II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 352 

To postpone the DTV transition date. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 29, 2009 

Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. KERRY, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. KOHL, Mr. 

SANDERS, Mr. HARKIN, and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF DTV TRANSITION DATE. 

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

7 Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 

8 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘February 18, 2009;’’ in para10 graph (1) and inserting ‘‘June 13, 2009;’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘February 18, 2009,’’ in para2 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘that date’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

5 309 note) is amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 

6 2009.’’ and inserting ‘‘June 12, 2009.’’. 

7 (2) Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the Communica8 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(14)(A)) is 

9 amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 2009.’’ and in10 serting ‘‘June 12, 2009.’’. 

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

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

13 striking ‘‘February 17, 2009.’’ and inserting ‘‘June 

14 12, 2009.’’. 

15 (c) LICENSE TERMS.— 

16 (1) EXTENSION.—The Federal Communications 

17 Commission shall extend the terms of the licenses 

18 for the recovered spectrum, including the license pe19 riod and construction requirements associated with 

20 those licenses, for a 116-day period. 

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

22 ‘‘recovered spectrum’’ means— 

23 (A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such 

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

25 the Communications Act of 1934; and 


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1 (B) the spectrum excluded from the defini2 tion of recovered analog spectrum by subclauses 

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

4 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CON5 VERTER BOX PROGRAM. 

6 (a) EXTENSION OF COUPON PROGRAM.—Section 

7 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition and 

8 Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amend9 ed by striking ‘‘March 31, 2009,’’ and inserting ‘‘July 31, 

10 2009,’’. 

11 (b) TREATMENT OF EXPIRED COUPONS.—Section 

12 3005(c)(1) of the Digital Television Transition and Public 

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

14 adding at the end the following: 

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

16 Secretary may issue to a household, upon re17 quest by the household, one replacement coupon 

18 for each coupon that was issued to such house19 hold and that expired without being re20 deemed.’’. 

21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

22 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition and 

23 Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amend24 ed by striking ‘‘receives, via the United States Postal Serv25 ice,’’ and inserting ‘‘redeems’’. 


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1 (d) CONDITION OF MODIFICATIONS.—The amend2 ments made by this section shall not take effect until the 

3 enactment of additional budget authority after the date 

4 of enactment of this Act to carry out the analog-to-digital 

5 converter box program under section 3005 of the Digital 

6 Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. 

7 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION. 

8 (a) PERMISSIVE EARLY TERMINATION UNDER EX9 ISTING REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act is intended 

10 to prevent a licensee of a television broadcast station from 

11 terminating the broadcasting of such station’s analog tele12 vision signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in 

13 the digital television service) prior to the date established 

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

15 Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termination 

16 of all licenses for full-power television stations in the ana17 log television service (as amended by section 2 of this Act) 

18 so long as such prior termination is conducted in accord19 ance with the Federal Communications Commission’s re20 quirements in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, 

21 including the flexible procedures established in the Matter 

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

23 Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television 

24 (FCC 07–228, MB Docket No. 07–91, released December 

25 31, 2007). 


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1 (b) PUBLIC SAFETY RADIO SERVICES.—Nothing in 

2 this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall pre3 vent a public safety service licensee from commencing op4 erations consistent with the terms of its license on spec5 trum recovered as a result of the voluntary cessation of 

6 broadcasting in the analog or digital television service pur7 suant to subsection (a). Any such public safety use shall 

8 be subject to the relevant Federal Communications Com9 mission rules and regulations in effect on the date of en10 actment of this Act, including section 90.545 of the Com11 mission’s rules (47 C.F.R. § 90.545). 

12 (c) EXPEDITED RULEMAKING.—Notwithstanding 

13 any other provision of law, the Federal Communications 

14 Commission and the National Telecommunications and 

15 Information Administration shall, not later than 30 days 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act, each adopt or re17 vise its rules, regulations, or orders or take such other ac18 tions as may be necessary or appropriate to implement the 

19 provisions, and carry out the purposes, of this Act and 

20 the amendments made by this Act. 

21 SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY. 

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

23 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking 

24 ‘‘2011.’’ and inserting ‘‘2012.’’. 

Æ 


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