Modern Television Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1856 To repeal certain provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, title 17 of the United States Code, and certain regulations, to allow for interim carriage of television broadcast signals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 11, 2021 Mr. SCALISE (for himself and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To repeal certain provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, title 17 of the United States Code, and certain regulations, to allow for interim carriage of television broadcast signals, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Modern Television Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1856 IH SEC. 2. AGREEMENTS FOR CARRIAGE OF BROADCAST PRO- 1 GRAMMING. 2 (a) AGREEMENTS FOR CARRIAGE OF BROADCAST 3 PROGRAMMING.—Section 325 of the Communications Act 4 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (b)(3)(C)— 6 (A) by striking clauses (ii), (iii), and (iv); 7 and 8 (B) by redesignating clauses (v) and (vi) 9 as clauses (ii) and (iii), respectively; and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS FOR MARKETPLACE AGREE- 12 MENTS.— 13 ‘‘(1) NEGOTIATION REQUIREMENTS.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 15 days after the date of the enactment of the 16 Modern Television Act of 2021, the Commission 17 shall, by regulation— 18 ‘‘(i) require a television broadcast sta- 19 tion and multichannel video programming 20 distributor (and any large station group or 21 qualified MVPD buying group negotiating 22 for a marketplace agreement on behalf of 23 a television broadcast station or multi- 24 channel video programming distributor, re- 25 spectively) to negotiate in good faith in any 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1856 IH effort to reach a marketplace agreement; 1 and 2 ‘‘(ii) prohibit a television broadcast 3 station from coordinating negotiations or 4 negotiating on a joint basis with another 5 television broadcast station in the same 6 local market in an effort to reach a mar- 7 ketplace agreement with a multichannel 8 video programming distributor, unless such 9 stations are directly or indirectly under 10 common de jure control permitted under 11 the regulations of the Commission. 12 ‘‘(B) GOOD FAITH REQUIREMENTS.—The 13 regulations promulgated under paragraph 14 (1)(A) shall provide— 15 ‘‘(i) that it is a violation of the re- 16 quirement under paragraph (1)(A)(i)— 17 ‘‘(I) for a multichannel video pro- 18 gramming distributor, a qualified 19 MVPD buying group, a television 20 broadcast station, or a large station 21 group to refuse to declare an impasse 22 for the sole purpose of avoiding bind- 23 ing arbitration under subsection (g), 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1856 IH as added by the Modern Television 1 Act of 2021; or 2 ‘‘(II) for a large station group to 3 prohibit a qualified MVPD buying 4 group from permitting a multichannel 5 video programming distributor with 6 which the large station group has an 7 existing marketplace agreement to 8 join a new marketplace agreement ne- 9 gotiated by the large station group 10 and the qualified MVPD buying group 11 upon the expiration of the existing 12 marketplace agreement, if the multi- 13 channel video programming dis- 14 tributor was unable to join the new 15 marketplace agreement at the time of 16 the execution of the agreement be- 17 cause of the existing marketplace 18 agreement; 19 ‘‘(ii) that is not a violation of the re- 20 quirement under paragraph (1)(A)(i)— 21 ‘‘(I) for a television broadcast 22 station or large station group to enter 23 into marketplace agreements con- 24 taining different terms and conditions, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1856 IH including price terms and royalty fees, 1 with different multichannel video pro- 2 gramming distributors or with dif- 3 ferent qualified MVPD buying groups 4 if such different terms and conditions 5 are based on competitive marketplace 6 considerations; or 7 ‘‘(II) for a multichannel video 8 programming distributor or a quali- 9 fied MVPD buying group to enter into 10 marketplace agreements containing 11 different terms and conditions, includ- 12 ing price terms and royalty fees, with 13 different television broadcast stations 14 or with different large station groups 15 if such different terms and conditions 16 are based on competitive marketplace 17 considerations; 18 ‘‘(iii) that a multichannel video pro- 19 gramming distributor may satisfy its obli- 20 gations under paragraph (1)(A)(i) by des- 21 ignating a qualified MVPD buying group 22 to negotiate on its behalf, so long as the 23 qualified MVPD buying group itself nego- 24 tiates in good faith; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1856 IH ‘‘(iv) that a qualified MVPD buying 1 group may satisfy any obligations under 2 paragraph (1)(A)(i) to designate a rep- 3 resentative with authority to make binding 4 representations by designating such a rep- 5 resentative that can make binding rep- 6 resentations on the qualified MVPD buy- 7 ing group’s behalf. 