Broadcast spectrum flexibility
Commission action
If the Commission determines to issue additional licenses for advanced television services, the Commission—
should limit the initial eligibility for such licenses to persons that, as of the date of such issuance, are licensed to operate a television broadcast station or hold a permit to construct such a station (or both); and
shall adopt regulations that allow the holders of such licenses to offer such ancillary or supplementary services on designated frequencies as may be consistent with the public interest, convenience, and necessity.
Contents of regulations
In prescribing the regulations required by subsection (a), the Commission shall—
only permit such licensee or permittee to offer ancillary or supplementary services if the use of a designated frequency for such services is consistent with the technology or method designated by the Commission for the provision of advanced television services;
limit the broadcasting of ancillary or supplementary services on designated frequencies so as to avoid derogation of any advanced television services, including high definition television broadcasts, that the Commission may require using such frequencies;
apply to any other ancillary or supplementary service such of the Commission’s regulations as are applicable to the offering of analogous services by any other person, except that no ancillary or supplementary service shall have any rights to carriage under section 534 or 535 of this title or be deemed a multichannel video programming distributor for purposes of section 548 of this title;
adopt such technical and other requirements as may be necessary or appropriate to assure the quality of the signal used to provide advanced television services, and may adopt regulations that stipulate the minimum number of hours per day that such signal must be transmitted; and
prescribe such other regulations as may be necessary for the protection of the public interest, convenience, and necessity.
Recovery of license
Public interest requirement
Fees
Services to which fees apply
If the regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (a) permit a licensee to offer ancillary or supplementary services on a designated frequency—
for which the payment of a subscription fee is required in order to receive such services, or
for which the licensee directly or indirectly receives compensation from a third party in return for transmitting material furnished by such third party (other than commercial advertisements used to support broadcasting for which a subscription fee is not required),
the Commission shall establish a program to assess and collect from the licensee for such designated frequency an annual fee or other schedule or method of payment that promotes the objectives described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2).
Collection of fees
The program required by paragraph (1) shall—
be designed (i) to recover for the public a portion of the value of the public spectrum resource made available for such commercial use, and (ii) to avoid unjust enrichment through the method employed to permit such uses of that resource;
recover for the public an amount that, to the extent feasible, equals but does not exceed (over the term of the license) the amount that would have been recovered had such services been licensed pursuant to the provisions of section 309(j) of this title and the Commission’s regulations thereunder; and
be adjusted by the Commission from time to time in order to continue to comply with the requirements of this paragraph.
Treatment of revenues
General rule
Retention of revenues
Report
Preservation of low-power community television broadcasting
Creation of class A licenses
Rulemaking required
Within 120 days after
the license shall be subject to the same license terms and renewal standards as the licenses for full-power television stations except as provided in this subsection; and
each such class A licensee shall be accorded primary status as a television broadcaster as long as the station continues to meet the requirements for a qualifying low-power station in paragraph (2).
Notice to and certification by licensees
Application for and award of licenses
Resolution of technical problems
The Commission shall act to preserve the service areas of low-power television licensees pending the final resolution of a class A application. If, after granting certification of eligibility for a class A license, technical problems arise requiring an engineering solution to a full-power station’s allotted parameters or channel assignment in the digital television Table of Allotments, the Commission shall make such modifications as necessary—
to ensure replication of the full-power digital television applicant’s service area, as provided for in sections 73.622 and 73.623 of the Commission’s regulations (47 CFR 73.622, 73.623); and
to permit maximization of a full-power digital television applicant’s service area consistent with such sections 73.622 and 73.623,
if such applicant has filed an application for maximization or a notice of its intent to seek such maximization by
Change applications
Qualifying low-power television stations
For purposes of this subsection, a station is a qualifying low-power television station if—
during the 90 days preceding
such station broadcast a minimum of 18 hours per day;
such station broadcast an average of at least 3 hours per week of programming that was produced within the market area served by such station, or the market area served by a group of commonly controlled low-power stations that carry common local programming produced within the market area served by such group; and
such station was in compliance with the Commission’s requirements applicable to low-power television stations; and
from and after the date of its application for a class A license, the station is in compliance with the Commission’s operating rules for full-power television stations; or
the Commission determines that the public interest, convenience, and necessity would be served by treating the station as a qualifying low-power television station for purposes of this section, or for other reasons determined by the Commission.
