[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 899 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 899

 To establish an assistance program for the construction of digital TV 
translators to fill coverage gaps that are created from the transition 
                    from analog to digital signals.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 27, 2009

Ms. Snowe (for herself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish an assistance program for the construction of digital TV 
translators to fill coverage gaps that are created from the transition 
                    from analog to digital signals.

    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 ``DTV Cliff Effect Assistance Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. DIGITAL TRANSLATOR CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment of Program.--
            (1) In general.--The Assistant Secretary for Communications 
        and Information of the Department of Commerce shall make 
        payments of not to exceed $125,000,000, in the aggregate, 
        during fiscal years 2009 through 2012 from the Digital 
        Television Transition and Public Safety Fund established under 
        section 309(j)(8)(E) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
        U.S.C. 309(j)(8)(E)) to implement and administer a program 
        through which a local civil government body may receive funding 
        for the construction and equipment of digital TV translators to 
        fill gaps in the digital coverage for full-power stations, 
        where such gaps were created from the conversion of the signal 
        of such station from analog to digital format.
            (2) Facilitation of collocation.--Any translator tower that 
        is constructed pursuant to paragraph (1) shall reasonably 
        facilitate the collocation of any wireless communications or 
        broadband equipment. The requirement under this paragraph shall 
        not apply if there is clear evidence of any signal interference 
        issues that cannot be resolved as result of such collocation.
    (b) Certification.--The Assistant Secretary shall certify with the 
Federal Communications Commission that the location of any proposed 
digital TV translator described under subsection (a) is in an area 
where signal coverage was lost due to the transition from analog to 
digital broadcast signals.
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