A bill to provide for the carriage of certain television broadcast stations, and for other purposes.

Bill: 116-s-1655
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2019-05-23
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies

Competition and antitrust

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Licensing and registrations

Massachusetts

New York State
Latest action: action_date: 2019-05-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-05-23
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This bill authorizes a cable operator to transmit any television broadcast station that (1) is not currently retransmitted to all subscribers in Berkshire County, Massachusetts (located within the designated market area of Albany, New York), and (2) was retransmitted to such subscribers on December 1, 2016.</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1655 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 23 (legislative day, May 22), 2019 Mr. Markey (for himself and Ms. Warren ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To provide for the carriage of certain television broadcast stations, and for other purposes.

1. Carriage of television broadcast stations (a) In general Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a cable operator may transmit to subscribers in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in the designated market area of Albany, New York (in this section referred to as the Albany designated market area ), any television broadcast station that— (1) was retransmitted to subscribers located in Berkshire County in the Albany designated market area on December 1, 2016; and (2) as of the date of enactment of this Act, is not retransmitted to all subscribers in Berkshire County in the Albany designated market area. (b) Negotiations A cable operator that engages in the retransmission described in subsection (a) shall engage in good faith negotiations within the meaning of section 76.65 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto, with a television broadcast station regarding the terms of such retransmission. (c) Nonduplication Any television broadcast station licensed to a community within the Albany designated market area may assert network nonduplication or syndicated exclusivity protections against any cable system in any cable community located in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. (d) Rules of construction Nothing in this Act shall be construed— (1) to alter any contract provided under section 325 of the Communications Act of 1934 ( 47 U.S.C. 325 ); or (2) to affect the applicability of any other communications or copyright law related to the retransmission of a television broadcast station by a cable operator.