Common ownership
Issuance of licenses for advanced television services to television translator stations and qualifying low-power television stations
No preemption of section 337
Interim qualification
Stations operating within certain bandwidth
Certain channels off-limits
No interference requirement
The Commission may not grant a class A license, nor approve a modification of a class A license, unless the applicant or licensee shows that the class A station for which the license or modification is sought will not cause—
interference within—
the predicted Grade B contour (as of the date of the enactment of the Community Broadcasters Protection Act of 1999 [
the digital television service areas provided in the DTV Table of Allotments; (II) the areas protected in the Commission’s digital television regulations (47 CFR 73.622(e) and (f)); (III) the digital television service areas of stations subsequently granted by the Commission prior to the filing of a class A application; and (IV) stations seeking to maximize power under the Commission’s rules, if such station has complied with the notification requirements in paragraph (1)(D);
interference within the protected contour of any low-power television station or low-power television translator station that—
was licensed prior to the date on which the application for a class A license, or for the modification of such a license, was filed;
was authorized by construction permit prior to such date; or
had a pending application that was submitted prior to such date; or
interference within the protected contour of 80 miles from the geographic center of the areas listed in section 22.625(b)(1) or 90.303 of the Commission’s regulations (47 CFR 22.625(b)(1) and 90.303) for frequencies in—
the 470–512 megahertz band identified in section 22.621 or 90.303 of such regulations; or
the 482–488 megahertz band in New York.
Priority for displaced low-power stations
Evaluation
Within 10 years after the date the Commission first issues additional licenses for advanced television services, the Commission shall conduct an evaluation of the advanced television services program. Such evaluation shall include—
an assessment of the willingness of consumers to purchase the television receivers necessary to receive broadcasts of advanced television services;
an assessment of alternative uses, including public safety use, of the frequencies used for such broadcasts; and
the extent to which the Commission has been or will be able to reduce the amount of spectrum assigned to licensees.
Provision of digital data service by low-power television stations
Within 60 days after receiving a request (made in such form and manner and containing such information as the Commission may require) under this subsection from a low-power television station to which this subsection applies, the Commission shall authorize the licensee or permittee of that station to provide digital data service subject to the requirements of this subsection as a pilot project to demonstrate the feasibility of using low-power television stations to provide high-speed wireless digital data service, including Internet access to unserved areas.
The low-power television stations to which this subsection applies are as follows:
KHLM–LP, Houston, Texas.
WTAM–LP, Tampa, Florida.
WWRJ–LP, Jacksonville, Florida.
WVBG–LP, Albany, New York.
KHHI–LP, Honolulu, Hawaii.
KPHE–LP (K19DD), Phoenix, Arizona.
K34FI, Bozeman, Montana.
K65GZ, Bozeman, Montana.
WXOB–LP, Richmond, Virginia.
WIIW–LP, Nashville, Tennessee.
A station and repeaters to be determined by the Federal Communications Commission for the sole purpose of providing service to communities in the Kenai Peninsula Borough and Matanuska Susitna Borough.
WSPY–LP, Plano, Illinois.
W24AJ, Aurora, Illinois.
Notwithstanding any requirement of section 553 of title 5, the Commission shall promulgate regulations establishing the procedures, consistent with the requirements of paragraphs (4) and (5), governing the pilot projects for the provision of digital data services by certain low power television licensees within 120 days after the date of enactment of LPTV Digital Data Services Act.1
requirements as to the form, manner, and information required for submitting requests to the Commission to provide digital data service as a pilot project;
procedures for testing interference to digital television receivers caused by any pilot project station or remote transmitter;
procedures for terminating any pilot project station or remote transmitter or both that causes interference to any analog or digital full-power television stations, class A television station, television translators or any other users of the core television band;
specifications for reports to be filed quarterly by each low power television licensee participating in a pilot project;
procedures by which a low power television licensee participating in a pilot project shall notify television broadcast stations in the same market upon commencement of digital data services and for ongoing coordination with local broadcasters during the test period; and
procedures for the receipt and review of interference complaints on an expedited basis consistent with paragraph (5)(D).
