II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3405 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to issue a rule providing 

that certain low power television stations may be accorded primary status 

as Class A television licensees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 15, 2021 

Mr. BLUNT (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require the Federal Communications Commission to issue 

a rule providing that certain low power television stations 

may be accorded primary status as Class A television 

licensees, 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 ‘‘Low Power Protection 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LOW POWER TV STATIONS. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 

2 Communications Commission; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘Designated Market Area’’ 

4 means— 

5 (A) a Designated Market Area determined 

6 by Nielsen Media Research or any successor en7 tity; or 

8 (B) a Designated Market Area under a 

9 system of dividing television broadcast station 

10 licensees into local markets using a system that 

11 the Commission determines is equivalent to the 

12 system established by Nielsen Media Research; 

13 and 

14 (3) the term ‘‘low power TV station’’ has the 

15 meaning given the term ‘‘digital low power TV sta16 tion’’ in section 74.701 of title 47, Code of Federal 

17 Regulations, or any successor regulation. 

18 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to pro19 vide low power TV stations with a limited window of op20 portunity to apply for the opportunity to be accorded pri21 mary status as Class A television licensees. 

22 (c) RULEMAKING.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

25 shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to issue 


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1 a rule that contains the requirements described in 

2 this subsection. 

3 (2) REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The rule with respect 

5 to which the Commission is required to issue 

6 notice under paragraph (1) shall provide that, 

7 during the 1-year period beginning on the date 

8 on which that rule takes effect, a low power TV 

9 station may apply to the Commission to be ac10 corded primary status as a Class A television li11 censee under section 73.6001 of title 47, Code 

12 of Federal Regulations, or any successor regula13 tion. 

14 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Commission 

15 may approve an application submitted under 

16 subparagraph (A) if the low power TV station 

17 submitting the application— 

18 (i) satisfies— 

19 (I) section 336(f)(2) of the Com20 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

21 336(f)(2)) and the rules issued under 

22 that section, including the require23 ments under such section 336(f)(2) 

24 with respect to locally produced pro25 gramming, except that, for the purVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:38 Dec 18, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3405.IS S3405

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1 poses of this subclause, the period de2 scribed in the matter preceding sub3 clause (I) of subparagraph (A)(i) of 

4 such section 336(f)(2) shall be con5 strued to be the 90-day period pre6 ceding the date of enactment of this 

7 Act; and 

8 (II) paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) 

9 of 73.6001 of title 47, Code of Fed10 eral Regulations, or any successor 

11 regulation; 

12 (ii) demonstrates to the Commission 

13 that the Class A station for which the li14 cense is sought will not cause any inter15 ference described in section 336(f)(7) of 

16 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

17 U.S.C. 336(f)(7)); and 

18 (iii) as of the date of enactment of 

19 this Act, operates in a Designated Market 

20 Area with not more than 95,000 television 

21 households. 

22 (3) APPLICABILITY OF LICENSE.—A license 

23 that accords primary status as a Class A television 

24 licensee to a low power TV station as a result of the 


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1 rule with respect to which the Commission is re2 quired to issue notice under paragraph (1) shall— 

3 (A) be subject to the same license terms 

4 and renewal standards as a license for a full 

5 power television broadcast station, except as 

6 otherwise expressly provided in this subsection; 

7 and 

8 (B) require the low power TV station to 

9 remain in compliance with paragraph (2)(B) 

10 during the term of the license. 

11 (d) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall sub13 mit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans14 portation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 

15 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report re16 garding the implementation of this section, which shall in17 clude— 

18 (1) a list of the current, as of the date on which 

19 the report is submitted, licensees that have been ac20 corded primary status as Class A television licensees; 

21 and 

22 (2) of the licensees described in paragraph (1), 

23 an identification of each such licensee that has been 


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1 accorded the status described in that paragraph be2 cause of the implementation of this section. 

Æ 


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