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the Administrator in a proceeding for such ac-
tion.
(m) FEES.—
(1) APPLICATION FEE.—The Board shall
charge and collect from an applicant for
a loan guarantee under this Act a fee to
cover the cost of the Board in making
necessary determinations and findings
with respect to the loan guarantee appli-
cation under this Act. The amount of the
fee shall be reasonable.
(2) 
LOAN
GUARANTEE
ORIGINATION
FEE.—The Board shall charge, and the Ad-
ministrator may collect, a loan guarantee
origination 
fee 
with 
respect 
to 
the
issuance of a loan guarantee under this
Act.
(3) USE OF FEES COLLECTED.—Any fee
collected under this subsection shall be
used to offset administrative costs under
this Act, including costs of the Board and
of the Administrator.
(n) REQUIREMENTS
RELATING
TO
AFFILI-
ATES.—
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(1) 
INDEMNIFICATION.—The 
United
States shall be indemnified by any affil-
iate (acceptable to the Board) of an appli-
cant for a loan guarantee under this Act
for any losses that the United States in-
curs as a result of—
(A) a judgment against the appli-
cant or any of its affiliates;
(B) any breach by the applicant
or any of its affiliates of their obliga-
tions under the loan guarantee agree-
ment;
(C) any violation of the provisions
of this Act, and the regulations pre-
scribed under this Act, by the appli-
cant or any of its affiliates;
(D) any penalties incurred by the
applicant or any of its affiliates for
any reason, including violation of a
stipulated 
performance 
schedule
under subsection (e); and
(E) any other circumstances that
the Board considers appropriate.
(2) LIMITATION ON TRANSFER OF LOAN
PROCEEDS.—An applicant for a loan guar-
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antee under this Act may not transfer
any part of the proceeds of the loan to an
affiliate.
(o) EFFECT OF BANKRUPTCY.—(1) Notwith-
standing any other provision of law, when-
ever any person or entity is indebted to the
United States as a result of any loan guar-
antee issued under this Act and such person
or entity is insolvent or is a debtor in a case
under title 11, United States Code, the debts
due to the United States shall be satisfied
first.
(2) A discharge in bankruptcy under title
11, United States Code, shall not release a per-
son or entity from an obligation to the United
States in connection with a loan guarantee
under this Act.
SEC. 6. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR SPECTRUM
AUCTIONS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, no loan guarantee under this Act
may be granted or used to provide funds for
the acquisition of licenses for the use of spec-
trum in any competitive bidding under sec-
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tion 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 309(j)).
SEC. 7. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS BY INCUMBENT
CABLE OPERATORS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, no loan guarantee under this Act
may be granted or used to provide funds for—
(1) the extension of any cable system
to any area or areas for which the cable
operator of such cable system has a cable
franchise, if such franchise obligates the
operator to extend such system to such
area or areas; or
(2) the upgrading or enhancement of
the services provided over any cable sys-
tem, unless such upgrading or enhance-
ment is principally undertaken to extend
services to areas outside of the pre-
viously existing franchise area of the
cable operator.
SEC. 8. ANNUAL AUDIT.
(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Comptroller Gen-
eral of the United States shall conduct on an
annual basis an audit of—
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(1) the administration of the provi-
sions of this Act; and
(2) the financial position of each ap-
plicant who receives a loan guarantee
under this Act, including the nature,
amount, and purpose of investments
made by the applicant.
(b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General
shall submit to the Congress a report on each
audit conducted under subsection (a).
SEC. 9. EXEMPTION FROM MUST CARRY REQUIREMENTS.
A facility of a satellite carrier, cable sys-
tem, or other multichannel video program-
ming distributor that is financed with a loan
guaranteed under this Act and that delivers
local broadcast signals in a television market
pursuant to the provisions of section 338, 614,
or 615 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 338, 534, or 535) shall not be required
to carry in such market a greater number of
local broadcast signals than the number of
such signals that is carried by the cable sys-
tem serving the largest number of subscribers
in such market.
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SEC. 10. ADDITIONAL AVAILABILITY OF BROADCAST SIG-
NALS IN RURAL AREAS.
