I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7369 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to amend provisions relating 
to franchise term and termination and provisions relating to the elimi-
nation or modification of requirements in franchises, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 25, 2020 
Mr. MULLIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to amend provi-
sions relating to franchise term and termination and 
provisions relating to the elimination or modification of 
requirements in franchises, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cable Transparency 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. CABLE FRANCHISE TERM AND TERMINATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 626 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 546) is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 626. FRANCHISE TERM AND TERMINATION. 
‘‘(a) FRANCHISE TERM.—A franchise shall continue 
in effect (without any requirement for renewal) until the 
date on which the franchise is revoked or terminated in 
accordance with subsection (b). 
‘‘(b) LIMITS.— 
‘‘(1) PROHIBITION AGAINST REVOCATION; TER-
MINATION.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), a 
franchise may not be— 
‘‘(A) revoked by a franchising authority; 
‘‘(B) terminated by a cable operator; or 
‘‘(C) revoked or terminated by operation of 
law, including by a term in a franchise that re-
vokes or terminates such franchise on a specific 
date, after a period of time, or upon the occur-
rence of an event. 
‘‘(2) WHEN TERMINATION OR REVOCATION OF 
FRANCHISE PERMITTED.— 
‘‘(A) TERMINATION
BY
CABLE
OPER-
ATOR.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A cable operator 
may terminate a franchise by submitting 
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to the franchising authority a written re-
quest for the franchising authority to re-
voke such franchise. 
‘‘(ii) TIME
OF
REVOCATION.—If the 
cable operator submits a complete request 
under clause (i), the franchising authority 
shall revoke the franchise on the date that 
is 90 days after the franchising authority 
receives such request. 
‘‘(iii) DEEMED TO BE REVOKED.—If a 
franchising authority does not approve a 
request by the date required under clause 
(ii), the franchise is deemed revoked on the 
day after such date. 
‘‘(B) TERMINATION BY FRANCHISING AU-
THORITY.—A franchising authority may revoke 
a franchise if the franchising authority— 
‘‘(i) finds that the cable operator has 
knowingly and willfully failed to substan-
tially meet a material requirement imposed 
by the franchise; 
‘‘(ii) provides the cable operator a rea-
sonable opportunity to cure such failure, 
after which the cable operator fails to cure 
such failure; and 
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‘‘(iii) does not waive the material re-
quirement or acquiesce with the failure to 
substantially meet such requirement. 
‘‘(3) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; 
RECEIVED.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 
this subsection, a request shall be considered— 
‘‘(i) complete if— 
‘‘(I) the cable operator makes the 
request by submitting to the fran-
chising authority the form required to 
be used for making the request; 
‘‘(II) the form submitted con-
tains all of the information specified 
by the form as being required to be 
included in form; and 
‘‘(III) the cable operator has not 
received a written notice from the 
franchising authority within 10 busi-
ness days after the date on which the 
request is received by the franchising 
authority— 
‘‘(aa) stating that the form 
does not contain all of the infor-
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