I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1064 
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 
FEBRUARY 15, 2021 
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. 
‘‘(C) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COM-
PLETE; RECEIVED.— 
‘‘(i) WHEN
REQUEST
CONSIDERED 
COMPLETE.— 
‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For the pur-
poses of this paragraph, a request to 
a franchising authority shall be con-
sidered complete if the cable operator 
has not received a written notice from 
the franchising authority within 10 
business days after the date on which 
the request is received by the fran-
chising authority— 
‘‘(aa) stating that all the in-
formation (including any form or 
other document) required by the 
franchising authority to be sub-
mitted for the request to be con-
sidered complete has not been 
submitted; and 
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‘‘(bb) identifying the infor-
mation required to be submitted 
that was not submitted. 
‘‘(II) 
DEFINITION.—In 
this 
clause, the term ‘received by the fran-
chising authority’ means— 
‘‘(aa) in the case of a re-
quest submitted electronically, on 
the date on which the request is 
transmitted; 
‘‘(bb) in the case of a re-
quest submitted in person, on the 
date on which the request is de-
livered to the individual or at the 
location specified by the fran-
chising authority for in-person 
submission; and 
‘‘(cc) in the case of a re-
quest submitted in any other 
manner, on the date determined 
under regulations promulgated by 
the Commission for the manner 
in which the request is sub-
mitted. 
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‘‘(ii) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CON-
SIDERED RECEIVED.—For the purposes of 
this paragraph, a complete request shall be 
considered received on the date on which 
the cable operator submits to the fran-
chising authority all information (including 
any form or other document) required by 
the franchising authority to be submitted 
for the request to be considered complete. 
‘‘(c) REVIEW BY COMMISSION.— 
‘‘(1) PETITION.—A cable operator may petition 
the Commission for review of a determination by a 
franchising authority to revoke a franchise under 
subsection (b)(2)(B). 
‘‘(2) REVIEW.—The Commission shall review 
the determination de novo. 
‘‘(3) ORDER.—If, based on the evidence pre-
sented during the review, the Commission deter-
mines that the franchising authority has not dem-
onstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that 
the franchising authority revoked the franchise in 
accordance with subsection (b)(2)(B), the Commis-
sion shall order the franchising authority to rein-
state the franchise.’’. 
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(b) ELIMINATION OR MODIFICATION OF REQUIRE-
MENT IN FRANCHISE.—Section 625 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 545) is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 625. ELIMINATION OR MODIFICATION OF REQUIRE-
MENT IN FRANCHISE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—During the period in which a 
franchise is in effect, the cable operator may obtain the 
elimination or modification of any requirement in the fran-
chise by submitting to the franchising authority a request 
for the elimination or modification of such requirement. 
‘‘(b) ELIMINATION OR MODIFICATION OF REQUIRE-
MENT IN FRANCHISE.—The franchising authority shall 
eliminate or modify a requirement in accordance with a 
complete request submitted under subsection (a) not later 
than 120 days after receiving such request if the cable 
operator demonstrates in the request— 
‘‘(1) good cause for the elimination or modifica-
tion of the requirement; and 
‘‘(2) that the mix, quality, and level of services 
required by the franchise at the time the franchise 
was granted will be maintained after the elimination 
or modification of the requirement. 
‘‘(c) DEEMED ELIMINATION
OR MODIFICATION.— 
Except in the case of a request for the elimination or 
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modification of a requirement for services relating to pub-
lic, educational, or governmental access, if the franchising 
authority fails to approve or deny the complete request 
submitted under subsection (a) by the date described 
under subsection (b), the requirement shall be deemed 
eliminated or modified in accordance with the request on 
the day after such date. 
‘‘(d) APPEAL.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any cable operator whose 
request for elimination or modification of a require-
ment in a franchise under subsection (a) has been 
denied by a final decision of a franchising authority 
may obtain the elimination or modification of such 
franchise requirements pursuant to the provisions of 
section 635. 
‘‘(2) GRANT OF REQUEST.—In the case of any 
proposed elimination or modification of a require-
ment in a franchise under subsection (a), the court 
shall grant such elimination or modification only if 
the cable operator demonstrates to the court— 
‘‘(A) good cause for the elimination or 
modification of the requirement; and 
‘‘(B) that the mix, quality, and level of 
services required by the franchise at the time 
the franchise was granted will be maintained 
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after the elimination or modification of the re-
quirement. 
‘‘(e) WHEN REQUEST CONSIDERED COMPLETE; RE-
CEIVED.— 
‘‘(1) 
WHEN
REQUEST
CONSIDERED
COM-
PLETE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of 
this section, a request to a franchising author-
ity shall be considered complete if the cable op-
erator has not received a written notice from 
the franchising authority within 10 business 
days after the date on which the request is re-
ceived by the franchising authority— 
‘‘(i) stating that all the information 
(including any form or other document) re-
quired by the franchising authority to be 
submitted for the request to be considered 
complete has not been submitted; and 
‘‘(ii) identifying the information re-
quired to be submitted that was not sub-
mitted. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘received by the franchising authority’ 
means— 
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‘‘(i) in the case of a request submitted 
electronically, on the date on which the re-
quest is transmitted; 
‘‘(ii) in the case of a request sub-
mitted in person, on the date on which the 
request is delivered to the individual or at 
the location specified by the franchising 
authority for in-person submission; and 
‘‘(iii) in the case of a request sub-
mitted in any other manner, on the date 
determined under regulations promulgated 
by the Commission for the manner in 
which the request is submitted. 
‘‘(2) WHEN COMPLETE REQUEST CONSIDERED 
RECEIVED.—For the purposes of this section, a com-
plete request shall be considered received on the date 
on which the cable operator submits to the fran-
chising authority all information (including any form 
or other document) required by the franchising au-
thority to be submitted for the request to be consid-
ered complete.’’. 
(c) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
The Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) 
is amended— 
(1) in section 601— 
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