8 ‘‘(2) INTERIM CARRIAGE.—Not later than 90 9 days after the date of the enactment of the Modern 10 Television Act of 2021, the Commission shall, by 11 regulation, require a multichannel video program- 12 ming distributor to retransmit a signal of a tele- 13 vision broadcast station and the television broadcast 14 station to permit the retransmission of that signal— 15 ‘‘(A) for a period not longer than 60 days 16 beginning on the date on which a marketplace 17 agreement entered into by the television broad- 18 cast station and the multichannel video pro- 19 gramming distributor (or by any large station 20 group or qualified MVPD buying group negoti- 21 ating for a marketplace agreement on behalf of 22 a television broadcast station or multichannel 23 video programming distributor, respectively) ex- 24 pires; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1856 IH ‘‘(B) under the terms and conditions of 1 such expired agreement. 2 ‘‘(3) RETROACTIVITY OF MARKETPLACE AGREE- 3 MENT.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 4 enactment of the Modern Television Act of 2021, the 5 Commission shall require, by regulation, each mar- 6 ketplace agreement entered into on or after such 7 date of enactment by a television broadcast station 8 and a multichannel video programming distributor 9 (or by any large station group or qualified MVPD 10 buying group negotiating for a marketplace agree- 11 ment on behalf of a television broadcast station or 12 multichannel video programming distributor, respec- 13 tively) to include a clause making the terms of the 14 agreement retroactive to the expiration date of the 15 most recent marketplace agreement entered into by 16 or on behalf of the station and the distributor if the 17 station and the distributor— 18 ‘‘(A) had previously entered into a market- 19 place agreement; and 20 ‘‘(B) are required to retransmit a signal or 21 permit the retransmission of a signal, as the 22 case may be, under paragraph (2) or subsection 23 (g), as added by the Modern Television Act of 24 2021. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1856 IH ‘‘(4) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING CERTAIN 1 PAYMENTS.—Not later than 90 days after the date 2 of the enactment of the Modern Television Act of 3 2021, the Commission shall, by regulation, prohibit 4 a television broadcast station from requiring pay- 5 ment, either directly or indirectly, from a multi- 6 channel video programming distributor for cus- 7 tomers of the multichannel video programming dis- 8 tributor who do not receive the signals of the tele- 9 vision broadcast station from that distributor. 10 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION.—The requirements under 11 this subsection do not apply with respect to manda- 12 tory carriage of the signal of a television broadcast 13 station that elects mandatory carriage under section 14 338, 614, or 615. 15 ‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 16 ‘‘(A) LARGE STATION GROUP.—The term 17 ‘large station group’ means a group of tele- 18 vision broadcast stations that— 19 ‘‘(i) are directly or indirectly under 20 common de jure control permitted by the 21 regulations of the Commission; 22 ‘‘(ii) generally negotiate agreements 23 for retransmission consent under this sec- 24 tion as a single entity; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1856 IH ‘‘(iii) include only television broadcast 1 stations that collectively have a national 2 audience reach of more than 20 percent. 3 ‘‘(B) LOCAL MARKET.—The term ‘local 4 market’ has the meaning given such term in 5 section 122(j) of title 17, United States Code. 6 ‘‘(C) MARKETPLACE AGREEMENT.