Eliminating Local News Deserts Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7782 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for mandatory cable carriage of low power television stations sharing facilities of certain full power commercial VHF stations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 24, 2020 Mr. PAYNE (for himself and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for mandatory cable carriage of low power television stations sharing facilities of certain full power commercial VHF 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eliminating Local 4 News Deserts Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7782 IH SEC. 2. CARRIAGE OF LOW POWER TELEVISION STATIONS 1 SHARING FACILITIES OF CERTAIN FULL 2 POWER COMMERCIAL VHF STATIONS. 3 (a) CARRIAGE RIGHTS.—Section 614(c) of the Com- 4 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(c)) is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para- 6 graph (3); and 7 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR STA- 10 TIONS SHARING FACILITIES OF CERTAIN FULL 11 POWER COMMERCIAL VHF STATIONS.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A cable operator of a 13 cable system shall carry on such system, in ad- 14 dition to any qualified low power station such 15 operator is required to carry under paragraph 16 (1), any television broadcast station— 17 ‘‘(i) that is a qualified low power sta- 18 tion under subparagraph (B) of subsection 19 (h)(2); and 20 ‘‘(ii) the full power commercial very 21 high frequency television broadcast station 22 described in subsection (h)(2)(B)(ii)(II) 23 with which such qualified low power sta- 24 tion shares facilities is in the same tele- 25 vision market as such cable system. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7782 IH ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In the case of a 1 qualified low power station that is carried under 2 subparagraph (A), such qualified low power sta- 3 tion shall have the same carriage rights as the 4 full power commercial very high frequency tele- 5 vision broadcast station described in subpara- 6 graph (A)(ii) in the television market described 7 in such subparagraph. 8 ‘‘(C) TIMING.—The requirements of sub- 9 paragraph (A) shall apply, with respect to a tel- 10 evision broadcast station, beginning on the date 11 that is 90 days after the Commission makes a 12 determination under subparagraph (B) of sub- 13 section (h)(2) that such station is a qualified 14 low power station under such subparagraph.’’. 15 (b) QUALIFIED LOW POWER STATION DEFINED.— 16 Section 614(h)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 17 U.S.C. 534(h)(2)) is amended— 18 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) through 19 (F) as clauses (i) through (vi), respectively; 20 (2) by striking ‘‘The term’’ and inserting the 21 following: 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term’’; 23 (3) by striking ‘‘Nothing in this paragraph’’ 24 and inserting the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7782 IH ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 1 in this paragraph’’; and 2 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (A) (as so 3 designated) the following: 4 ‘‘(B) STATIONS SHARING FACILITIES OF 5 CERTAIN FULL POWER COMMERCIAL VHF STA- 6 TIONS.— 7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘quali- 8 fied low power station’ also includes any 9 television broadcast station for which there 10 is in effect a determination by the Com- 11 mission that such station is a qualified low 12 power station under this subparagraph. 13 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The Commis- 14 sion shall determine that a television 15 broadcast station is a qualified low power 16 station under this subparagraph if— 17 ‘‘(I) such station conforms to the 18 rules established for low power tele- 19 vision stations contained in part 74 of 20 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations; 21 ‘‘(II) such low power station 22 shares facilities with a licensee of a 23 full power commercial very high fre- 24 quency television broadcast channel 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7782 IH allocated to a State under section 1 331(a); 2 ‘‘(III) such low power station 3 maintains its main studios and offices 4 in such State; 5 ‘‘(IV) such State has no exclu- 6 sive, in-State broadcast television 7 market within its boundaries, as de- 8 termined by Nielsen Media Research 9 or any successor entity; 10 ‘‘(V) there are no ‘big 4’ full 11 power commercial network affiliates 12 (ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX) that 13 are licensed to, and principally oper- 14 ate within, such State; and 15 ‘‘(VI) such low power station pro- 16 vides, for a minimum of 3 hours per 17 day Monday through Friday and a 18 minimum of 2 hours per day on Sat- 19 urday and Sunday, locally produced 20 news, public affairs, and informational 21 programming focused on, or of gen- 22 eral interest to, the many residents 23 and communities throughout such 24 State. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7782 IH ‘‘(iii) PETITION AND DETERMINA- 1 TION.—Not later than 30 days after a tele- 2 vision broadcast station submits to the 3 Commission a petition for a determination 4 that such station is a qualified low power 5 station under this subparagraph, the Com- 6 mission shall— 7 ‘‘(I) if the Commission finds that 8 the requirements of clause (ii) are met 9 with respect to such station, grant 10 such petition; or 11 ‘‘(II) if the Commission finds 12 that the requirements of clause (ii) 13 are not met with respect to such sta- 14 tion, deny such petition. 15 ‘‘(iv) ANNUAL CERTIFICATION.— 16 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on 17 the date that is 1 year after the date 18 on which a qualified low power station 19 under this subparagraph is first car- 20 ried on a cable system under sub- 21 section (c)(2), and annually there- 22 after, such station shall submit to the 23 Commission a certification that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7782 IH ‘‘(aa) such station is pro- 1 viding locally produced news, 2 public affairs, and informational 3 programming as described in 4 clause (ii)(VI); and 5 ‘‘(bb) such station commits 6 to the Commission that such sta- 7 tion will continue to provide such 8 locally produced news, public af- 9 fairs, and informational program- 10 ming as described in such clause 11 during the 1-year period begin- 12 ning on the date of the certifi- 13 cation. 14 ‘‘(II) FAILURE TO CERTIFY.—If 15 a qualified low power station under 16 this subparagraph fails to submit a 17 certification as required by subclause 18 (I), the Commission may revoke the 19 determination that such station is a 20 qualified low power station under this 21 subparagraph. 22 ‘‘(III) SCHEDULE AND ADMINIS- 23 TRATION.—Not later than 30 days 24 after the date of the enactment of this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7782 IH subparagraph, the Commission shall 1 by order establish the schedule and 2 administration of the schedule for and 3 other requirements relating to the ad- 4 ministration of the certifications re- 5 quired by this clause. 6 ‘‘(v) GROUNDS FOR REVOCATION OF 7 DETERMINATION.—The Commission may 8 not revoke a determination that a tele- 9 vision broadcast station is a qualified low 10 power station under this subparagraph ex- 11 cept— 12 ‘‘(I) as provided in clause 13 (iv)(II); or 14 ‘‘(II) if the requirements of 15 clause (ii) are no longer met with re- 16 spect to such station.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7782.IH H7782 tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS