H.R. 1856 · 117th Congress

Modern Television Act of 2021

Introduced on Mar 11, 2021 by Steve Scalise (R-LA-1). One cosponsor. Latest action (May 18, 2021): Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Mar 11, 2021
Cosponsors
1
1 from the other party
Policy area
Science, Technology, Communications
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To repeal certain provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, title 17 of the United States Code, and certain regulations, to allow for interim carriage of television broadcast signals, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Administrative law and regulatory procedures
  • Administrative remedies
  • Alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration
  • Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
  • Competition and antitrust
  • Congressional oversight
  • Consumer affairs
  • Contracts and agency
  • Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
  • Government studies and investigations
  • Inflation and prices
  • Intellectual property
  • Licensing and registrations
  • Telecommunication rates and fees
  • Television and film

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Mar 11, 2021). Public domain.

Modern Television Act of 2021

This bill establishes measures to prevent blackouts of television broadcast stations, including requiring good-faith negotiations in broadcast agreements and providing for outside arbitration of certain negotiation disputes.

Specifically, the bill requires a station and a cable or satellite service to negotiate in good faith when attempting to reach a marketplace agreement, and it requires the cable or satellite service to retransmit the signal of a station for up to 60 days while the parties renegotiate an expired agreement. The Federal Communications Commission may require a station and a cable or satellite service to submit to binding arbitration to resolve any dispute that may arise (the parties must be retroactively paid for content aired during this time). Further, a station is prohibited from requiring payment from a cable or satellite service for customers of the cable or satellite service who do not receive the signals of the station from that service.

Additionally, the bill repeals specified provisions, including those related to retransmission consent and compulsory copyright licenses. The bill also disallows federal, state, and local authorities from regulating the rates of a cable or satellite service.

The Government Accountability Office must assess the impact of the bill.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Steve ScaliseR-LA-1Sponsor

Democrats · 1

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Mar 11, 2021Introduced in House
  2. Mar 11, 2021Introduced in House
  3. Mar 11, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  4. Mar 11, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
  5. Mar 12, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.
  6. May 18, 2021 · HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. DIRECTV, LLC12 reports
    $3.3M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: DIRECTV, LLC$482.2K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%

Reports filed in 2023, 2024, 2025.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 6, 2026 · loaded Oct 6, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.