[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 705 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 705

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish statutory rules 
  for the conversion of television broadcast stations from analog to 
    digital transmission consistent with the Federal Communications 
      Commission's Fifth Order and Report, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 1997

  Mr. McCain 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 to establish statutory rules 
  for the conversion of television broadcast stations from analog to 
    digital transmission consistent with the Federal Communications 
      Commission's Fifth Order and Report, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Digital Television Conversion Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds--
            (1) spectrum valued at $70 billion has been given to the 
        television broadcast industry at no charge to allow for 
        conversion to a new system of digital television broadcasting;
            (2) the only value to be realized for the United States 
        Treasury in this process is from the auction of the returned 
        analog channels;
            (3) the Federal Communications Commission has not adopted 
        any rule requiring television licensees to return the analog 
        channels by January 1, 2006;
            (4) the Federal Communications Commission has not adopted 
        any rule requiring more than 90 percent of television stations 
        to convert to digital transmission by any specified date;
            (5) the Federal Communications Commission has not adopted 
        any rule specifying a method for verifying licensees' 
        compliance with the digital conversion schedule, or a formal 
        method for tracking the penetration of digital broadcasting, 
        thus delaying the return of the analog channels for auction;
            (6) the absence of any requirement for conversion to 
        digital television that has the force of law will increase the 
        likelihood of delaying this conversion;
            (7) delay in the conversion to digital television will deny 
        the American people the opportunity to enjoy a broader array of 
        services than current analog television broadcasting; and
            (8) delay in conversion to digital television will harm the 
        economy through loss in productivity and loss in competition in 
        the provision of digital receivers and programming.

SEC. 3. DIGITAL TELEVISION SERVICE.

    Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

``SEC. 337. IMPLEMENTATION RULES FOR ADVANCED TELEVISION SERVICES.

    ``(a) In General.--In accordance with rules adopted by the 
Commission in its Fifth Report and Order (MM Docket No. 87-286), 
licensees shall provide free digital video programming service at least 
comparable in resolultion to video programming service provided as of 
the beginning of calendar year 1997 during the same periods of time as 
video programming service offered as of the beginning of that year in 
accordance with the following schedule:
            ``(1) For licensees of the 4 largest commercial broadcast 
        networks (including affiliates) serving the 10 largest 
        broadcast markets as of April, 1997, such digital video 
        programming service shall be provided no later than May 1, 
        1999.
            ``(2) For all licensees in the 10 largest broadcast markets 
        not described in paragraph (1), and for licensees of the 4 
        largest commercial television networks (including affiliates), 
        serving the 11th through 30th broadcast markets as of April, 
        1997, such digital video programming service shall be provided 
        no later than November 1, 1999.
    ``(b) Return of Analog Spectrum.--In accordance with those rules--
            ``(1) Commercial stations.--Licensees of commercial 
        television stations providing digital video programming service 
        shall relinquish any analog spectrum assigned to them by the 
        Commission no later than January 1, 2006.
            ``(2) Noncommercial stations.--Licensees of noncommercial 
        television stations providing digital video programming service 
        shall relinquish any analog spectrum assigned to them by the 
        Commission no later than January 1, 2007.
    ``(c) Licensees of Noncommercial Television Stations.--The 
Commission, in accordance with those rules, may grant extensions of the 
time required for the provision of digital video programming service 
under subsection (a) (but not beyond January 1, 2007) if--
            ``(1) a licensee is unable to meet the requirements of that 
        subsection because of circumstances that are either--
                    ``(A) unforeseeable; or
                    ``(B) beyond the licensee's control; and
            ``(2) the licensee has taken all reasonable steps to 
        resolve the problem that precludes meeting the requirements of 
        subsection (a) expeditiously.''.
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