WEST Access Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2829 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 and title 17, United States Code, to enhance the ability of direct broadcast satellite providers to offer additional local broadcast services to consumers under limited cir- cumstances, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 7, 2019 Mrs. FISCHER 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 enhance the ability of direct broadcast satellite providers to offer additional local broadcast services to consumers under limited cir- cumstances, 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 ‘‘Western Expanded In- 4 State Television Access Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘WEST Ac- 5 cess Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2829.IS S2829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2829 IS SEC. 2. SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS OF LOCAL TELE- 1 VISION PROGRAMMING BY SATELLITE. 2 Section 122(a)(4) of title 17, United States Code, is 3 amended by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(F) CERTAIN NETWORK STATIONS.—On 5 January 1, 2019, if 16 counties in a single 6 State were in a local market comprised prin- 7 cipally of counties located in another State and 8 within the top 120 markets for the year 2019 9 according to Nielsen Media Research, the statu- 10 tory license provided for in this paragraph shall 11 apply to the secondary transmission by a sat- 12 ellite carrier to subscribers in any of those 16 13 counties of the primary transmissions of any 14 network station assigned to a local market that 15 includes not more than 4 counties in the State 16 in which such 16 counties are located and all 17 counties encompassed by such local market are 18 located in the same time zone.’’. 19 SEC. 3. CARRIAGE OF LOCAL TELEVISION SIGNALS BY SAT- 20 ELLITE CARRIERS. 21 Section 338(l) of the Communications Act of 1934 22 (47 U.S.C. 338(l)) is amended— 23 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), and 24 (5) as paragraphs (4), (5), and (6), respectively; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2829.IS S2829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2829 IS (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR REQUESTS 3 INVOLVING AN ORPHAN COUNTY.—Pursuant to a re- 4 quest under paragraph (1), the Commission may 5 modify the local market of a television broadcast sta- 6 tion to add an orphan county, as defined by the 7 Commission, solely on the basis of paragraph 8 (2)(B)(iii), if the Commission considers whether the 9 station provides programming specifically related to 10 the State of residence of the orphan county sub- 11 scribers.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2829.IS S2829 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS