I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 299 

To provide American consumers information about the broadcast television 

transition from an analog to a digital format, and to provide additional 

funds for the converter box coupon program under the Digital Television 

Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 8, 2009 

Mr. ENGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To provide American consumers information about the broadcast television transition from an analog to a digital 

format, and to provide additional funds for the converter 

box coupon program under the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. 

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 ‘‘National Digital Tele5 vision Consumer Education Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LABELING AND CONSUMER EDUCATION. 

2 Section 330 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

3 U.S.C. 330) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub5 section (e); and 

6 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol7 lowing new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(d) LABELING AND CONSUMER EDUCATION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS FOR RETAIL DISTRIBU10 TORS AND OTHER VENDORS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) RETAIL DISTRIBUTORS.—Any retail 

12 distributor of any television receiving equipment 

13 described in section 303(s) that does not in14 clude a digital tuner shall— 

15 ‘‘(i) effective 30 days after the date of 

16 enactment of the National Digital Tele17 vision Consumer Education Act, place ad18 jacent to each unit of such equipment that 

19 such distributor displays for sale or rent a 

20 consumer alert as provided by the manu21 facturer pursuant to paragraph (2), except 

22 that such distributor shall not be required 

23 to affix such label to the television screen 

24 on such equipment, as long as the label 

25 is— 


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1 ‘‘(I) in the close vicinity of, and 

2 associated with, the unit on display; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(II) clearly visible to consumers; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(ii) effective 30 days after the enact7 ment of the National Digital Television 

8 Consumer Education Act, provide informa9 tion to consumers, on signs and in pam10 phlet form, in the display area for product 

11 categories that include any television re12 ceiving equipment described in section 

13 303(s) that does not include a digital tuner 

14 television, sufficient to convey the informa15 tion carried in the consumer advisory label. 

16 Such signs and pamphlets shall also in17 clude information on recycling old tele18 visions, computer monitors, computer cen19 tral processing units, fax machines, and 

20 scanners and other consumer electronics. 

21 ‘‘(B) OTHER VENDORS.—Effective 30 days 

22 after the date of enactment of the National 

23 Digital Television Consumer Education Act, 

24 any seller via direct mail, catalog, or electronic 

25 means, such as the Internet, of any television 


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1 receiving equipment described in section 303(s) 

2 that does not include a digital tuner, shall in3 clude in clear and conspicuous print the con4 sumer alert required by paragraph (2) at the 

5 point of display for the apparatus, or, if there 

6 is no display, at the point of sale. Such infor7 mation shall also include information on recy8 cling old televisions and other consumer elec9 tronics. 

10 ‘‘(2) CONSUMER ALERT.—The consumer alert 

11 required by this paragraph shall display in clear and 

12 conspicuous print, the following consumer alert: 

13 ‘‘Consumer Alert 

14 ‘‘This TV has only an analog broadcast 

15 tuner and will require a converter box after 

16 February 17, 2009, to receive over-the-air 

17 broadcasts with an antenna because of the Na18 tion’s transition to digital broadcasting. The TV 

19 should continue to work as before with cable 

20 and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, 

21 VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For 

22 more information, call the Federal Communica23 tions Commission at 1–888–225–5322 (TTY: 

24 1–888–835–5322) or visit the Commission’s 

25 digital television website at: www.dtv.gov. 


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1 ‘‘Nuncio Consumidor 

2 ‘‘Esta TV tiene so ́lo un sintonizador de 

3 emisio ́n ana ́logo y por lo tanto requerira ́ una 

4 caja de conversio ́n despue ́s del 17 de febrero de 

5 2009 para recibir emisiones de TV terrestre con 

6 una antena, debido a la transicio ́n nacional a la 

7 emisio ́n de TV digital. Esta continuara ́

8 funcionando igualmente con TV por cable, 

9 sistema de TV sate ́lite, consolas de juegos, 

10 videograbadoras, reproductores de DVD y 

11 productos similares. Si requiere ma ́s 

12 informacio ́n llame a la Comisio ́n Federal de 

13 Comunicaciones al 1–888–225–5322 (TTY: 1– 

14 888–835–5322) o visite el sitio web de la 

15 Comisio ́n en www.dtv.gov. 

16 ‘‘(3) OTHER DEVICES.—For devices other than 

17 television sets that are included in section 303(s) 

18 and that contain an analog tuner, but not a digital 

19 tuner, the Commission shall require the clear and 

20 conspicuous placement of a comparable consumer 

21 advisory label on such devices, as well as on the out22 side of the retail packaging of such devices. 

