Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5035 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 11, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to extend expir- ing provisions relating to the retransmission of signals of television broadcast stations, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 5035 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Television Viewer Pro- 2 tection Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF AUTHORITY. 4 Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 5 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended— 6 (1) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ‘‘December 7 31, 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘the expiration date, if any, 8 described in section 119(h) of title 17, United States 9 Code’’; and 10 (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ‘‘until Jan- 11 uary 1, 2020,’’ each place it appears. 12 SEC. 3. SATISFACTION OF GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATION RE- 13 QUIREMENT BY MULTICHANNEL VIDEO PRO- 14 GRAMMING DISTRIBUTORS. 15 (a) SATISFACTION OF GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATION 16 REQUIREMENT.—Section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Commu- 17 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(3)(C)) is amend- 18 ed— 19 (1) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and in- 20 serting a semicolon; 21 (2) in clause (v), by striking the period at the 22 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 5035 RFS ‘‘(vi) not later than 90 days after the date of 1 the enactment of the Television Viewer Protection 2 Act of 2019, specify that— 3 ‘‘(I) a multichannel video programming 4 distributor may satisfy its obligation to nego- 5 tiate in good faith under clause (iii) with re- 6 spect to a negotiation for retransmission con- 7 sent under this section with a large station 8 group by designating a qualified MVPD buying 9 group to negotiate on its behalf, so long as the 10 qualified MVPD buying group itself negotiates 11 in good faith in accordance with such clause; 12 ‘‘(II) it is a violation of the obligation to 13 negotiate in good faith under clause (iii) for the 14 qualified MVPD buying group to disclose the 15 prices, terms, or conditions of an ongoing nego- 16 tiation or the final terms of a negotiation to a 17 member of the qualified MVPD buying group 18 that is not intending, or is unlikely, to enter 19 into the final terms negotiated by the qualified 20 MVPD buying group; and 21 ‘‘(III) a large station group has an obliga- 22 tion to negotiate in good faith under clause (ii) 23 with respect to a negotiation for retransmission 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 5035 RFS consent under this section with a qualified 1 MVPD buying group.’’. 2 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 325(b)(7) of the Commu- 3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(7)) is amended— 4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 5 and inserting a semicolon; 6 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 7 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(C) ‘qualified MVPD buying group’ means an 10 entity that, with respect to a negotiation with a 11 large station group for retransmission consent under 12 this section— 13 ‘‘(i) negotiates on behalf of two or more 14 multichannel video programming distributors— 15 ‘‘(I) none of which is a multichannel 16 video programming distributor that serves 17 more than 500,000 subscribers nationally; 18 and 19 ‘‘(II) that do not collectively serve 20 more than 25 percent of all households 21 served by a multichannel video program- 22 ming distributor in any single local market 23 in which the applicable large station group 24 operates; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 5035 RFS ‘‘(ii) negotiates agreements for such re- 1 transmission consent— 2 ‘‘(I) that contain standardized con- 3 tract provisions, including billing struc- 4 tures and technical quality standards, for 5 each multichannel video programming dis- 6 tributor on behalf of which the entity nego- 7 tiates; and 8 ‘‘(II) under which the entity assumes 9 liability to remit to the applicable large 10 station group all fees received from the 11 multichannel video programming distribu- 12 tors on behalf of which the entity nego- 13 tiates; 14 ‘‘(D) ‘large station group’ means a group of tel- 15 evision broadcast stations that— 16 ‘‘(i) are directly or indirectly under com- 17 mon de jure control permitted by the regula- 18 tions of the Commission; 19 ‘‘(ii) generally negotiate agreements for re- 20 transmission consent under this section as a 21 single entity; and 22 ‘‘(iii) include only television broadcast sta- 23 tions that have a national audience reach of 24 more than 20 percent; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 5035 RFS ‘‘(E) ‘local market’ has the meaning given such 1 term in section 122(j) of title 17, United States 2 Code; and 3 ‘‘(F) ‘multichannel video programming dis- 4 tributor’ has the meaning given such term in section 5 602.’’. 6 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 325(b) of 7 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is 8 amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (2)— 10 (A) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘1992,’’; and 11 (B) by striking ‘‘, and the term ‘local mar- 12 ket’ has the meaning given that term in section 13 122(j) of such title’’; and 14 (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ‘‘(as de- 15 fined in section 122(j) of title 17, United States 16 Code)’’ each place it appears. 