Go Pack Go Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2454 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 and title 17, United States Code, to provide greater access to in-State television broadcast program- ming for cable and satellite subscribers in certain counties. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 Ms. BALDWIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 and title 17, United States Code, to provide greater access to in- State television broadcast programming for cable and satellite subscribers in certain counties. 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 ‘‘Go Pack Go Act of 4 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2454 IS SEC. 2. CARRIAGE OF NETWORK STATION SIGNALS IN CER- 1 TAIN COUNTIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title III of the Commu- 3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 344. CARRIAGE OF NETWORK STATION SIGNALS IN 6 CERTAIN COUNTIES. 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘cable operator’ has the meaning 9 given the term in section 602; 10 ‘‘(2) the terms ‘covered county’ and ‘in-State, 11 adjacent-market network station retransmission’ 12 have the meanings given those terms in section 13 119(d) of title 17, United States Code, except that, 14 in the case of a cable operator, any reference to a 15 satellite carrier or a subscriber of a satellite carrier 16 shall be considered to be a reference to a cable oper- 17 ator or a subscriber of a cable operator, respectively; 18 ‘‘(3) the term ‘local market’ has the meaning 19 given the term in section 122(j) of title 17, United 20 States Code; 21 ‘‘(4) the term ‘local network station’ means, 22 with respect to a subscriber and a television net- 23 work, the network station— 24 ‘‘(A) that is affiliated with the television 25 network; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2454 IS ‘‘(B) within the local market of which the 1 subscriber is located; and 2 ‘‘(5) the terms ‘network station’ and ‘satellite 3 carrier’ have the meanings given those terms in sec- 4 tion 119(d) of title 17, United States Code. 5 ‘‘(b) SUBSCRIBER ELECTION.—A cable operator or 6 satellite carrier shall, at the election of a subscriber in a 7 covered county with respect to a television network, pro- 8 vide to the subscriber— 9 ‘‘(1) retransmission of the signal of any local 10 network station that the operator or carrier is re- 11 quired to retransmit to the subscriber without re- 12 gard to this section; 13 ‘‘(2) an in-State, adjacent-market network sta- 14 tion retransmission; or 15 ‘‘(3) both retransmissions described in para- 16 graphs (1) and (2). 17 ‘‘(c) RELATIONSHIP TO LOCAL SIGNAL CARRIAGE 18 REQUIREMENTS.—If a subscriber elects to receive only an 19 in-State, adjacent-market network station retransmission 20 under subsection (b)— 21 ‘‘(1) the provision of that retransmission to the 22 subscriber shall be deemed to fulfill any obligation of 23 the cable operator or satellite carrier to provide to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2454 IS the subscriber the signal of a local network station 1 under section 338, 614, or 615; and 2 ‘‘(2) in the case of a satellite carrier that has 3 been recognized as a qualified carrier under section 4 119(g) of title 17, United States Code, the provision 5 of that retransmission instead of the signal of a local 6 network station shall not affect the status of the sat- 7 ellite carrier as a qualified carrier for purposes of 8 that section and section 342 of this Act. 9 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENT SUBJECT TO TECHNICAL FEASI- 10 BILITY FOR SATELLITE CARRIERS.—A satellite carrier 11 shall be required to provide a retransmission under sub- 12 section (b) only to the extent that such provision is tech- 13 nically feasible, as determined by the Commission. 14 ‘‘(e) TREATMENT OF IN-STATE, ADJACENT-MARKET 15 NETWORK STATION RETRANSMISSIONS BY CABLE OPER- 16 ATORS.— 17 ‘‘(1) RETRANSMISSION CONSENT EXCEPTION.— 18 Section 325(b) shall not apply to an in-State, adja- 19 cent-market network station retransmission by a 20 cable operator to a subscriber residing in a covered 21 county. 22 ‘‘(2) DEEMED SIGNIFICANTLY VIEWED.—In the 23 case of an in-State, adjacent-market network station 24 retransmission by a cable operator to a subscriber 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2454 IS residing in a covered county, the signal of the sta- 1 tion shall be deemed to be significantly viewed in 2 that county within the meaning of section 76.54 of 3 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 4 cessor regulation.’’. 5 (b) TREATMENT OF IN-STATE, ADJACENT-MARKET 6 NETWORK STATION RETRANSMISSIONS BY SATELLITE 7 CARRIERS.—Section 339 of the Communications Act of 8 1934 (47 U.S.C. 339) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (a)— 10 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by adding at the 11 end the following: ‘‘In-State, adjacent-market 12 network station retransmissions to subscribers 13 residing in covered counties shall not count to- 14 ward the limit set forth in this subparagraph.’’; 15 and 16 (B) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end 17 the following: 18 ‘‘(I) IN-STATE, ADJACENT-MARKET NET- 19 WORK STATION RETRANSMISSIONS.