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HR 1789 116th Congress House Science, Technology, Communications Administrative law and regulatory procedures Competition and antitrust Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Licensing and registrations Television and film

Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2019

Introduced: March 14, 2019 Introduced by: Huffman, Jared Democratic · California See on congress.gov
This bill died when the 116th Congress ended
It never became law before the 116th Congress (2019–2020) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Mar 15, 2019
Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Mar 14, 2019
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Mar 14, 2019
Introduced in House
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2019

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to eliminate the ultrahigh frequency (UHF) discount, which applies to entities that own commercial television stations.

Currently, the FCC's National Television Multiple Ownership Rule prohibits an entity from owning television stations that reach more than 39% of U.S. households. However, the UHF discount enables an entity to discount the number of households reached by its UHF stations by half. The bill eliminates this discount, increasing from 50% to 100% the number of attributed television households in a television station's market area.

This change does not apply to certain television stations that were owned prior to September 26, 2013.

What's happening now March 15, 2019

Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1789: Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2019. 116th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-1789/
MLA
"H.R. 1789: Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2019." 116th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-1789/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 1789, 116th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-1789/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 1789: Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2019](https://openamerica.io/bill/116-HR-1789/)
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