I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1626
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure equity for all full-
service television broadcasters and ensure the benefits of local program-
ming for communities served by class A television broadcast stations 
by providing cable carriage rights for qualified class A television stations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 3, 2003
Mr. PETERSON
of Minnesota (for himself, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. ROS-
LEHTINEN, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, and Mr. MARIO 
DIAZ-BALART of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure equity 
for all full-service television broadcasters and ensure the 
benefits of local programming for communities served 
by class A television broadcast stations by providing 
cable carriage rights for qualified class A television sta-
tions, 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 Voices on TV 
Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The newly created class A television service 
provides valuable local and specialized television 
service to unserved and underserved audiences 
throughout the United States, and for that reason 
Congress enacted the Community Broadcasters Pro-
tection Act of 1999 to provide permanent broadcast 
licenses to television stations providing such service. 
(2) It was the purpose of the Community 
Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999 to provide con-
tinuing opportunities for low power television broad-
cast stations to qualify for and be granted class A 
licenses, especially where those licenses could provide 
local programming and local voices to underserved 
urban and rural communities. 
(3) This new television service was created 
seven years after the enactment of the Cable Tele-
vision Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 
1992 (Public Law 102–385), and while that Act in-
cludes licenses for class A television service under 
the provisions relating to low power broadcast tele-
vision, it does not reflect the fact that such stations 
operate as full-service, commercial broadcast tele-
vision stations under part 73 of title 47, Code of 
Federal Regulations (the rules of the Federal Com-
munications Commission for full power television 
stations) and provide significant local programming 
to their underserved communities often equaling in 
duration that provided by the major networks in 
other small markets. 
(4) Thirteen of the largest 25 Hispanic markets 
in the United States receive Spanish language net-
work programming through low power television sta-
tions. The provisions of the Cable Television Con-
sumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 that 
exclude from mandatory carriage on cable television 
any low power television broadcast station within the 
largest 160 Metropolitan Statistical Areas deny equi-
table cable carriage opportunities for such television 
stations and other television stations serving special-
ized and other underserved urban communities. 
(5) In 1992, Congress believed that require-
ments for mandatory carriage on cable television 
were necessary to ensure the benefits of the local 
origination of programming. Today, such provisions 
are also necessary to ensure the benefits of the local 
programming provided by qualified class A television 
stations. 
(6) Must-carry rights are often challenged on 
issues of signal quality and strength. If qualified
class A television broadcast stations and other low 
power television stations use industry standard 
equipment in delivering signals to the cable 
headends, cable operators should accept any equip-
ment provided and paid for by such television sta-
tions so long as acceptance of such equipment does 
not negatively impact the operation of cable systems. 
SEC. 3. CABLE TELEVISION CARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS RE-
GARDING CLASS A LOCAL TELEVISION SERV-
ICE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 614 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534) is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)(2)(A)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘or qualified class A sta-
tion’’ after ‘‘qualified low power station’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘full power analog or dig-
ital’’ after ‘‘in lieu of a’’; 
(2) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting ‘‘and 
qualified low power stations’’ after ‘‘local commercial 
television stations’’ each place it appears in subpara-
graphs (A) and (B); 
(3) in subsection (c)(1)—
(A) in subparagraph (A)—
(i) by inserting ‘‘or one qualified class 
A station’’ after ‘‘qualified low power sta-
tion’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 
(B) by striking subparagraph (B) and in-
serting the following new subparagraphs (B) 
and (C): 
‘‘(B) a cable operator of a cable system 
with a capacity of more than 35 usable acti-
vated 6 mHz channels, but fewer than 72 such 
channels, shall be required to carry two stations 
that are either qualified class A stations or 
other qualified low power stations; and 
‘‘(C) a cable operator of a cable system 
with a capacity of 72 or more usable activated 
6 mHz channels shall be required to carry three 
stations that are either qualified class A sta-
tions or other qualified low power stations.’’; 
and 
(iii) by adding after subparagraph 
(C), as so added, the following new flush 
matter:
‘‘If there are three or fewer commercial full power 
stations serving a designated market area that do 
not substantially retransmit the signal of another
broadcast station, all qualified class A stations in 
the designated market area shall be granted carriage 
rights, except that the number of class A stations 
