[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1244 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1244
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish signal quality and
content requirements for the carriage of public, educational, and
governmental channels, to preserve support of such channels, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 7, 2015
Ms. Baldwin (for herself and Mr. Markey) 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 signal quality and
content requirements for the carriage of public, educational, and
governmental channels, to preserve support of such channels, 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 ``Community Access Preservation Act''.
SEC. 2. PEG SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT; PRESERVATION OF SUPPORT OF PEG
USE.
(a) In General.--Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 531) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (h); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
``(f) Signal Quality and Content.--
``(1) In general.--A cable operator that operates a cable
system with channel capacity designated under subsection (b) or
that is required to provide channel capacity under subsection
(g)(6) shall, with respect to such channel capacity--
``(A) carry signals for public, educational, or
governmental use from the point of origin of such
signals to subscribers without material degradation and
without altering or removing content or data provided
as part of the public, educational, or governmental
use;
``(B) provide such signals to, and make such
signals viewable by, every subscriber of the cable
system without additional service or equipment charges;
``(C) provide to the appropriate local government
subdivision, free of charge, any transmission services
and the use of any transmission facilities that are
necessary to meet the requirements of subparagraph (A);
``(D) upon request by the appropriate local
government subdivision, provide, not later than 180
days after the date of the request, for the
transmission of such signals in--
``(i) high definition format; or
``(ii) the highest quality format that is
provided by a majority of local television
broadcast stations in the applicable designated
market area, if the quality of that format is
better than high definition; and
``(E) upon request by the appropriate local
government subdivision, provide, not later than 180
days after the date of the request, the ability for the
programming schedules of such signals to be present and
updated on the electronic program guide of the cable
operator in the same manner and with the same
functionality as television broadcast stations in the
applicable designated market area--
``(i) through the cable operator directly;
or
``(ii) by the cable operator facilitating
the inclusion of the programming schedules
through a third party vendor, at a rate not to
exceed the actual incremental cost of the
inclusion.
``(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in paragraph (1)(D)
shall be construed to--
``(A) remove other obligations of a cable operator
that are not specified under this Act;
``(B) require a cable operator to upgrade the
quality of a signal to comply with paragraph (1)(D) if
the appropriate local government subdivision determines
that it is not capable of producing and transmitting
programming in the required format; or
``(C) prohibit a cable operator from voluntarily
upgrading the quality of a signal to comply with
paragraph (1)(D).
``(3) Enforcement.--The requirements of this subsection may
be enforced by--
``(A) a local government subdivision; or
``(B) a State.
``(g) Preservation of Support of Public, Educational, and
Governmental Use.--
``(1) Level of support required.--In a State that adopts
legislation affecting cable system franchising requirements
relating to support for public, educational, or governmental
use of a cable system that becomes effective after May 31,
2005, notwithstanding such legislation, a cable operator owes
to any local government subdivision in which the operator
provides cable service during a year beginning after the date
of enactment of this subsection an amount for such year to be
determined by the local government subdivision, but not to
exceed the greatest of the following:
``(A) The amount of support provided in the last
calendar year ending before the effective date of such
State legislation.
``(B) The average annual amount of support provided
over the term of the franchise under which the cable
operator was operating on the day before the effective
date of such State legislation.
``(C) The amount of support that the cable operator
is required to provide to such local government
subdivision under such State legislation during the
year involved.
``(D) An amount of support equal to 2 percent of
the gross revenues of the cable operator from the
operation of the cable system to provide cable services
in such local government subdivision during the year
involved.
``(2) Forms of support.--For purposes of paragraph (1),
support for public, educational, or governmental use of a cable
system means all cash payments, in-kind support, and free
services that the operator of the cable system, or its
predecessor, provides to the local government subdivision for
such use of the cable system.
``(3) Adjustment for inflation.--For a year beginning on or
after the effective date described in subparagraphs (A) and (B)
of paragraph (1), on the date that the Gross National Product
Price Index is first published by the Bureau of Economic
Analysis after the end of June of such year, the amounts
specified in such subparagraphs shall be increased by the
percentage increase, if any, in the Index published on such
date from the Index first published after the end of June of
the preceding year.
``(4) Cash payments.--A cable operator that owes amounts
under paragraph (1) shall, beginning not later than 30 days
after the date of enactment of this subsection, pay such
amounts in cash--
``(A) in accordance with the schedule for payment
of franchise fees, communications taxes, or other
similar assessments under any applicable franchise; or
``(B) if there is no payment schedule for such
assessments under an applicable franchise, in
accordance with the most frequent payment schedule for
such assessments under applicable State or local law.
``(5) Uses; disputes.--
``(A) Uses.--Support provided to any local
government subdivision under this subsection shall be
dedicated to public, educational, or governmental use
of channel capacity.
``(B) Disputes.--
``(i) Mediation.--If there is a dispute as
to amounts owed under this subsection,
undisputed amounts shall be paid to the local
government subdivision, disputed amounts shall
be paid into an escrow account, and the parties
shall submit to nonbinding mediation.
``(ii) Court proceedings.--If the dispute
cannot be settled using mediation, either party
may seek relief from a court of competent
jurisdiction.
``(6) Channels.--In a State that adopts legislation
affecting cable system franchising requirements relating to the
number of channels for public, educational, or governmental use
of a cable system that becomes effective after May 31, 2005, a
cable operator shall, notwithstanding such legislation, provide
in a local government subdivision at least the greater of the
following number of channels for such use:
``(A) The number of channels for such use that the
operator was providing in the local government
subdivision on the day before the effective date of
such State legislation.
``(B) If the operator provided fewer than 3
channels for such use in the local government
subdivision on the day before the effective date of
such State legislation, a number specified by the local
government subdivision, but not to exceed 3.
``(7) Enforcement.--The requirements of this subsection may
be enforced by--
``(A) a local government subdivision; or
``(B) a State.''.
(b) Definitions.--
(1) Cable service.--Section 602(6) of the Communications
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(6)) is amended by striking ``means''
and inserting ``means, regardless of the technology or
transmission protocol used in the provision of service''.
(2) Local government subdivision.--Section 602 of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522) is amended--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through (20)
as paragraphs (14) through (21), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (12) the
following:
``(13) the term `local government subdivision' means--
``(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), a
franchising authority that derives its power to grant a
franchise from State or local law; and
``(B) in a State that adopts legislation affecting
cable system franchising requirements relating to
support for public, educational, or governmental use of
a cable system that becomes effective after May 31,
2005, an entity that was considered a franchising
authority deriving its power to grant a franchise from
State or local law as of the day before the effective
date of such State legislation;''.
(3) Franchise fee.--Section 622(g)(2) of the Communications
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 542(g)(2)) is amended--
(A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``in the case
of any franchise in effect on the date of enactment of
this title,'';
(B) by striking subparagraph (C); and
(C) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as
subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively.
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