Requires cable television companies and telephone corporations to provide local news channels to customers in the basic service tier offered by such companies.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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6784
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
October 18, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to requiring cable
television companies and telephone corporations to provide local news
programming
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds that it
2 is vital to the public health, safety and welfare that residents be
3 informed about news and weather events and their impacts on their local
4 communities; and that to further this important government purpose every
5 cable television company and telephone corporation providing cable
6 service to customers in New York shall make available to every subscrib-
7 er a source of local information affecting their community; and that
8 this purpose is best served by a content neutral requirement that every
9 cable television company or provider of cable service shall carry a
10 local news channel pursuant to this act.
11 § 2. Subdivision 13 of section 215 of the public service law, as added
12 by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended and a new subdivision 14
13 is added to read as follows:
14 13. Encourage and cooperate with other state agencies that collect
15 information from cable television companies serving fewer than one thou-
16 sand subscribers to eliminate duplicative reporting requirements[.];
17 14. Within sixty days of the effective date of the chapter of the laws
18 of two thousand nineteen that added this subdivision, to the extent
19 permitted by, and not contrary to applicable federal law and rules and
20 regulations, issue such rules and regulations it deems appropriate, if
21 any, to effectuate the purpose of the chapter of the laws of two thou-
22 sand nineteen that added this subdivision, including the hours and dura-
23 tion of such programming based on the size of the cable television
24 company or telephone corporation and its affiliates, the size of its
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13988-03-9
S. 6784 2
1 market, the size of its coverage area, the number of its subscribers,
2 and/or the number of its channels in the relevant coverage area.
3 § 3. Section 224 of the public service law is amended by adding a new
4 subdivision 4-a to read as follows:
5 4-a. (a) Every cable television company and telephone corporation, as
6 defined in subdivision seventeen of section two of this chapter, that
7 provides cable service to customers in New York shall provide a local
8 news channel to such customers.
9 (b) As used in this section, "local news channel" shall mean a channel
10 which is dedicated to the category of locally produced programming,
11 including but not limited to, news, weather and public affairs program-
12 ming primarily covering the total geographic coverage area of the cable
13 television company or telephone corporation.
14 (c) Such local news channel programming shall consist primarily of
15 independently locally produced programming and shall not be a dupli-
16 cation or rebroadcast of a local news channel produced and carried by
17 another cable television company or telephone corporation providing
18 cable service to customers in New York covering all or a significant
19 portion of the geographic coverage area of the cable television company
20 or telephone corporation. Nothing herein shall be deemed to prevent a
21 cable television company or telephone corporation from also carrying one
22 or more additional channels which are a duplication or rebroadcast of a
23 local news channel carried by another cable television company or tele-
24 phone corporation or from rebroadcasting programming carried by another
25 cable television company or telephone corporation.
26 (d) A local news channel shall be included in the basic service tier
27 offered by the cable television company or telephone corporation.
28 (e) Nothing herein shall be construed to be a prohibition of or limi-
29 tation on programming as described in section two hundred twenty-nine of
30 this article.
31 § 4. On or before the first day of December two thousand twenty-one,
32 the chairman of the public service commission shall study and report to
33 the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of
34 the assembly on compliance by cable television companies and telephone
35 corporations with the requirements of subdivision 4-a of section 224 of
36 the public service law as added by this chapter and shall consider,
37 evaluate and report recommendations regarding such.
38 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
39 section three of this act shall take effect one year after this act
40 shall have become a law for any cable television company or telephone
41 corporation not providing a local news channel as of October 15, 2019.
