Next Generation Television Marketplace Act

Next Generation Television Marketplace Act

This bill repeals provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 concerning: (1) the carriage of distant television stations and significantly viewed signals by satellite carriers, (2) the retransmittal of television signals to certain state counties in the designated market area of another state by cable operators or satellite carriers, (3) the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) qualified carrier certification process, (4) the carriage of local commercial television signals and qualified low power stations by cable operators, and (5) the requirement that cable systems or other multichannel video programming distributors obtain consent to retransmit a broadcasting station signal.

The bill: (1) repeals and revises provisions concerning the carriage of local television signals by satellite carriers, and the regulation of rates and broadcast signal carriage; (2) repeals federal copyright laws requiring statutory licenses for certain secondary transmissions of distant and local television programming by satellite carriers; and (3) extends exemptions from copyright infringement laws to certain secondary transmissions by cable systems and satellite carriers.

The FCC must repeal related FCC rules and eliminate: (1) restrictions on the number of broadcast television stations that a person or entity may own, operate, or control in the same designated market area under the local television multiple ownership rule; (2) the radio-television cross-ownership rule; and (3) limitations on the ownership, operation, or control of a broadcast television station by a person or entity that owns, operates, or controls a daily newspaper. The bill prohibits reimposing certain eliminated rules..