[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3587 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3587

 To require the Federal Communications Commission to amend the program 
   exclusivity and nonduplication rules relating to cable television 
    system blackouts to permit carriage of network programming from 
                   broadcasts within the same State.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 20, 1993

Mr. Doolittle (for himself, Mr. Chapman, and Mr. Gunderson) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Federal Communications Commission to amend the program 
   exclusivity and nonduplication rules relating to cable television 
    system blackouts to permit carriage of network programming from 
                   broadcasts within the same State.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Syndex Fairness Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the Federal Communications Commission regulations 
        requiring cable television companies to delete programming that 
        might be duplicated by a channel outside of the local market 
        have drastically and adversely changed the ability of citizens 
        in certain States to receive television programming pertinent 
        to their State;
            (2) the effect of this ruling has caused local programming 
        to be blacked out and be replaced by programming from another 
        State; and
            (3) this unique situation has placed a hardship on numerous 
        viewers who are reliant on cable to supply timely and 
        applicable television services.

SEC. 3. REVISION OF REGULATION REQUIRED.

    The Federal Communications Commission shall revise the regulations 
relating to nonduplication protection and syndicated exclusivity (47 
C.F.R. 76.92 et seq.) to permit the customers of cable televisions 
systems in towns, cities, or communities with populations of less than 
50,000 to receive network programs for each network from affiliated 
television stations that are located in the same State as such 
customers.

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