Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

least one person in the local market of such station and has failed to meet its burden of proving one of the defenses under paragraph (4) with respect to such retransmission, the Commission shall be required to

(A) make a finding that the satellite carrier violated subsection (b)(1) with respect to that station; and

(B) issue an order, within 45 days after the filing of the complaint, containing

(i) a cease-and-desist order directing the satellite carrier immediately to stop making any further retransmissions of the television broadcast station to any person within the local market of such station until such time as the Commission determines that the satellite carrier is in compliance with subsection (b)(1) with respect to such station;

(ii) if the satellite carrier is found to have violated subsection (b)(1) with respect to more than two television broadcast stations, a cease-and-desist order directing the satellite carrier to stop making any further retransmission of any television broadcast station to any person within the local market of such station, until such time as the Commission, after giving notice to the station, that the satellite carrier is in compliance with subsection (b)(1) with respect to such stations; and

(iii) an award to the complainant of that complainant's costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

(9) COURT PROCEEDINGS ON ENFORCEMENT OF COMMISSION ORDER.

(A) IN GENERAL.-On entry by the Commission of a final order granting relief under this subsection

(i) a television broadcast station may apply within 30 days after such entry to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for a final judgment enforcing all relief granted by the Commission; and

(ii) the satellite carrier may apply within 30 days after such entry to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for a judgment reversing the Commission's order.

(B) APPEAL.-The procedure for an appeal under this paragraph by the satellite carrier shall supersede any other appeal rights under Federal or State law. A United States district court shall be deemed to have personal jurisdiction over the satellite carrier if the carrier, or a company under common control with the satellite carrier, has delivered television programming by satellite to more than 30 customers in that district during the preceding 4year period. If the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia does not have personal jurisdiction over the satellite carrier, an enforcement action or appeal shall be brought in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which may find personal jurisdiction based on the satellite carrier's ownership of li

censes issued by the Commission. An application by a television broadcast station for an order enforcing any ceaseand-desist relief granted by the Commission shall be resolved on a highly expedited schedule. No discovery may be conducted by the parties in any such proceeding. The district court shall enforce the Commission order unless the Commission record reflects manifest error and an abuse of discretion by the Commission.

(10) CIVIL ACTION FOR STATUTORY DAMAGES.-Within 6 months after issuance of an order by the Commission under this subsection, a television broadcast station may file a civil action in any United States district court that has personal jurisdiction over the satellite carrier for an award of statutory damages for any violation that the Commission has determined to have been committed by a satellite carrier under this subsection. Such action shall not be subject to transfer under section 1404(a) of title 28, United States Code. On finding that the satellite carrier has committed one or more violations of subsection (b), the District Court shall be required to award the television broadcast station statutory damages of $25,000 per violation, in accordance with paragraph (5), and the costs and attorney's fees incurred by the station. Such statutory damages shall be awarded only if the television broadcast station has filed a binding stipulation with the court that such station will donate the full amount in excess of $1,000 of any statutory damage award to the United States Treasury for public purposes. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a station shall incur no tax liability of any kind with respect to any amounts so donated. Discovery may be conducted by the parties in any proceeding under this paragraph only if and to the extent necessary to resolve a genuinely disputed issue of fact concerning one of the defenses under paragraph (4). In any such action, the defenses under paragraph (4) shall be exclusive, and the burden of proof shall be on the satellite carrier with respect to all defenses other than the defense under paragraph (4)(B)(i). A judgment under this paragraph may be enforced in any manner permissible under Federal or State law. (11) APPEALS.—

(A) IN GENERAL.-The nonprevailing party before a United States district court may appeal a decision under this subsection to the United States Court of Appeals with jurisdiction over that district court. The Court of Appeals shall not issue any stay of the effectiveness of any decision granting relief against a satellite carrier unless the carrier presents clear and convincing evidence that it is highly likely to prevail on appeal and only after posting a bond for the full amount of any monetary award assessed against it and for such further amount as the Court of Appeals may believe appropriate.

(B) APPEAL.-If the Commission denies relief in response to a complaint filed by a television broadcast station under this subsection, the television broadcast station filing the complaint may file an appeal with the United

States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

(12) SUNSET.-No complaint or civil action may be filed under this subsection after December 31, 2001. This subsection shall continue to apply to any complaint or civil action filed on or before such date.

SEC. 326. [47 U.S.C. 326] CENSORSHIP; INDECENT LANGUAGE.

Nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.

SEC. 327. [47 U.S.C. 327] USE OF NAVAL STATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL MESSAGES.

The Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized, unless restrained by international agreement, under the terms and conditions and at rates prescribed by him, which rates shall be just and reasonable, and which, upon complaint, shall be subject to review and revision by the Commission, to use all radio stations and apparatus, wherever located, owned by the United States and under the control of the Navy Department, (a) for the reception and transmission of press messages offered by any newspaper published in the United States, its Territories or possessions, or published by citizens of the United States in foreign countries, or by any press association of the United States, and (b) for the reception and transmission of private commercial messages between ships, between ship and shore, between localities in Alaska and between Alaska and the continental United States: Provided, That the rates fixed for the reception and transmission of all such messages, other than press messages between the Pacific coast of the United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, American Samoa, and the Orient, and between the United States and the Virgin Islands, shall not be less than the rates charged by privately owned and operated stations for like messages and service: Provided further, That the right to use such stations for any of the purposes named in this section shall terminate and cease as between any countries or localities or between any locality and privately operated ships whenever privately owned and operated stations are capable of meeting the normal communication requirements between such countries or localities or between any locality and privately operated ships, and the Commission shall have notified the Secretary of the Navy thereof.

