325(b)(7)). 

5 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com9 mittees’’ means the Committee on Energy and Com10 merce and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

11 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

12 Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 

13 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate. 

14 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

15 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

Æ 


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