I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3216 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to permit the retransmission 

of signals of local television broadcast stations in an adjacent underserved 

county, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 14, 2009 

Mr. ROSS (for himself, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. 

HERGER, Mr. BOREN, Mr. TANNER, Mr. CHILDERS, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, Mr. BERRY, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. HILL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to permit the 

retransmission of signals of local television broadcast stations in an adjacent underserved county, 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 ‘‘Local Television Free5 dom Act of 2009’’. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3216 IH

1 SEC. 2. CARRIAGE OF STATIONS IN AN ADJACENT UNDER2 SERVED COUNTY UNDER THE COMMUNICA3 TIONS ACT OF 1934. 

4 (a) RETRANSMISSION CONSENT.—Section 325(b) of 

5 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara9 graph (D); 

10 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

11 subparagraph (E) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

12 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 

13 the following new subparagraph: 

14 ‘‘(F) to retransmission of the signals of a 

15 television broadcast station by a multichannel 

16 video programming distributor to a subscriber 

17 located in the station’s adjacent underserved 

18 county, unless the station certifies to the multi19 channel video programming distributor that it 

20 is under no legal obligation restricting its abil21 ity to grant retransmission consent to such 

22 multichannel video programming distributor.’’; 

23 and 

24 (D) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘the 

25 term ‘local market’ has the meaning given that 

26 term’’ and inserting ‘‘the terms ‘local market’ 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3216 IH

1 and ‘adjacent underserved county’ have the 

2 meanings given such terms’’; and 

3 (2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(8) A television broadcast station that elects 

6 retransmission consent may not request as a condi7 tion to receiving retransmission consent that a mul8 tichannel video programming distributor not exercise 

9 its right to carry any other broadcast station in the 

10 station’s adjacent underserved county.’’. 

11 (b) CERTIFICATION RULEMAKING REQUIRED.— 

12 Within 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

13 the Federal Communications Commission (in this Act re14 ferred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall complete all actions 

15 necessary to promulgate rules governing the certification 

16 provided by the television broadcast station under section 

17 325(b)(2)(F) of the Communications Act of 1934 (as 

18 added by subsection (a)(1)(C) of this Act). 

19 (c) CARRIAGE OF DISTANT SIGNALS.—Section 

20 339(a)(1)(B) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 339(a)(1)(B)) is 

21 amended by inserting ‘‘or adjacent underserved county’’ 

22 after ‘‘local market’’. 

23 (d) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 90 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3216 IH

1 commence a proceeding to revise the regulations 

2 concerning network nonduplication protection, syn3 dicated exclusivity protection, and sports blackout 

4 protection (part 76 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg5 ulations) against the retransmission by a multi6 channel video programming distributor of signals of 

7 television broadcast stations to permit such retrans8 mission if the subscriber receiving the signals is lo9 cated in the station’s adjacent underserved county, 

10 as such term is defined in section 122(j)(6) of title 

11 17, United States Code (as added by section 3(a)(5) 

12 of this Act). 

13 (2) CONTENTS OF REGULATIONS.—Regulations 

14 issued pursuant to paragraph (1) shall prohibit a 

15 multichannel video programming distributor from re16 transmitting the signal of a television broadcast sta17 tion in the station’s adjacent underserved county un18 less the multichannel video programming distributor 

19 offers service in such county pursuant to sections 

20 338, 614, or 615 of the Communications Act of 

21 1934 and carries the signals of any station required 

22 to be carried in such county under such sections. 

23 (3) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—The Commission 

24 shall complete all actions necessary to prescribe the 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3216 IH

1 revised regulations required by paragraph (1) within 

2 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 3. CARRIAGE OF STATIONS IN AN ADJACENT UNDER4 SERVED COUNTY UNDER THE COPYRIGHT 

5 ACT. 

6 (a) SATELLITE CARRIERS.—Section 122 of title 17, 

7 United States Code, is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 

9 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or adjacent under10 served county’’ after ‘‘station’s local market’’; 

11 (2) in subsections (d) and (e), by inserting ‘‘or 

12 adjacent underserved county’’ after ‘‘into the local 

13 market’’; 

14 (3) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘or adjacent 

15 underserved county’’ after ‘‘station’s local market’’ 

16 in paragraphs (1) and (2); 

17 (4) in subsection (g), by inserting ‘‘or adjacent 

18 underserved county’’ after ‘‘station’s local market’’; 

19 and 

20 (5) in subsection (j), by adding at the end the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(6) ADJACENT UNDERSERVED COUNTY.—The 

23 term ‘adjacent underserved county’, in the case of 

24 both commercial and noncommercial television 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3216 IH

1 broadcast stations, means a county within the sta2 tion’s adjacent market that is both— 

3 ‘‘(A) located in the same State as the sta4 tion’s community of license; and 

5 ‘‘(B) not within the local market of any 

6 other station that is both affiliated with the 

7 same network and located in the same State as 

8 such other station’s community of license. 

9 ‘‘(7) ADJACENT MARKET.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘adjacent 

11 market’, in the case of both commercial and 

12 noncommercial television broadcast stations, 

13 means any local market adjacent to, and par14 tially but not entirely in the same State as, the 

15 local market in which the station’s community 

16 of license is located. 

17 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN COUN18 TIES.—A county that is in a local market con19 taining no in-State network stations, but which 

20 is not located in the adjacent market (as de21 fined under subparagraph (A)) of any in-State 

22 network station, shall be considered to be the 

23 adjacent market of the nearest local market lo24 cated in whole or in part within the State in 

25 which the county is located.’’. 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3216 IH

1 (b) CABLE SYSTEMS.—Section 111(a) of title 17, 

2 United States Code, is amended— 

3 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 

4 semicolon; 

5 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

6 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

7 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(6) the secondary transmission is to a sub9 scriber in a broadcast station’s adjacent underserved 

10 county, in accordance with the same terms, condi11 tions, and definitions as apply under section 122.’’. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS