I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 888
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communica-
tions Commission to promulgate regulations with respect to rebates for
certain video programming blackouts, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY31, 2025
Mr. R
YAN(for himself, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. CARSON, and Ms. NORTON) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy
and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the
Federal Communications Commission to promulgate reg-
ulations with respect to rebates for certain video pro-
gramming blackouts, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Sports Blackouts 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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•HR 888 IH
SEC. 2. REBATES FOR VIDEO PROGRAMMING BLACKOUTS. 1
Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 2
U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 3
following: 4
‘‘SEC. 723. REBATES FOR VIDEO PROGRAMMING BLACK-5
OUTS. 6
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 7
date of the enactment of this section, the Commission 8
shall promulgate regulations— 9
‘‘(1) to require a provider to issue to a sub-10
scriber of such provider a rebate with respect to any 11
period during which the provider denies such sub-12
scriber, as a result of a covered negotiation, access 13
to video programming that such provider agreed, at 14
the time of subscription entry or renewal (as the 15
case may be), to provide to such subscriber during 16
such period; and 17
‘‘(2) to establish the appropriate amount of a 18
rebate issued under paragraph (1). 19
‘‘(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 20
‘‘(1) C
OVERED NEGOTIATION .—The term ‘cov-21
ered negotiation’ means a negotiation with respect 22
to— 23
‘‘(A) retransmission consent of a television 24
broadcast station under section 325(b); or 25
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•HR 888 IH
‘‘(B) carriage of video programming of an 1
entity that is not a television broadcast station. 2
‘‘(2) P
ROVIDER.—The term ‘provider’ means ei-3
ther of the following: 4
‘‘(A) A cable operator (as defined in sec-5
tion 602). 6
‘‘(B) A provider of direct broadcast sat-7
ellite service (as defined in section 335(b)(5)). 8
‘‘(3) T
ELEVISION BROADCAST STATION .—The 9
term ‘television broadcast station’ has the meaning 10
given such term in section 325(b)(7). 11
‘‘(4) V
IDEO PROGRAMMING .—The term ‘video 12
programming’ has the meaning given such term in 13
section 602.’’. 14
Æ
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