[Section 328 was repealed by Public Law 103-414, section 304(a)(10), 108 Stat. 4296-7.]

SEC. 329. [47 U.S.C. 329] ADMINISTRATION OF RADIO LAWS IN TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.

The Commission is authorized to designate any officer or employee of any other department of the Government on duty in any Territory or possession of the United States to render therein such service in connection with the administration of this Act as the Commission may prescribe and also to designate any officer or employee of any other department of the Government to render such services at any place within the United States in connection with

the administration of title III of this Act as may be necessary: Provided, That such designation shall be approved by the head of the department in which such person is employed.

SEC. 330. [47 U.S.C. 330] PROHIBITION AGAINST SHIPMENT OF CERTAIN TELEVISION RECEIVERS.

(a) No person shall ship in interstate commerce, or import from any foreign country into the United States, for sale or resale to the public, apparatus described in paragraph (s) of section 303 unless it complies with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that paragraph: Provided, That this section shall not apply to carriers transporting such apparatus without trading in it.

(b) No person shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture, assemble, or import from any foreign country into the United States, any apparatus described in section 303(u) of this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that section. Such rules shall provide performance and display standards for such built-in decoder circuitry. Such rules shall further require that all such apparatus be able to receive and display closed captioning which have been transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and which conform to the signal and display specifications set forth in the Public Broadcasting System engineering report numbered E-7709-C dated May 1980, as amended by the Telecaption II Decoder Module Performance Specification published by the National Captioning Institute, November 1985. As new video technology is developed, the Commission shall take such action as the Commission determines appropriate to ensure that closed-captioning service continues to be available to consumers. This subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting such apparatus without trading it.

(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall ship in interstate commerce or manufacture in the United States any apparatus described in section 303(x) of this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that section.

(2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting apparatus referred to in paragraph (1) without trading in it.

(3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under this subsection shall provide for the oversight by the Commission of the adoption of standards by industry for blocking technology. Such rules shall require that all such apparatus be able to receive the rating signals which have been transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and which conform to the signal and blocking specifications established by industry under the supervision of the Commission.

(4) As new video technology is developed, the Commission shall take such action as the Commission determines appropriate to ensure that blocking service continues to be available to consumers. If the Commission determines that an alternative blocking technology exists that

(A) enables parents to block programming based on identifying programs without ratings,

(B) is available to consumers at a cost which is comparable to the cost of technology that allows parents to block programming based on common ratings, and

(C) will allow parents to block a broad range of programs on a multichannel system as effectively and as easily as technology that allows parents to block programming based on common ratings, the Commission shall amend the rules prescribed pursuant to section 303(x) to require that the apparatus described in such section be equipped with either the blocking technology described in such section or the alternative blocking technology described in this paragraph.

(d) For the purposes of this section, and sections 303(s), 303(u), and 303(x)

(1) The term "interstate commerce" means (A) commerce between any State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any possession of the United States and any place outside thereof which is within the United States, (B) commerce between points in the same State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or possession of the United States but through any place outside thereof, or (C) commerce wholly within the District of Columbia or any possession of the United States.

(2) The term "United States" means the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United States, but does not include the Canal Zone.

SEC. 331.1 [47 U.S.C. 331] VERY HIGH FREQUENCY STATIONS AND AM RADIO STATIONS.

(a) VERY HIGH FREQUENCY STATIONS.-It shall be the policy of the Federal Communications Commission to allocate channels for

1 Former section 331 was added by Public Law 93-107, 87 Stat. 350, Sept. 14, 1973. The statute also set a date (Dec. 31, 1975) when the provision was to be repealed. The former section 331 read as follows:

BROADCAST OF GAMES OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS CLUBS

SEC. 331. (a) If any game of a professional sports club is to be broadcast by means of television pursuant to a league television contract and all tickets of admission for seats of such game which were available for purchase by the general public one hundred and twenty hours or more before the scheduled beginning time of such game have been purchased seventy-two hours or more before such time, no agreement which would prevent the broadcasting by means of television of such game at the same time and in the area in which such game is being played shall be valid or have any force or effect. The right to broadcast such game by means of television at such time and in such area shall be made available, by the person or persons having such right, to a television broadcast licensee on reasonable terms and conditions unless the broadcasting by means of television of such game at such time and in such area would be a telecasting which section 3 of Public Law 87-331, as amended (15 U.S.C. 1293), is intended to prevent.

(b) If any person violates subsection (a) of this section, any interested person may commence a civil action for injunctive relief restraining such violation in any United States district court for a district in which the defendant resides or has an agent. In any such action, the court may award the cost of the suit including reasonable attorneys' fees.

(c) For the purpose of this section:

(1) The term "professional sports club" includes any professional football, baseball, basketball, or hockey club.

(2) The term "league television contract" means any joint agreement by or among professional sports clubs by which any league of such clubs sells or otherwise transfers all or any part of the rights of such league's member clubs in the sponsored telecasting of the games engaged in or conducted by such clubs.

(3) The term "agreement" includes any contract, arrangement, or other understanding. (4) The term "available for purchase by the general public”, when used with respect to tickets of admission for seats at a game or games to be played by a professional sports club,

Continued

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »