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 Ne-
braska, Mr. BERRY, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. HILL) introduced the fol-
lowing 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 consider-
ation 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 sta-
tions in an adjacent underserved county, 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 ‘‘Local Television Free-
dom Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. CARRIAGE OF STATIONS IN AN ADJACENT UNDER-
SERVED COUNTY UNDER THE COMMUNICA-
TIONS ACT OF 1934. 
(a) RETRANSMISSION CONSENT.—Section 325(b) of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara-
graph (D); 
(B) by striking the period at the end of 
subparagraph (E) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 
the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(F) to retransmission of the signals of a 
television broadcast station by a multichannel 
video programming distributor to a subscriber 
located in the station’s adjacent underserved 
county, unless the station certifies to the multi-
channel video programming distributor that it 
is under no legal obligation restricting its abil-
ity to grant retransmission consent to such 
multichannel video programming distributor.’’; 
and 
(D) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘the 
term ‘local market’ has the meaning given that 
term’’ and inserting ‘‘the terms ‘local market’ 
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and ‘adjacent underserved county’ have the 
meanings given such terms’’; and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(8) A television broadcast station that elects 
retransmission consent may not request as a condi-
tion to receiving retransmission consent that a mul-
tichannel video programming distributor not exercise 
its right to carry any other broadcast station in the 
station’s adjacent underserved county.’’. 
(b) CERTIFICATION
RULEMAKING
REQUIRED.— 
Within 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Federal Communications Commission (in this Act re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall complete all actions 
necessary to promulgate rules governing the certification 
provided by the television broadcast station under section 
325(b)(2)(F) of the Communications Act of 1934 (as 
added by subsection (a)(1)(C) of this Act). 
(c) CARRIAGE
OF
DISTANT
SIGNALS.—Section 
339(a)(1)(B) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 339(a)(1)(B)) is 
amended by inserting ‘‘or adjacent underserved county’’ 
after ‘‘local market’’. 
(d) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Within 90 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 
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commence a proceeding to revise the regulations 
concerning network nonduplication protection, syn-
dicated exclusivity protection, and sports blackout 
protection (part 76 of title 47, Code of Federal Reg-
ulations) against the retransmission by a multi-
channel video programming distributor of signals of 
television broadcast stations to permit such retrans-
mission if the subscriber receiving the signals is lo-
cated in the station’s adjacent underserved county, 
as such term is defined in section 122(j)(6) of title 
17, United States Code (as added by section 3(a)(5) 
of this Act). 
(2) CONTENTS OF REGULATIONS.—Regulations 
issued pursuant to paragraph (1) shall prohibit a 
multichannel video programming distributor from re-
transmitting the signal of a television broadcast sta-
tion in the station’s adjacent underserved county un-
less the multichannel video programming distributor 
offers service in such county pursuant to sections 
338, 614, or 615 of the Communications Act of 
1934 and carries the signals of any station required 
to be carried in such county under such sections. 
(3) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—The Commission 
shall complete all actions necessary to prescribe the 
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(b) CABLE SYSTEMS.—Section 111(a) of title 17, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 
semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) the secondary transmission is to a sub-
scriber in a broadcast station’s adjacent underserved 
county, in accordance with the same terms, condi-
tions, and definitions as apply under section 122.’’. 
Æ 
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