(a) OPENING
OF FILING
FOR ADDITIONAL
TRANSLATOR
AND LOW-POWER STATIONS.—The
Federal Communications Commission shall,
in accordance with its regulations, open a fil-
ing period window for the acceptance of ap-
plications for television translator stations
and low-power television stations in rural
areas.
(b) DEADLINES FOR NOTICE.—The Commis-
sion shall announce the filing period window
no less than 90 days prior to the commence-
ment of the window.
SEC. 11. PREVENTION OF INTERFERENCE TO SATELLITE
SERVICES 
APPLYING 
FOR 
RURAL 
LOAN
GUARANTEES.
(a) TESTING FOR HARMFUL INTERFERENCE.—
The Board shall approve no loan guarantee
until the Federal Communications Commis-
sion has determined on the basis of a tech-
nical demonstration or, if infeasible, an anal-
ysis, that any terrestrial service proposing to
operate in the satellite broadcast frequency
band will not cause harmful interference to
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any satellite service eligible for a loan guar-
antee under the provisions of this Act.
(b) TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATION.—For the
purpose of making the determination re-
quired by subsection (a), the demonstration
or analysis shall be conducted and the results
analyzed by an engineering firm or other
qualified entity that is independent of any in-
terested party. Such demonstration and re-
sulting analysis shall be subject to public no-
tice and comment, and shall be completed
within 90 days after the date of enactment of
this Act.
(c) TERRESTRIAL USES OF SATELLITE FRE-
QUENCIES
PROHIBITED.—In order to ensure
that there is no harmful interference to sat-
ellite services eligible for loan guarantees
under the provisions of this Act, the Federal
Communications Commission shall not allo-
cate spectrum for, or issue any license or
other authorization with respect to, any ter-
restrial service proposing to operate in the
satellite broadcast frequency band during the
90-day period described in subsection (b).
(d) DEFINITIONS.—
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(1) DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE SERV-
ICE FREQUENCY BAND.—The term ‘‘satellite
broadcast frequency band’’ means the
band of frequencies at 12.2 to 12.7
gigahertz.
(2) SATELLITE
SERVICES.—The term
‘‘satellite services’’ means—
(A) all systems licensed by the
Commission to operate in the direct
broadcast satellite services; and
(B) 
all 
nongeostationary 
orbit
fixed satellite service systems that
may be licensed by the Commission—
(i) that are authorized, on the
date of enactment of this Act, to
use the satellite broadcast fre-
quency band; or
(ii) for which applications to
use such frequency band are
pending before the Commission
on such date.
SEC. 12. IMPROVED CELLULAR SERVICE IN RURAL AREAS.
(a) REINSTATEMENT OF APPLICANTS AS TEN-
TATIVE SELECTEES.—
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the
order of the Federal Communications
Commission in the proceeding described
in paragraph (3), the Commission shall—
(A) reinstate each applicant as a
tentative selectee under the covered
rural 
service 
area 
licensing 
pro-
ceeding; and
(B) 
permit 
each 
applicant 
to
amend its application, to the extent
necessary to update factual informa-
tion and to comply with the rules of
the Commission, at any time before
the Commission’s final licensing ac-
tion in the covered rural service area
licensing proceeding.
(2) EXEMPTION
FROM
PETITIONS
TO
DENY.—For purposes of the amended ap-
plications filed pursuant to paragraph
(1)(B), the provisions of section 309(d)(1)
of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 309(d)(1)) shall not apply.
(3) PROCEEDING.—The proceeding de-
scribed in this paragraph is the pro-
ceeding of the Commission In re Applica-
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tions of Cellwave Telephone Services
L.P., Futurewave General Partners L.P.,
and Great Western Cellular Partners, 7
FCC Rcd No. 19 (1992).