17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 18 this section, and the regulations promulgated by the Fed- 19 eral Communications Commission under such amend- 20 ments, shall not take effect before January 1 of the cal- 21 endar year after the calendar year in which this Act is 22 enacted. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 5035 RFS SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR COV- 1 ERED SERVICES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part IV of title VI of the Commu- 3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 551 et seq.) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 642. REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO CHARGES FOR 6 COVERED SERVICES. 7 ‘‘(a) CONSUMER RIGHTS IN SALES.— 8 ‘‘(1) RIGHT TO TRANSPARENCY.—Before enter- 9 ing into a contract with a consumer for the provision 10 of a covered service, a provider of a covered service 11 shall provide the consumer, by phone, in person, on- 12 line, or by other reasonable means, the total monthly 13 charge for the covered service, whether offered indi- 14 vidually or as part of a bundled service, selected by 15 the consumer (explicitly noting the amount of any 16 applicable promotional discount reflected in such 17 charge and when such discount will expire), includ- 18 ing any related administrative fees, equipment fees, 19 or other charges, a good faith estimate of any tax, 20 fee, or charge imposed by the Federal Government 21 or a State or local government (whether imposed on 22 the provider or imposed on the consumer but col- 23 lected by the provider), and a good faith estimate of 24 any fee or charge that is used to recover any other 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 5035 RFS assessment imposed on the provider by the Federal 1 Government or a State or local government. 2 ‘‘(2) RIGHT TO FORMAL NOTICE.—A provider 3 of a covered service that enters into a contract de- 4 scribed in paragraph (1) shall, not later than 24 5 hours after entering into the contract, send the con- 6 sumer, by email, online link, or other reasonably 7 comparable means, a copy of the information de- 8 scribed in such paragraph. 9 ‘‘(3) RIGHT TO CANCEL.—A provider of a cov- 10 ered service that enters into a contract described in 11 paragraph (1) shall permit the consumer to cancel 12 the contract, without paying early cancellation fees 13 or other disconnection fees or penalties, during the 14 24-hour period beginning when the provider of the 15 covered service sends the copy required by para- 16 graph (2). 17 ‘‘(b) CONSUMER RIGHTS IN E-BILLING.—If a pro- 18 vider of a covered service provides a bill to a consumer 19 in an electronic format, the provider shall include in the 20 bill— 21 ‘‘(1) an itemized statement that breaks down 22 the total amount charged for or relating to the pro- 23 vision of the covered service by the amount charged 24 for the provision of the service itself and the amount 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 5035 RFS of all related taxes, administrative fees, equipment 1 fees, or other charges; 2 ‘‘(2) the termination date of the contract for 3 the provision of the covered service entered into be- 4 tween the consumer and the provider; and 5 ‘‘(3) the termination date of any applicable pro- 6 motional discount. 7 ‘‘(c) CONSUMER RIGHTS TO ACCURATE EQUIPMENT 8 CHARGES.—A provider of a covered service or fixed 9 broadband internet access service may not charge a con- 10 sumer for— 11 ‘‘(1) using covered equipment provided by the 12 consumer; or 13 ‘‘(2) renting, leasing, or otherwise providing to 14 the consumer covered equipment if— 15 ‘‘(A) the provider has not provided the 16 equipment to the consumer; or 17 ‘‘(B) the consumer has returned the equip- 18 ment to the provider, except to the extent that 19 the charge relates to the period beginning on 20 the date when the provider provided the equip- 21 ment to the consumer and ending on the date 22 when the consumer returned the equipment to 23 the provider. 24 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 5035 RFS ‘‘(1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV- 1 ICE.—The term ‘broadband internet access service’ 2 has the meaning given such term in section 8.1(b) 3 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 4 cessor regulation. 5 ‘‘(2) COVERED EQUIPMENT.—The term ‘cov- 6 ered equipment’ means equipment (such as a router) 7 employed on the premises of a person (other than a 8 provider of a covered service or fixed broadband 9 internet access service) to provide a covered service 10 or to provide fixed broadband internet access service. 11 ‘‘(3) COVERED SERVICE.—The term ‘covered 12 service’ means service provided by a multichannel 13 video programming distributer, to the extent such 14 distributor is acting as a multichannel video pro- 15 gramming distributor.’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 642 of the Commu- 17 nications Act of 1934, as added by subsection (a) of this 18 section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 6 months 19 after the date of the enactment of this Act. The Federal 20 Communications Commission may grant an additional 6- 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 HR 5035 RFS month extension if the Commission finds that good cause 1 exists for such an additional extension. 2 Passed the House of Representatives December 10, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Dec 11, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5035.RFS H5035 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS