I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5035 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to extend expiring provisions 
relating to the retransmission of signals of television broadcast stations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 12, 2019 
Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to extend expir-
ing provisions relating to the retransmission of signals 
of television broadcast stations, 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 ‘‘Television Viewer Pro-
tection Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY. 
Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended— 
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(1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘December 
31, 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘the expiration date, if any, 
described in section 119(h) of title 17, United States 
Code’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ‘‘January 
1, 2020’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘Janu-
ary 1, 2025’’. 
SEC. 3. SATISFACTION OF GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATION RE-
QUIREMENT BY MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PRO-
GRAMMING DISTRIBUTORS. 
(a) SATISFACTION OF GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATION 
REQUIREMENT.—Section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(3)(C)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and in-
serting a semicolon; 
(2) in clause (v), by striking the period at the 
end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(vi) not later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of the Television Viewer Protection 
Act of 2019, specify that a multichannel video pro-
gramming distributor may satisfy its obligation to 
negotiate in good faith under clause (iii) with re-
spect to a negotiation for retransmission consent 
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under this section with a large station group or a 
television broadcast station by designating a quali-
fied MVPD buying group to negotiate on its behalf, 
so long as the qualified MVPD buying group itself 
negotiates in good faith in accordance with such 
clause.’’. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 325(b)(7) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(7)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
and inserting a semicolon; 
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) ‘qualified MVPD buying group’ means an 
entity that, with respect to a negotiation with a 
large station group or television broadcast station 
for retransmission consent under this section— 
‘‘(i) negotiates on behalf of two or more 
multichannel video programming distributors— 
‘‘(I) none of which is a multichannel 
video programming distributor that serves 
more than 1,000,000 subscribers nation-
ally; and 
‘‘(II) that do not collectively serve 
more than 35 percent of all households 
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served by a multichannel video program-
ming distributor in any single local market 
in which the applicable large station group 
or television broadcast station operates; 
and 
‘‘(ii) negotiates agreements for such re-
transmission consent— 
‘‘(I) that contain standardized con-
tract provisions, including billing struc-
tures and technical quality standards, for 
each multichannel video programming dis-
tributor on behalf of which the entity nego-
tiates; and 
‘‘(II) under which the entity assumes 
liability to remit to the applicable large 
station group or television broadcast sta-
tion all fees received from the multichannel 
video programming distributors on behalf 
of which the entity negotiates; 
‘‘(D) ‘large station group’ means a group of tel-
evision broadcast stations that— 
‘‘(i) are directly or indirectly under com-
mon de jure control permitted by the regula-
tions of the Commission; 
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‘‘(ii) generally negotiate agreements for re-
transmission consent under this section as a 
single entity; and 
‘‘(iii) include, with respect to at least five 
different local markets, at least one television 
broadcast station ranked among the top four 
stations, based on audience share, as measured 
by Nielsen Media Research or by any com-
parable professional, accepted audience ratings 
service; 
‘‘(E) ‘local market’ has the meaning given such 
term in section 122(j) of title 17, United States 
Code; and 
‘‘(F) ‘multichannel 
video 
programing 
dis-
tributor’ has the meaning given such term in section 
602.’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 325(b) of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘1992,’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘, and the term ‘local mar-
ket’ has the meaning given that term in section 
122(j) of such title’’; and 
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(2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ‘‘(as de-
fined in section 122(j) of title 17, United States 
Code)’’ each place it appears. 
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR COV-
ERED SERVICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 723. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR 
COVERED SERVICES. 
‘‘(a) TRANSPARENCY IN ADVERTISING.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A provider of a covered 
service may not advertise the price of the covered 
service unless the advertised price is the total 
amount that the provider will charge for or relating 
to the provision of the covered service, including any 
related taxes, administrative fees, equipment rental 
fees, or other charges, to a consumer who accepts 
the offer made in the advertisement. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not re-
quire a provider of a covered service to include in 
the advertised price of the covered service any tax, 
fee, or other charge that— 
‘‘(A) the provider is required to charge 
under any provision of Federal law or of the 
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law of a State or political subdivision of a 
State; and 
‘‘(B) is not uniform throughout the United 
States. 