that a cable operator is required to carry under this 
sentence shall not exceed the national average num-
ber of broadcast stations that a cable operator is re-
quired to carry in television markets in the United 
States.’’; and 
(4) in subsection (h)—
(A) in paragraph (1)—
(i) in subparagraph (A)—
(I) by inserting ‘‘or qualified 
class A station’’ after ‘‘full power tele-
vision broadcast station’’; and 
(II) by inserting ‘‘or granted’’ 
after ‘‘assigned to its community’’; 
and 
(ii) in subparagraph (B)—
(I) in clause (i), by inserting 
‘‘(other than qualified class A sta-
tions)’’ after ‘‘low power television 
stations’’; and 
(II) in clauses (ii) and (iii), by 
inserting ‘‘or qualified low power sta-
tion’’ after ‘‘television broadcast sta-
tion’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) QUALIFIED CLASS A STATION.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 
class A station’ means a class A television sta-
tion, or a station certified as a class A tele-
vision station under section 336(f)(1)(B), 
that—
‘‘(i) operates in accordance with part 
73 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula-
tions, as prescribed for class A licensed 
stations; 
‘‘(ii) regularly broadcasts—
‘‘(I) a minimum of 3 hours per 
week in the first year after the date of 
enactment of the Local Voices on TV 
Act of 2003, 5 hours per week in the 
second year after such date of enact-
ment, and 8 hours per week in the 
third year after such date of enact-
ment and thereafter, of local program-
ming produced within the Grade B 
contour of such station; or
‘‘(II) for a group of commonly 
controlled class A stations, a min-
imum of 3 hours per week in the first 
year after such date of enactment, 5 
hours per week in the second year 
after such date of enactment, and 8 
hours per week in the third year after 
such date of enactment and there-
after, of local programming produced 
within the grade B contour of the sta-
tions in such a group, but not to ex-
ceed the designated market area of 
the main studio of such a group; 
‘‘(iii) meets all obligations and re-
quirements applicable to television broad-
cast stations under part 73 of title 47, 
Code of Federal Regulations, with respect 
to the broadcast of nonentertainment pro-
gramming; programming and rates involv-
ing political candidates, election issues, 
controversial issues of public importance, 
editorials, and personal attacks; program-
ming for children; and equal employment 
opportunity; and
‘‘(iv) maintains a fully operational 
amber alert system, as part of a national 
missing person broadcast emergency re-
sponse. 
‘‘(B) MAIN STUDIO.—For purposes of sub-
paragraph (A), the main studio of a qualified 
class A station, or group of stations, shall be lo-
cated within the grade B contour of the quali-
fied class A station, or group of stations, or 
within 15 miles of the city or cities of license, 
whichever is greater. 
‘‘(C) 
MARKET
DETERMINATIONS.—For 
purposes of subparagraph (A), the market of a 
qualified class A station shall be determined by 
the grade B contour of such station or 35 miles 
from the cable system’s headend, whichever is 
greater. However, the market of such a station 
shall be further adjusted to ensure cable car-
riage rights where 15 percent or more of the 
station’s grade B contour is on a cable system’s 
headend outside the grade B contour of that 
station or where previous service to a commu-
nity was lost through digital television displace-
ments or other spectrum reallocations since 
January 1, 1996.’’.
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the amendments to 
section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934 made by 
subsection (a) of this section shall diminish the must-carry 
rights of any class A or other low power television broad-
cast station outside the largest 160 Metropolitan Statis-
tical Areas of the United States as of June 30, 1990. 
SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY BROADCASTERS 
PROTECTION ACT OF 1999. 
(a) REGULATIONS FOR TREATMENT OF LOW-POWER 
TELEVISION BROADCAST STATIONS AS CLASS A STA-
TIONS.—
(1) DEADLINE FOR REGULATIONS.—Not later 
than 12 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Federal Communications Commission 
shall prescribe regulations to implement the provi-
sions of section 336(f)(2)(B) of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 336(f)(2)(B)) that provide 
for the application and granting of new class A tele-
vision licenses. Such regulations shall provide class 
A eligibility standards for low power stations that 
had valid licenses for such stations on December 29, 
1999. 
(2) SATISFACTION OF PUBLIC INTEREST, CON-
VENIENCE, AND NECESSITY.—The regulations under 
paragraph (1) shall require that the Commission
consider, in determining whether the treatment of a 
low-power television station as a class A station 
would meet the public interest, convenience, and ne-
cessity, the extent to which the low-power television 
station would—
(A) advance the benefits of free over-the-
air broadcast television; and 
(B) promote the widespread dissemination 
of information from a multiplicity of sources. 
(b) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS OF ADVANCED 
TELEVISION SERVICES.—Section 336(f)(4) of the Com-
munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 336(f)(4)) is amend-
ed by inserting after the first sentence the following new 
sentence: ‘‘The Commission shall promptly review each 
such license application, and if the Commission determines 
that the proposed facilities meet the requirements of the 
preceding sentence shall grant such license application not 
later than 60 days after the date of such determination.’’.
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