A low-power television station to which this subsection applies may not provide digital data service unless—
the provision of that service, including any remote return-path transmission in the case of 2-way digital data service, does not cause any interference in violation of the Commission’s existing rules, regarding interference caused by low power television stations to full-service analog or digital television stations, class A television stations, or television translator stations; and
the station complies with the Commission’s regulations governing safety, environmental, and sound engineering practices, and any other Commission regulation under paragraph (3) governing pilot program operations.
The Commission may limit the provision of digital data service by a low-power television station to which this subsection applies if the Commission finds that—
the provision of 2-way digital data service by that station causes any interference that cannot otherwise be remedied; or
the provision of 1-way digital data service by that station causes any interference.
The Commission shall grant any such station, upon application (made in such form and manner and containing such information as the Commission may require) by the licensee or permittee of that station, authority to move the station to another location, to modify its facilities to operate on a different channel, or to use booster or auxiliary transmitting locations, if the grant of authority will not cause interference to the allowable or protected service areas of full service digital television stations, National Television Standards Committee assignments, or television translator stations, and provided, however, no such authority shall be granted unless it is consistent with existing Commission regulations relating to the movement, modification, and use of non-class A low power television transmission facilities in order—
to operate within television channels 2 through 51, inclusive; or
to demonstrate the utility of low-power television stations to provide high-speed 2-way wireless digital data service.
The Commission shall require quarterly reports from each station authorized to provide digital data services under this subsection that include—
information on the station’s experience with interference complaints and the resolution thereof;
information on the station’s market success in providing digital data service; and
such other information as the Commission may require in order to administer this subsection.
The Commission shall resolve any complaints of interference with television reception caused by any station providing digital data service authorized under this subsection within 60 days after the complaint is received by the Commission.
The Commission shall assess and collect from any low-power television station authorized to provide digital data service under this subsection an annual fee or other schedule or method of payment comparable to any fee imposed under the authority of this chapter on providers of similar services. Amounts received by the Commission under this paragraph may be retained by the Commission as an offsetting collection to the extent necessary to cover the costs of developing and implementing the pilot program authorized by this subsection, and regulating and supervising the provision of digital data service by low-power television stations under this subsection. Amounts received by the Commission under this paragraph in excess of any amount retained under the preceding sentence shall be deposited in the Treasury in accordance with chapter 33 of title 31.
In this subsection, the term “digital data service” includes—
digitally-based interactive broadcast service; and
wireless Internet access, without regard to—
whether such access is—
provided on a one-way or a two-way basis;
portable or fixed; or
connected to the Internet via a band allocated to Interactive Video and Data Service; and
the technology employed in delivering such service, including the delivery of such service via multiple transmitters at multiple locations.
Nothing in this subsection limits the authority of the Commission under any other provision of law.
Definitions
As used in this section:
Advanced television services
Designated frequencies
High definition television
Source
(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 336, as added Pub. L. 104–104, title II, § 201,Notes
Editorial Notes
References in Text
Amendments
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Low Power Protection
SHORT TITLE.
LOW POWER TV STATIONS.
Definitions.—
In this section—
the term ‘Commission’ means the Federal Communications Commission;
the term ‘Designated Market Area’ means—
a Designated Market Area determined by Nielsen Media Research or any successor entity; or
a Designated Market Area under a system of dividing television broadcast station licensees into local markets using a system that the Commission determines is equivalent to the system established by Nielsen Media Research; and
the term ‘low power TV station’ has the meaning given the term ‘digital low power TV station’ in section 74.701 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
Purpose.—
The purpose of this section is to provide low power TV stations with a limited window of opportunity to apply for the opportunity to be accorded primary status as Class A television licensees.
Rulemaking.—
In general.—
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [
Requirements.—
In general.—
The rule with respect to which the Commission is required to issue notice under paragraph (1) shall provide that, during the 1-year period beginning on the date on which that rule takes effect, a low power TV station may apply to the Commission to be accorded primary status as a Class A television licensee under section 73.6001 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation.
