Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act 2019-03-28 Introduced in Senate Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act

This bill specifies that certain service obligations owed by the licensee of a commercial television broadcast station apply regardless of the broadcast frequency used by the licensee.

Specifically, the bill provides that a licensee making a change from a very high frequency (VHF) broadcast station to an ultrahigh frequency (UHF) broadcast station must ensure the change does not affect its obligation to provide service to its customers. The bill also requires such a licensee to (1) broadcast at least 14 hours of common local programming per week, (2) include a substantial amount of particularized local content, and (3) maintain a studio in the station's community.

The bill further provides for the reallocation of a station to a community where there is no VHF or UHF station.

]]> text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.