II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 899 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the DTV Cliff Effect Assistance Act of 2009.

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.