Considerations.—
The Commission may approve an application submitted under subparagraph (A) if the low power TV station submitting the application—
satisfies—
section 336(f)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 336(f)(2)) and the rules issued under that section, including the requirements under such section 336(f)(2) with respect to locally produced programming, except that, for the purposes of this subclause, the period described in the matter preceding subclause (I) of subparagraph (A)(i) of such section 336(f)(2) shall be construed to be the 90-day period preceding the date of enactment of this Act; and
paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of 73.6001 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation;
demonstrates to the Commission that the Class A station for which the license is sought will not cause any interference described in section 336(f)(7) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 336(f)(7)); and
as of the date of enactment of this Act, operates in a Designated Market Area with not more than 95,000 television households.
Applicability of license.—
A license that accords primary status as a Class A television licensee to a low power TV station as a result of the rule with respect to which the Commission is required to issue notice under paragraph (1) shall—
be subject to the same license terms and renewal standards as a license for a full power television broadcast station, except as otherwise expressly provided in this subsection; and
require the low power TV station to remain in compliance with paragraph (2)(B) during the term of the license.
Reporting.—
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act [
a list of the current, as of the date on which the report is submitted, licensees that have been accorded primary status as Class A television licensees; and
of the licensees described in paragraph (1), an identification of each such licensee that has been accorded the status described in that paragraph because of the implementation of this section.
Rule of Construction.—
Nothing in this section may be construed to affect a decision of the Commission relating to completion of the transition, relocation, or reimbursement of entities as a result of the systems of competitive bidding conducted pursuant to title VI of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 [Pub. L. 112–96] (47 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.), and the amendments made by that title [enacting section 929 of this title and amending sections 309, 337, 614, 902, 923, 928, and 942 of this title], that are collectively commonly referred to as the ‘Television Broadcast Incentive Auction’.”
Transition to Digital Television
Pair Assignment Required.—
In order to further promote the orderly transition to digital television, and to promote the equitable allocation and use of digital channels by television broadcast permittees and licensees, the Federal Communications Commission, at the request of an eligible licensee or permittee, shall, within 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [
such channel can be allotted and assigned without further modification of the tables of allotments as set forth in sections 73.606 and 73.622 of the Commission’s regulations (47 CFR 73.606, 73.622); and
such allotment and assignment is otherwise consistent with the Commission’s rules (47 CFR part 73).
Eligible Transition Licensee or Permittee.—
For purposes of subsection (a), the term ‘eligible licensee or permittee’ means only a full power television broadcast licensee or permittee (or its successor in interest) that—
had an application pending for an analog television station construction permit as of
as of the date of enactment of this Act [
Requirements on Licensee or Permittee.—
Construction deadline.—
Any licensee or permittee receiving a paired digital channel pursuant to this section—
shall be required to construct the digital television broadcast facility within 18 months of the date on which the Federal Communications Commission issues a construction permit therefore, and
shall be prohibited from obtaining or receiving an extension of time from the Commission beyond the construction deadline established by paragraph (1).
Prohibition of analog operation using digital pair.—
Any licensee or permittee receiving a paired digital channel pursuant to this section shall be prohibited from giving up its current paired analog assignment and becoming a single-channel broadcaster and operating in analog on such paired digital channel.
Relief Restricted.—
Any paired digital allotment and assignment made under this section shall not be available to any other applicant unless such applicant is an eligible licensee or permittee within the meaning of subsection (b).”
Reports on Provision of Digital Data Service by Low-Power Television Stations
Congressional Findings Regarding Low-Power Broadcasters
Since the creation of low-power television licenses by the Federal Communications Commission, a small number of license holders have operated their stations in a manner beneficial to the public good providing broadcasting to their communities that would not otherwise be available.
These low-power broadcasters have operated their stations in a manner consistent with the programming objectives and hours of operation of full-power broadcasters providing worthwhile services to their respective communities while under severe license limitations compared to their full-power counterparts.
License limitations, particularly the temporary nature of the license, have blocked many low-power broadcasters from having access to capital, and have severely hampered their ability to continue to provide quality broadcasting, programming, or improvements.
The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 [Pub. L. 104–104, see Short Title of 1996 Amendment note set out under section 609 of this title] has added to the uncertainty of the future status of these stations by the lack of specific provisions regarding the permanency of their licenses, or their treatment during the transition to high definition, digital television.
It is in the public interest to promote diversity in television programming such as that currently provided by low-power television stations to foreign-language communities.”