‘‘(b) TRANSPARENCY IN E-BILLING.—If a provider 
of a covered service provides a bill to a consumer in an 
electronic format, the provider shall include in the bill and 
in any notification that the bill is available— 
‘‘(1) an itemized statement that breaks down 
the total amount charged for or relating to the pro-
vision of the covered service by the amount charged 
for the provision of the service itself and the amount 
of any related taxes, administrative fees, equipment 
rental fees, or other charges, in the same level of de-
tail as would be provided in a paper bill; and 
‘‘(2) the termination date of the contract for 
the provision of the covered service entered into be-
tween the consumer and the provider. 
‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCREASES IN CHARGES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a provider of 
a covered service that enters into a contract with a 
consumer for the provision of a covered service, if 
the provider increases the total amount charged for 
or relating to the provision of the service under the 
contract, regardless of the amount of the increase or 
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whether the increase is in the amount charged for 
the provision of the service itself or in any related 
taxes, administrative fees, equipment rental fees, or 
other charges, the provider shall— 
‘‘(A) provide the consumer with clear no-
tice of the increase not later than 21 days be-
fore the increase takes effect, in the same man-
ner in which the provider provides to the con-
sumer a notification that the consumer’s bill is 
available (or, if no separate notification is pro-
vided, in the same manner as the provider pro-
vides the consumer’s bill to the consumer); and 
‘‘(B) unless the increase is the result of an 
increase in a tax, fee, or other charge that the 
provider is required to charge under any provi-
sion of Federal law or of the law of a State or 
political subdivision of a State, or an additional 
such tax, fee, or other charge, permit the con-
sumer to terminate the contract without paying 
any early termination fee or other penalty. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION
FOR
ADDITIONAL
OR
UP-
GRADED
SERVICE
REQUESTED
BY
CONSUMER.— 
Paragraph (1) does not apply with respect to an in-
crease resulting from the provision, at the request of 
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the consumer, of a service that is in addition to, or 
an upgrade of, a service covered by the contract. 
‘‘(d) EQUIPMENT CHARGES.—A provider of a covered 
service may not charge a consumer for— 
‘‘(1) using covered equipment provided by the 
consumer; or 
‘‘(2) renting, leasing, or otherwise providing to 
the consumer covered equipment if— 
‘‘(A) the provider has not provided the 
equipment to the consumer; or 
‘‘(B) the consumer has returned the equip-
ment to the provider, except to the extent that 
the charge relates to the period beginning on 
the date when the provider provided the equip-
ment to the consumer and ending on the date 
when the consumer returned the equipment to 
the provider. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) COVERED
EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘cov-
ered equipment’ means equipment (such as a router) 
employed on the premises of a person (other than a 
provider of a covered service) to provide a covered 
service. 
‘‘(2) COVERED
SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 
service’— 
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‘‘(A) means— 
‘‘(i) internet access service; 
‘‘(ii) voice service (as defined in sec-
tion 227(e)(8)); 
‘‘(iii) commercial mobile service (as 
defined in section 332); 
‘‘(iv) commercial mobile data service 
(as defined in section 6001 of the Middle 
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 
2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401)); and 
‘‘(v) service provided by a multi-
channel video programming distributer (as 
defined in section 602), to the extent such 
distributor is acting as a multichannel 
video programming distributor; and 
‘‘(B) includes any other service offered or 
provided as part of a bundle or package with 
any service referred to in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(3) INTERNET
ACCESS
SERVICE.—The term 
‘internet access service’— 
‘‘(A) means a mass-market retail service 
by wire or radio that provides the capability to 
transmit data to and receive data from all or 
substantially all internet endpoints, including 
any capabilities that are incidental to and en-
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able the operation of the communications serv-
ice; and 
‘‘(B) also includes any service that— 
‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro-
viding a functional equivalent of the service 
described in subparagraph (A); or 
‘‘(ii) is used to evade the protections 
set forth in this section.’’. 
(b) TRANSITIONAL RULE RELATING TO DEFINITION 
OF VOICE SERVICE.—Subsection (e)(2)(A)(ii) of section 
723 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub-
section (a) of this section, shall apply before the effective 
date of the amendment made to subsection (e)(8) of sec-
tion 227 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 227) by subparagraph 
(C) of section 503(a)(2) of division P of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115–141) as if 
such amendment was already in effect. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 723 of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a) of this 
section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 
subsection (c) of such section 723 shall not apply with re-
spect to a contract entered into, and as in effect, before 
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the date that is 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
Æ 
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