—The 7 term ‘marketplace agreement’ means an agree- 8 ment, or agreements, for— 9 ‘‘(i) the exclusive right under section 10 106 of title 17, United States Code, to 11 transmit a performance or display of a 12 work embodied in primary transmission (as 13 defined in section 111(f) of such title) of 14 a television broadcast station and the roy- 15 alty fee payable; or 16 ‘‘(ii) retransmission consent under 17 subsection (b), as in effect before the re- 18 peal made by the Modern Television Act of 19 2021. 20 ‘‘(D) MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PROGRAM- 21 MING DISTRIBUTOR.—The term ‘multichannel 22 video programming distributor’ has the mean- 23 ing given such term in section 602. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1856 IH ‘‘(E) QUALIFIED MVPD BUYING GROUP.— 1 The term ‘qualified MVPD buying group’ 2 means an entity that, with respect to a negotia- 3 tion with a large station group for retrans- 4 mission consent under this section— 5 ‘‘(i) negotiates on behalf of two or 6 more multichannel video programming dis- 7 tributors— 8 ‘‘(I) none of which is a multi- 9 channel video programming dis- 10 tributor that serves more than 11 500,000 subscribers nationally; and 12 ‘‘(II) that do not collectively 13 serve more than 25 percent of all 14 households served by multichannel 15 video programming distributors in any 16 single local market in which the appli- 17 cable large station group operates; 18 and 19 ‘‘(ii) negotiates agreements for such 20 retransmission consent— 21 ‘‘(I) that contain standardized 22 contract provisions, including billing 23 structures and technical quality stand- 24 ards, for each multichannel video pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1856 IH gramming distributor on behalf of 1 which the entity negotiates; and 2 ‘‘(II) under which the entity as- 3 sumes liability to remit to the applica- 4 ble large station group all fees re- 5 ceived from the multichannel video 6 programming distributors on behalf of 7 which the entity negotiates. 8 ‘‘(F) TELEVISION BROADCAST STATION.— 9 The term ‘television broadcast station’ means 10 an over-the-air commercial or noncommercial 11 television broadcast station licensed by the 12 Commission under subpart E of part 73 of title 13 47, Code of Federal Regulations, except that 14 such term does not include a low-power or 15 translator television station.’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend- 17 ments made by this section, shall take effect on the date 18 that is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 19 Act. 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1856 IH SEC. 3. REPEAL OF REGULATORY INTERVENTION IN THE 1 TELEVISION MARKETPLACE UNDER THE 2 COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934. 3 (a) REPEAL.—The following sections of the Commu- 4 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) are hereby 5 repealed: 6 (1) Section 325(b) (47 U.S.C. 325(b)). 7 (2) Section 325(e) (47 U.S.C. 325(e)). 8 (3) Section 339 (47 U.S.C. 339). 9 (4) Section 340 (47 U.S.C. 340). 10 (5) Section 341 (47 U.S.C. 341). 11 (6) Section 342 (47 U.S.C. 342). 12 (7) Section 612 (47 U.S.C. 532). 13 (8) Section 712 (47 U.S.C. 612). 14 (b) ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS.— 15 (1) SECTION 338.—Section 338 of the Commu- 16 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 338) is amended— 17 (A) in subsection (a)— 18 (i) in paragraph (1)— 19 (I) by inserting ‘‘or under a mar- 20 ketplace agreement (as that term is 21 defined in section 325),’’ after 22 ‘‘Code,’’; and 23 (II) by striking ‘‘, subject to sec- 24 tion 325(b)’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:03 May 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 1856 IH (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 1 ‘‘501(f)’’ each place it appears and insert- 2 ing ‘‘501(e)’’; 3 (iii) in paragraph (3)— 4 (I) by striking ‘‘whose signals’’ 5 and all that follows through ‘‘of title 6 17, United States Code,’’; and 7 (II) by inserting ‘‘or a market- 8 place agreement’’ after ‘‘such title’’; 9 (iv) by amending paragraph (5) to 10 read as follows: 11 ‘‘(5) NONDISCRIMINATION IN CARRIAGE OF 12 HIGH DEFINITION SIGNALS OF NONCOMMERCIAL 13 EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION STATIONS.—If, on or 14 after the date of enactment of the Satellite Tele- 15 vision Extension and Localism Act of 2010, an eligi- 16 ble satellite carrier initiates the provision of any sec- 17 ondary transmission in high definition format to [Text truncated for display. 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