23 ‘‘(4) ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NOTICES RE2 QUIRED.—From the date of enactment of this 

3 Act through March 31, 2009— 

4 ‘‘(i) each television broadcaster shall 

5 air, at a minimum, 120 seconds per day of 

6 public service announcements between the 

7 hours of 6 a.m. and 11:35 p.m., at variable 

8 time slots throughout the week, with at 

9 least half aired between the hours of 5 

10 p.m. and 11:35 p.m.; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) any multichannel video program 

12 distributor shall include a notice in or with 

13 each periodic bill. 

14 ‘‘(B) CONTENT OF ANNOUNCEMENTS AND

15 NOTICES.—The announcements and notices re16 quired by this paragraph shall educate con17 sumers about the deadline for termination of 

18 analog television broadcasting and the equip19 ment options consumers have after such termi20 nation. Announcements aired and notices dis21 tributed after January 1, 2009, shall also edu22 cate consumers about the need for and avail23 ability of the converter box voucher program 

24 and the steps to redeem the voucher.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. DIGITAL TELEVISION CONSUMER EDUCATION 

2 GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 Part C of the National Telecommunications and In4 formation Administration Organization Act is amended by 

5 inserting after section 158 (47 U.S.C. 942) the following 

6 new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 159. DIGITAL TELEVISION CONSUMER EDUCATION 

8 GRANT PROGRAM. 

9 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Assistant Sec10 retary of Commerce for Communications and Information 

11 is authorized to establish a temporary grant program for 

12 the purpose of coordinating and leading a nationwide con13 sumer education and outreach campaign regarding Amer14 ica’s conversion to digital television. 

15 ‘‘(b) SINGLE GRANT.—No later than January 31, 

16 2009, and ending no earlier than March 31, 2009, the 

17 Assistant Secretary shall award a single grant from the 

18 program authorized by this section to one qualified entity. 

19 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—For purposes of this sec20 tion, the term ‘qualified entity’ shall be a corporation, or21 ganized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 

22 Code of 1986, that represents the interests of local non23 commercial television stations at the national level, and 

24 consults with commercial broadcasters, consumer equip25 ment manufacturers, electronics retailers, cable and sat26 ellite operators, consumer groups, older Americans, HisVerDate Nov 24 2008 20:19 Jan 11, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H299.IH H299

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1 panic Americans, Americans whose primary language is 

2 not English, Americans with disabilities, and Americans 

3 living in rural communities. 

4 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

6 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2009. Such sums are author7 ized to remain available subject to subsection (e). 

8 ‘‘(e) TERMINATION.—Expenditures for the grant pro9 gram under this section shall terminate on April 30, 

10 2009.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE CONVERTER BOX 

12 COUPON PROGRAM. 

13 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 3005 of the Digital Tele14 vision Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (Public 

15 Law 109–171; 120 Stat. 23) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (b), by striking 

17 ‘‘$1,500,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,700,000,000’’; 

18 and 

19 (2) in subsection (c)(3), by striking ‘‘by sub20 stituting ‘$1,500,000,000’ ’’ each place it appears in 

21 subparagraphs (A)(ii) and (B) and inserting ‘‘by 

22 substituting ‘$1,700,000,000’ ’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

24 309(j)(8)(E)(iii) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 


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1 U.S.C. 309(j)(8)(E)(iii)) is amended by striking 

2 ‘‘$7,363,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$7,163,000,000’’. 

Æ 


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