[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2825 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2825

   To require the Federal Communications Commission to take actions 
  necessary to ensure expeditious access by consumers to terrestrial 
                      digital television services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2003

Mr. Terry (for himself, Mr. Boucher, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Engel, 
Mr. Otter, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr. Bass, Mr. Whitfield, Mr. Green 
  of Texas, and Mrs. Cubin) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Federal Communications Commission to take actions 
  necessary to ensure expeditious access by consumers to terrestrial 
                      digital television services.

    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 ``Consumer Access to Digital 
Television Enhancement Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Multiple obstacles exist that prohibit or limit 
        consumers' access to broadcast digital television services.
            (2) Rapid elimination of several of these obstacles is 
        readily achievable and would expand consumer access to digital 
        television services, thus accelerating the transition to DTV, 
        consistent with section 309(j)(14) of the Communications Act of 
        1934.
            (3) Swift adoption of ``plug and play'' regulations, 
        enabling the manufacture and sale to the public of digital 
        cable-ready televisions, is critical to ensuring access to DTV 
        services by the 70 percent of television households that 
        subscribe to cable.
            (4) The ability of televisions marketed or labeled as 
        ``digital cable-ready'' to also include off-air digital 
        reception capability further expands consumer access to digital 
        television services.
            (5) While the DTV transition is burdensome for 
        broadcasters, the adoption of minimum power levels for 
        transmission of digital television signals is important to 
        expand consumer access to digital television services.
            (6) In an effort to further the DTV transition, requiring 
        off-the-air digital television broadcast tuners in digital 
        cable-ready DTV sets will expand consumer access to digital 
        television services.

SEC. 3. ACCESS TO DTV SERVICES BY CONSUMERS.

    (a) Adoption of Cable Compatibility Requirements.--Within 30 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 
Commission shall, by regulation, adopt and implement the regulations 
proposed in the memorandum of understanding between the cable and 
consumer electronics industries filed with the Commission on December 
19, 2002, as contained in the Commission's notice of proposed 
rulemaking concerning compatibility between cable systems and consumer 
electronics equipment (FCC 03-3; adopted January 7, 2003).
    (b) Off-Air Digital Television Reception Capability in Digital 
Cable-Ready Televisions.--Regulations adopted by the Commission under 
subsection (a) also shall require that all television receivers 
marketed or labeled as ``digital cable-ready'' include the capability 
to receive off-the-air digital television broadcast signals transmitted 
in conformance with part 73 of the Commission's rules.

SEC. 4. MINIMUM REQUIRED POWER LEVELS FOR OFF-THE-AIR DIGITAL 
              TELEVISION SIGNALS.

    Within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal 
Communications Commission shall revise its regulations to establish 
minimum power levels and deadlines for achieving such power levels for 
any television broadcasting facility transmitting a digital broadcast 
signal. Such regulations, at a minimum, shall require broadcasters to 
transmit a digital signal at sufficient power to ensure that its 
digital broadcast service matches the Grade A service contour of its 
NTSC broadcast signal by no later than July 1, 2004. Nothing in this 
Act shall limit the Commission's authority to prescribe higher power 
levels consistent with the objective of concluding the transition to 
digital television by December 31, 2006.
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