(b) CONTINUATION OF LICENSE PROCEEDING;
FEE ASSESSMENT.—
(1) AWARD OF LICENSES.—The Commis-
sion shall award licenses under the cov-
ered rural service area licensing pro-
ceeding within 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
(2) SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.—The Com-
mission shall provide that, as a condition
of an applicant receiving a license pursu-
ant to the covered rural service area li-
censing proceeding, the applicant shall
provide cellular radiotelephone service
to subscribers in accordance with sec-
tions 22.946 and 22.947 of the Commis-
sion’s rules (47 CFR 22.946, 22.947); ex-
cept that the time period applicable
under section 22.947 of the Commission’s
rules (or any successor rule) to the appli-
cants identified in subparagraphs (A) and
(B) of subsection (d)(1) shall be 3 years
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rather than 5 years and the waiver au-
thority of the Commission shall apply to
such 3-year period.
(3) CALCULATION OF LICENSE FEE.—
(A) FEE REQUIRED.—The Commis-
sion shall establish a fee for each of
the licenses under the covered rural
service area licensing proceeding. In
determining the amount of the fee,
the Commission shall consider—
(i) the average price paid per
person served in the Commis-
sion’s Cellular Unserved Auction
(Auction No. 12); and
(ii) the settlement payments
required to be paid by the permit-
tees pursuant to the consent de-
cree set forth in the Commission’s
order, In re the Tellesis Partners
(7 FCC Rcd 3168 (1992)), multi-
plying such payments by two.
(B) NOTICE
OF
FEE.—Within 30
days after the date an applicant files
the amended application permitted
by subsection (a)(1)(B), the Commis-
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sion shall notify each applicant of the
fee established for the license associ-
ated with its application.
(4) PAYMENT FOR LICENSES.—No later
than 18 months after the date that an ap-
plicant is granted a license, each appli-
cant shall pay to the Commission the fee
established pursuant to paragraph (3) for
the license granted to the applicant
under paragraph (1).
(5) AUCTION AUTHORITY.—If, after the
amendment of an application pursuant to
subsection 
(a)(1)(B), 
the 
Commission
finds that the applicant is ineligible for
grant of a license to provide cellular ra-
diotelephone services for a rural service
area or the applicant does not meet the
requirements under paragraph (2) of this
subsection, the Commission shall grant
the license for which the applicant is the
tentative selectee (pursuant to subsection
(a)(1)(B) by competitive bidding pursuant
to section 309(j) of the Communications
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)).
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qualified under the Commission’s rules
for grant of the license.
SEC. 13. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.
Section 339(c) of the Communications Act
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 339(c)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(5) 
DEFINITION.—Notwithstanding
subsection (d)(4), for purposes of para-
graphs (2) and (4) of this subsection, the
term ‘satellite carrier’ includes a dis-
tributor (as defined in section 119(d)(1) of
title 17, United States Code), but only if
the 
satellite 
distributor’s 
relationship
with the subscriber includes billing, col-
lection, service activation, and service de-
activation.’’.
SEC. 14. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘‘affiliate’’—
(A) means any person or entity
that controls, or is controlled by, or is
under common control with, another
person or entity; and
(B) may include any individual
who is a director or senior manage-
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ment officer of an affiliate, a share-
holder controlling more than 25 per-
cent of the voting securities of an af-
filiate, or more than 25 percent of the
ownership interest in an affiliate not
organized in stock form.
(2) COMMON
TERMS.—Except as pro-
vided in paragraph (1), any term used in
this Act that is defined in the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et
seq.) has the meaning given that term in
the Communications Act of 1934.
SEC. 15. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) COST OF LOAN GUARANTEES.—For the
cost of the loans guaranteed under this Act,
including the cost of modifying the loans, as
defined in section 502 of the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 661a), there are
authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years
2001 through 2006, such amounts as may be
necessary.
(b) COST
OF
ADMINISTRATION.—There is
hereby authorized to be appropriated such
sums as may be necessary to carry out the
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provisions of this Act, other than to cover
costs under subsection (a).
(c) AVAILABILITY.—Any amounts appro-
priated pursuant to the authorizations of ap-
propriations in subsections (a) and (b) shall
remain available until expended.
SEC. 16. SUNSET.
No loan guarantee may be approved
under this Act after December 31, 2006.