H.R. 1789 · 116th Congress
Local and Independent Television Protection Act of 2019
- Stage
- In committee
- Sponsor
- Jared Huffman
- Introduced
- 2019-03-14
- Latest action
- 2019-03-15 · Referred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
Summary
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.