| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 888 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communica- |
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| 6 | 6 | | tions Commission to promulgate regulations with respect to rebates for |
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| 7 | 7 | | certain video programming blackouts, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY31, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. R |
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| 11 | 11 | | YAN(for himself, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. CARSON, and Ms. NORTON) intro- |
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| 12 | 12 | | duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy |
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| 13 | 13 | | and Commerce |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the |
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| 16 | 16 | | Federal Communications Commission to promulgate reg- |
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| 17 | 17 | | ulations with respect to rebates for certain video pro- |
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| 18 | 18 | | gramming blackouts, and for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Sports Blackouts 4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:37 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H888.IH H888 |
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| 25 | 25 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | •HR 888 IH |
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| 27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. REBATES FOR VIDEO PROGRAMMING BLACKOUTS. 1 |
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| 28 | 28 | | Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | following: 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | ‘‘SEC. 723. REBATES FOR VIDEO PROGRAMMING BLACK-5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | OUTS. 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | ‘‘(a) I |
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| 34 | 34 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 7 |
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| 35 | 35 | | date of the enactment of this section, the Commission 8 |
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| 36 | 36 | | shall promulgate regulations— 9 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ‘‘(1) to require a provider to issue to a sub-10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | scriber of such provider a rebate with respect to any 11 |
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| 39 | 39 | | period during which the provider denies such sub-12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | scriber, as a result of a covered negotiation, access 13 |
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| 41 | 41 | | to video programming that such provider agreed, at 14 |
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| 42 | 42 | | the time of subscription entry or renewal (as the 15 |
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| 43 | 43 | | case may be), to provide to such subscriber during 16 |
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| 44 | 44 | | such period; and 17 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ‘‘(2) to establish the appropriate amount of a 18 |
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| 46 | 46 | | rebate issued under paragraph (1). 19 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ‘‘(b) D |
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| 48 | 48 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ‘‘(1) C |
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| 50 | 50 | | OVERED NEGOTIATION .—The term ‘cov-21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | ered negotiation’ means a negotiation with respect 22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | to— 23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ‘‘(A) retransmission consent of a television 24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | broadcast station under section 325(b); or 25 |
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| 55 | 55 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:37 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H888.IH H888 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 888 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | ‘‘(B) carriage of video programming of an 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | entity that is not a television broadcast station. 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | ‘‘(2) P |
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| 61 | 61 | | ROVIDER.—The term ‘provider’ means ei-3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ther of the following: 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | ‘‘(A) A cable operator (as defined in sec-5 |
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| 64 | 64 | | tion 602). 6 |
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| 65 | 65 | | ‘‘(B) A provider of direct broadcast sat-7 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ellite service (as defined in section 335(b)(5)). 8 |
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| 67 | 67 | | ‘‘(3) T |
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| 68 | 68 | | ELEVISION BROADCAST STATION .—The 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | term ‘television broadcast station’ has the meaning 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | given such term in section 325(b)(7). 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | ‘‘(4) V |
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| 72 | 72 | | IDEO PROGRAMMING .—The term ‘video 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | programming’ has the meaning given such term in 13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | section 602.’’. 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | Æ |
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| 76 | 76 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:37 Feb 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H888.IH H888 |
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| 77 | 77 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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