111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 352 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

S 352 ES 

1 SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF DTV TRANSITION DATE. 

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

3 Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 

4 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘February 18, 2009;’’ in para6 graph (1) and inserting ‘‘June 13, 2009;’’; and 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘February 18, 2009,’’ in para8 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘that date’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

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

11 309 note) is amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 

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

13 (2) Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the Communica14 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(14)(A)) is 

15 amended by striking ‘‘February 17, 2009.’’ and in16 serting ‘‘June 12, 2009.’’. 

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

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

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

20 12, 2009.’’. 

21 (c) LICENSE TERMS.— 

22 (1) EXTENSION.—The Federal Communications 

23 Commission shall extend the terms of the licenses 

24 for the recovered spectrum, including the license pe25 riod and construction requirements associated with 

26 those licenses, for a 116-day period. 
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1 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

2 ‘‘recovered spectrum’’ means— 

3 (A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such 

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

5 the Communications Act of 1934; and 

6 (B) the spectrum excluded from the defini7 tion of recovered analog spectrum by subclauses 

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

9 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CON10 VERTER BOX PROGRAM. 

11 (a) EXTENSION OF COUPON PROGRAM.—Section 

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

13 Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amend14 ed by striking ‘‘March 31, 2009,’’ and inserting ‘‘July 31, 

15 2009,’’. 

16 (b) TREATMENT OF EXPIRED COUPONS.—Section 

17 3005(c)(1) of the Digital Television Transition and Public 

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

19 adding at the end the following: 

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

21 Secretary may issue to a household, upon re22 quest by the household, one replacement coupon 

23 for each coupon that was issued to such house24 hold and that expired without being re25 deemed.’’. 
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S 352 ES 

1 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

2 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital Television Transition and 

3 Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amend4 ed by striking ‘‘receives, via the United States Postal Serv5 ice,’’ and inserting ‘‘redeems’’. 

6 (d) CONDITION OF MODIFICATIONS.—The amend7 ments made by this section shall not take effect until the 

8 enactment of additional budget authority after the date 

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

10 converter box program under section 3005 of the Digital 

11 Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. 

12 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION. 

13 (a) PERMISSIVE EARLY TERMINATION UNDER EX14 ISTING REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act is intended 

15 to prevent a licensee of a television broadcast station from 

16 terminating the broadcasting of such station’s analog tele17 vision signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in 

18 the digital television service) prior to the date established 

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

20 Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termination 

21 of all licenses for full-power television stations in the ana22 log television service (as amended by section 2 of this Act) 

23 so long as such prior termination is conducted in accord24 ance with the Federal Communications Commission’s re25 quirements in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, 
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S 352 ES 

1 including the flexible procedures established in the Matter 

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

3 Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television 

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

5 31, 2007). 

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

7 this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall pre8 vent a public safety service licensee from commencing op9 erations consistent with the terms of its license on spec10 trum recovered as a result of the voluntary cessation of 

11 broadcasting in the analog or digital television service pur12 suant to subsection (a). Any such public safety use shall 

13 be subject to the relevant Federal Communications Com14 mission rules and regulations in effect on the date of en15 actment of this Act, including section 90.545 of the Com16 mission’s rules (47 C.F.R. § 90.545). 

17 (c) EXPEDITED RULEMAKING.—Notwithstanding 

18 any other provision of law, the Federal Communications 

19 Commission and the National Telecommunications and 

20 Information Administration shall, not later than 30 days 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, each adopt or re22 vise its rules, regulations, or orders or take such other ac23 tions as may be necessary or appropriate to implement the 

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

25 the amendments made by this Act. 
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S 352 ES 

1 SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY. 

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

3 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking 

4 ‘‘2011.’’ and inserting ‘‘2012.’’. 

Passed the Senate January 29, 2009. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 352 

AN ACT 

To postpone the DTV transition date.