[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3498 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3498

     To amend section 119 of title 17, United States Code, and the 
 Communications Act of 1934 to permit satellite carriers to retransmit 
 the signals of certain noncommercial, educational broadcast stations 
          outside their local markets, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 31, 2009

Mrs. Lummis (for herself, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Shea-Porter, 
Mr. Simpson, Mr. Aderholt, and Mr. Price of North Carolina) introduced 
    the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend section 119 of title 17, United States Code, and the 
 Communications Act of 1934 to permit satellite carriers to retransmit 
 the signals of certain noncommercial, educational broadcast stations 
          outside their local markets, 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 ``Statewide PTV Access Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. SECONDARY TRANSMISSION OF NONCOMMERCIAL STATIONS BY SATELLITE 
              CARRIERS OUTSIDE LOCAL MARKETS.

    (a) Secondary Transmissions.--Section 119(a)(2)(C) of title 17, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating clauses (iii), (iv), and (v) as 
        clauses (iv), (v), and (vi), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after clause (ii) the following:
                            ``(iii) Noncommercial educational broadcast 
                        stations.--
                                    ``(I) Secondary transmissions 
                                within state-wide network.--In the case 
                                of a State-wide network of 
                                noncommercial educational broadcast 
                                stations, the statutory license 
                                provided for in subparagraph (A) shall 
                                apply to the secondary transmission of 
                                any noncommercial educational broadcast 
                                station in that State-wide network to 
                                any subscriber in any county within 
                                that State that is located outside that 
                                station's local market and is not 
                                served by a noncommercial educational 
                                television broadcast station that is 
                                located within that State.
                                    ``(II) State-wide network 
                                defined.--In this clause, the term 
                                `State-wide network of noncommercial 
                                educational broadcast stations' is a 
                                network of three or more noncommercial 
                                educational broadcast stations that are 
                                licensed to a single State, political, 
                                educational, or special purpose 
                                subdivision of a State, or a single 
                                public agency.''.
    (b) Royalty Fee.--Section 119(b)(1)(B) of title 17, United States 
Code, is amended by inserting ``or paragraph (2)(C)(iii)'' after 
``subscriber under paragraph (3)''.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

    (a) In General.--Section 325(b)(2) of the Communications Act of 
1934 (47 U.S.C. 325 (b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (D);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (E) 
        and inserting ``; or''; and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(F) to retransmission of the signal of a 
                television broadcast station outside the station's 
                local market by a satellite carrier directly to its 
                subscribers, if--
                            ``(i) such station is a part of a network 
                        of three or more noncommercial educational 
                        broadcast stations that are licensed to a 
                        single State, political, educational, or 
                        special purpose subdivision of a State, or a 
                        single public agency; and
                            ``(ii) the satellite carrier retransmits 
                        the secondary signal of such eligible 
                        noncommercial educational broadcast station 
                        only to its subscribers--
                                    ``(I) located in any county within 
                                that State that is located outside that 
                                station's local market; and
                                    ``(II) not served by another 
                                noncommercial educational broadcast 
                                station that is located within that 
                                State;''.
    (b) Distant Signals.--Section 339(a)(1) of the Communications Act 
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 339 (a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) In the case of a network of three or more 
                noncommercial educational broadcast stations that are 
                licensed to a single State, political, educational, or 
                special purpose subdivision of a State, or public 
                agency, a satellite carrier may carry the signals of 
                such network to all subscribers in any county within 
                that State that is located outside that station's 
                designated market area and is not served by another 
                noncommercial educational broadcast station located 
                within that State.''.
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