111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 328 

AN ACT 

To postpone the DTV transition date. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
2 

S 328 ES 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DTV Delay Act’’. 

3 SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF DTV TRANSITION DATE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3002(b) of the Digital 

5 Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 

6 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘February 18, 2009;’’ in para8 graph (1) and inserting ‘‘June 13, 2009;’’; and 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘February 18, 2009,’’ in para10 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘that date’’. 

11 (b) EXTENSION OF COUPON PROGRAM.—Section 

12 3005(c)(1)(A) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amend13 ed by striking ‘‘March 31, 2009,’’ and inserting ‘‘July 31, 

14 2009,’’. 

15 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

16 (1) Section 3008(a)(1) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 

17 309 note) is amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 

18 2009.’’ and inserting ‘‘June 12, 2009.’’. 

19 (2) Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the Communica20 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(14)(A)) is 

21 amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 2009.’’ and in22 serting ‘‘June 12, 2009.’’. 

23 (3) Section 337(e)(1) of the Communications 

24 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 337(e)(1)) is amended by 

25 striking ‘‘February 17, 2009,’’ and inserting ‘‘June 

26 12, 2009,’’. 
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1 (d) LICENSE TERMS.— 

2 (1) EXTENSION.—The Federal Communications 

3 Commission shall extend the terms of the licenses 

4 for the recovered spectrum, including the license pe5 riod and construction requirements associated with 

6 those licenses, for a 116-day period. 

7 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

8 ‘‘recovered spectrum’’ means— 

9 (A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such 

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

11 the Communications Act of 1934; and 

12 (B) the spectrum excluded from the defini13 tion of recovered analog spectrum by subclauses 

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

15 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CON16 VERTER BOX PROGRAM. 

17 (a) TREATMENT OF EXPIRED COUPONS.—Section 

18 3005(c)(1) of the Digital Television Transition and Public 

19 Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by 

20 adding at the end the following: 

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

22 Secretary may issue to a household, upon re23 quest by the household, one replacement coupon 

24 for each coupon that was issued to such house-
4 

S 328 ES 

1 hold and that expired without being re2 deemed.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

4 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition and 

5 Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amend6 ed by striking ‘‘receives, via the United States Postal Serv7 ice,’’ and inserting ‘‘redeems’’. 

8 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION. 

9 (a) PERMISSIVE EARLY TERMINATION UNDER EX10 ISTING REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act is intended 

11 to prevent a licensee of a television broadcast station from 

12 terminating the broadcasting of such station’s analog tele13 vision signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in 

14 the digital television service) prior to the date established 

15 by law under section 3002(b) of the Digital Television 

16 Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termination 

17 of all licenses for full-power television stations in the ana18 log television service (as amended by section 2 of this Act) 

19 so long as such prior termination is conducted in accord20 ance with the Federal Communications Commission’s re21 quirements in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, 

22 including the flexible procedures established in the Matter 

23 of Third Periodic Review of the Commission’s Rules and 

24 Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television 
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1 (FCC 07–228, MB Docket No. 07–91, released December 

2 31, 2007). 

3 (b) PUBLIC SAFETY RADIO SERVICES.— 

4 (1) USE ON CLEARED SPECTRUM.—Notwith5 standing the amendments made by section 2, if— 

6 (A) a television broadcast station ceases 

7 the broadcasting of such station’s analog tele8 vision service under subsection (a) of this sec9 tion prior to June 12, 2009, and 

10 (B) as a consequence of such cessation, 

11 spectrum between frequencies 768 and 776 

12 megahertz, inclusive, and 798 and 806 mega13 hertz, inclusive, becomes available for non-tele14 vision broadcast use prior to June 12, 2009, 

15 the Federal Communications Commission shall 

16 permit the use of such spectrum for authorized 

17 public safety radio services if the Commission 

18 determines that such use is in the public inter19 est and does not cause harmful interference to 

20 full-power television stations in the analog or 

21 digital television service. 

22 (2) EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.—The Federal 

23 Communications Commission may use expedited pro24 cedures, and may waive such rules as may be nec25 essary, to make a determination on an application 
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1 made under paragraph (1) to begin such use of such 

2 spectrum by a public safety agency (as such term is 

3 defined in section 3006(d)(1) of the Digital Tele4 vision Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005) in 

5 not less than 2 weeks after the date of submission 

6 of such application. 

7 (c) EXPEDITED RULEMAKING.—Notwithstanding 

8 any other provision of law, the Federal Communications 

9 Commission and the National Telecommunications Infor10 mation Administration shall, not later than 30 days after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act, each adopt or revise 

12 its rules, regulations, or orders or take such other actions 

13 as may be necessary or appropriate to implement the pro14 visions, and carry out the purposes, of this Act and the 

15 amendments made by this Act. 

16 SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY. 

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

18 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking 

19 ‘‘2011.’’ and inserting ‘‘2012.’’. 

20 SEC. 6. EMERGENCY DESIGNATION. 

21 Each amount made available under section 3005 of 

22 the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act 

23 of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) as a result of the amend24 ments made by this Act is designated as an emergency 

25 requirement and necessary to meet emergency needs pur-
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1 suant to section 204(a) of S. Con. Res. 21 (110th Con2 gress) and section 301(b)(2) of S. Con. Res. 70 (110th 

3 Congress), the concurrent resolutions on the budget for 

4 fiscal years 2008 and 2009. 

Passed the Senate January 26, 2009. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 328 

AN ACT 

To postpone the DTV transition date.