—Nothing in 20 this paragraph shall apply to or affect in-State, 21 adjacent-market network station retrans- 22 missions to subscribers residing in covered 23 counties.’’; and 24 (2) in subsection (d)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2454 IS (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 1 through (5) as paragraphs (3) through (7), re- 2 spectively; and 3 (B) by inserting before paragraph (3), as 4 so redesignated, the following: 5 ‘‘(1) COVERED COUNTY.—The term ‘covered 6 county’ has the meaning given the term in section 7 119(d) of title 17, United States Code. 8 ‘‘(2) IN-STATE, ADJACENT-MARKET NETWORK 9 STATION RETRANSMISSION.—The term ‘in-State, ad- 10 jacent-market network station retransmission’ has 11 the meaning given the term in section 119(d) of title 12 17, United States Code.’’. 13 (c) NO EFFECT ON ABILITY TO RECEIVE SIGNIFI- 14 CANTLY VIEWED SIGNALS.—Section 340(b)(3) of the 15 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 340(b)(3)) is 16 amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol- 17 lowing: ‘‘or to a subscriber who elects under section 18 344(b), with respect to the network with which the station 19 whose signal is being retransmitted pursuant to this sec- 20 tion is affiliated, to receive an in-State, adjacent-market 21 network station retransmission (as defined in section 22 119(d) of title 17, United States Code) instead of the sig- 23 nal of a local network station (as defined in section 344)’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2454 IS SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF COPYRIGHT LICENSE. 1 (a) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS OF DISTANT TELE- 2 VISION PROGRAMMING BY SATELLITE.—Section 119 of 3 title 17, United States Code, is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)— 5 (A) in paragraph (2)(B)(i), by adding at 6 the end the following: ‘‘In-State, adjacent-mar- 7 ket network station retransmissions to sub- 8 scribers residing in covered counties shall not 9 count toward the limit set forth in this clause.’’; 10 and 11 (B) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end 12 the following: 13 ‘‘(G) IN-STATE, ADJACENT-MARKET NET- 14 WORK STATION RETRANSMISSIONS.—Nothing in 15 this paragraph shall apply to or affect in-State, 16 adjacent-market network station retrans- 17 missions to subscribers residing in covered 18 counties.’’; and 19 (2) in subsection (d)— 20 (A) in paragraph (10)— 21 (i) in subparagraph (D), by striking 22 ‘‘; or’’ and inserting a semicolon; 23 (ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking 24 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 25 and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2454 IS (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(F) with respect to an in-State, adjacent- 3 market network station retransmission, is a 4 subscriber residing in a covered county.’’; and 5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(16) IN-STATE, ADJACENT-MARKET NETWORK 7 STATION RETRANSMISSION.—The term ‘in-State, ad- 8 jacent-market network station retransmission’ means 9 the secondary transmission by a satellite carrier of 10 the primary transmission of any network station 11 whose community of license is located— 12 ‘‘(A) in a subscriber’s State; and 13 ‘‘(B) in a local market that is adjacent to 14 the subscriber’s local market. 15 ‘‘(17) COVERED COUNTY.—The term ‘covered 16 county’ means, with respect to an in-State, adjacent- 17 market network station retransmission to a sub- 18 scriber, any county to which both of the following 19 apply: 20 ‘‘(A) The county is one of the following 21 counties in the State of Wisconsin: Ashland, 22 Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Dunn, 23 Florence, Iron, Pierce, Polk, Sawyer, St. Croix, 24 or Washburn. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2454 IS ‘‘(B) The county is not in the local market 1 of any television broadcast station— 2 ‘‘(i) that is affiliated with the same 3 network; and 4 ‘‘(ii) whose community of license is lo- 5 cated in the subscriber’s State.’’. 6 (b) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS OF LOCAL TELE- 7 VISION PROGRAMMING BY SATELLITE.—Section 122(a) of 8 title 17, United States Code, is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting after 10 ‘‘under paragraph (1)’’ the following: ‘‘(or in-State, 11 adjacent-market network station retransmissions in- 12 stead of secondary transmissions under that para- 13 graph, in accordance with an election under section 14 344(b) of the Communications Act of 1934)’’; and 15 (2) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting after 16 ‘‘under paragraph (1)’’ the following: ‘‘(or in-State, 17 adjacent-market network station retransmissions in- 18 stead of secondary transmissions under that para- 19 graph, in accordance with an election under section 20 344(b) of the Communications Act of 1934)’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2454.IS S2454 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS