Orphan County Telecommunications Rights Act of 2014

Bill: 113-hr-4635
Sponsor: Rep. Aderholt, Robert B. [R-AL-4]
Introduced: 2014-05-09 in the House
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Licensing and registrations
Television and film

Summary:
action_date: 2014-05-09
text: 
Orphan County Telecommunications Rights Act of 2014 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to permit an adjacent underserved county of a television broadcast station to file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be included in the local market of such station. 
 
Defines &quot;adjacent underserved county&quot; as a county within a television broadcast station's adjacent market that is: (1) located in the same state as the station's community of license, and (2) not within the local market of any other station that is affiliated with the same television network and located in the same state. 
 
Defines &quot;adjacent market&quot; as any designated market area adjacent to, and partially but not entirely in the same state as, the designated market area in which the station's community of license is located. Requires a county that is not within the local or adjacent market of any network station licensed to a community in the county's state to be considered within the adjacent market of any station licensed to a community in the nearest designated market area: (1) that is located in whole or in part within such state, and (2) with respect to which the community of license of at least one network station is located both in such designated market area and in such state. 
 
Allows the FCC to determine that a particular county is part of the local market of more than one television broadcast station affiliated with the same television network. 
 
Prohibits a multichannel video programming distributor, during the pendency of a proceeding on a county's petition for inclusion in the local market of a television broadcast station, from deleting the signal of a station that: (1) is affiliated with the same television network, and (2) has a local market that includes such county. 
 
Directs the FCC, if the local market of a television broadcast station is modified to include a petitioning county, to include within the television market of such station all of the communities within such county for purposes of carriage obligation requirements under which cable operators carry the signals of local commercial television stations. Requires the FCC's modification of a station's local market under this Act to also result in a modification of such marketfor purposes of statutory licensing requirements that apply to secondary transmissions of local television programming by satellite.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-07-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
action_date: 2014-05-16
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
action_date: 2014-05-09
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2014-05-09
text: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2014-05-09
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2014-05-09
text: Introduced in House