[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 18 (Thursday, January 29, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1050-S1051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             DTV DELAY ACT

  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 352 introduced 
earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 352) to postpone the DTV transition date.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill 
be read three times and passed, a motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related 
to the bill be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 352) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 352

       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 Delay Act''.

     SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF DTV TRANSITION DATE.

       (a) In General.--Section 3002(b) of the Digital Television 
     Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) 
     is amended--
       (1) by striking ``February 18, 2009;'' in paragraph (1) and 
     inserting ``June 13, 2009;''; and
       (2) by striking ``February 18, 2009,'' in paragraph (2) and 
     inserting ``that date''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments.--
       (1) Section 3008(a)(1) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is 
     amended by striking ``February 17, 2009.'' and inserting 
     ``June 12, 2009.''.
       (2) Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 
     (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(14)(A)) is amended by striking ``February 
     17, 2009.'' and inserting ``June 12, 2009.''.
       (3) Section 337(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
     U.S.C. 337(e)(1)) is amended by striking ``February 17, 
     2009.'' and inserting ``June 12, 2009.''.
       (c) License Terms.--
       (1) Extension.--The Federal Communications Commission shall 
     extend the terms of the licenses for the recovered spectrum, 
     including the license period and construction requirements 
     associated with those licenses, for a 116-day period.
       (2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``recovered 
     spectrum'' means--
       (A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such term is defined 
     in section 309(j)(15)(C)(vi) of the Communications Act of 
     1934; and
       (B) the spectrum excluded from the definition of recovered 
     analog spectrum by subclauses (I) and (II) of such section.

     SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER BOX 
                   PROGRAM.

       (a) Extension of Coupon Program.--Section 3005(c)(1)(A) of 
     the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 
     2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by striking ``March 31, 
     2009,'' and inserting ``July 31, 2009,''.
       (b) Treatment of Expired Coupons.--Section 3005(c)(1) of 
     the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 
     2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:
       ``(D) Expired coupons.--The Assistant Secretary may issue 
     to a household, upon request by the household, one 
     replacement coupon for each coupon that was issued to such 
     household and that expired without being redeemed.''.
       (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 3005(c)(1)(A) of the 
     Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 
     (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is amended by striking ``receives, via 
     the United States Postal Service,'' and inserting 
     ``redeems''.
       (d) Condition of Modifications.--The amendments made by 
     this section shall not take effect until the enactment of 
     additional budget authority after the date of enactment of 
     this Act to carry out the analog-to-digital converter box 
     program under section 3005 of the Digital Television 
     Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005.

     SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION.

       (a) Permissive Early Termination Under Existing 
     Requirements.--Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent a 
     licensee of a television broadcast station from terminating 
     the broadcasting of such station's analog television signal 
     (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in the digital 
     television service) prior to the date established by law 
     under section 3002(b) of the Digital Television Transition 
     and Public Safety Act of 2005 for termination of all licenses 
     for full-power television stations in the analog television 
     service (as amended by section 2 of this Act) so long as such 
     prior termination is conducted in accordance with the Federal 
     Communications Commission's requirements in effect on the 
     date of enactment of this Act, including the flexible 
     procedures established in the Matter of Third Periodic Review 
     of the Commission's Rules and Policies Affecting the 
     Conversion to Digital Television (FCC 07-228, MB Docket No. 
     07-91, released December 31, 2007).
       (b) Public Safety Radio Services.--Nothing in this Act, or 
     the amendments made by this Act, shall prevent a public 
     safety service licensee from commencing operations consistent 
     with the terms of its license on spectrum recovered as a 
     result of the voluntary cessation of broadcasting in the 
     analog or digital television service pursuant to subsection 
     (a). Any such public safety use shall be subject to the 
     relevant Federal Communications Commission rules and 
     regulations in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, 
     including section 90.545 of the Commission's rules (47 C.F.R. 
     Sec.  90.545).
       (c) Expedited Rulemaking.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, the Federal Communications Commission and 
     the National Telecommunications and Information 
     Administration shall, not later than 30 days after the date 
     of enactment of this Act, each adopt or revise its rules, 
     regulations, or orders or take such other actions as may be 
     necessary or appropriate to implement the provisions, and 
     carry out the purposes, of this Act and the amendments made 
     by this Act.

[[Page S1051]]

     SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY.

       Section 309(j)(11) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
     U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is amended by striking ``2011.'' and 
     inserting ``2012.''.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, Senator Rockefeller and I, as the 
chairman and the ranking member of the Commerce Committee, have worked 
on a bill that will delay for 3 months, basically until June 12, this 
transition. It is voluntary. That was very important. Because many 
broadcast companies have made the investment for digital transmission, 
and they will be able to go to that digital transmission. It also 
allows people, even if they have coupons that are expired, to reapply 
and get coupons.
  But I do wish to serve notice that I will not support another delay 
in implementation. By now people have had the notice, and we have done 
everything to help mitigate the cost of this transition. I talked to 
Senator Rockefeller about that, and I think we are in agreement that 
now is the time for people to get their coupons and get their boxes 
because June 12 this transition will be made.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I wish to not only recognize what the 
Senator from Texas has indicated, but also I wish to say that these 
last couple days, weeks--whatever it is--have been a study in 
bipartisan cooperation. We have been up, we have been down. It wasn't 
going to work, it could work, it might work. What we have concentrated 
on is going to the people who have concerns and answering every single 
question they might have. In a deliberative body such as the Senate, 
where we actually do that and people actually know we are trying to 
answer all their questions, and are answering all their questions, and 
when you have a chairman and a ranking member who are in tandem, 
working together on a very important matter, it counts.
  I yield the floor.

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