Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 106 Part 2.djvu/583

 PUBLIC LAW 102-385—OCT. 5, 1992 106 STAT. 1463 ming, audience, and advertising, this subsidy may have been appropriate, it is so no longer and results in a competitive imbalance between the 2 industries. (20) The Cable Communications PoUcy Act of 1984, in its amendments to the Communications Act of 1934, limited the regulatory authority of franchising authorities over cable operators. Franchising authorities are finding it difficult under the current regulatory scheme to deny reneweds to cable systems that are not adequately serving cable subscribers. (21) Cable systems should be encouraged to carry lowpower television stations licensed to the communities served by those systems where the low-power station creates and broadcasts, as a substantial part of its programming day, local programming. (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY. —It is the policy of the Congress in this Act to— (1) promote the availability to the public of a diversity of views and information through cable television and other video distribution media; (2) rely on the marketplace, to the maximmn extent feasible, to achieve that availability; (3) ensure that cable operators continue to expand, where economically justified, their capacity and the programs offered over their cable systems; (4) where cable television systems are not subject to effective competition, ensure that consumer interests are protected in receipt of cable service; and (5) ensure that cable television operators do not have xmdue market power vis-a -vis video programmers and consimiers. (c) DEFINITIONS. —Section 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531) is amended— 47 USC 522. (1) by redesignating paragraph (16) as paragraph (19); (2) by striking "and" at the end of paragraph (15); (3) by redesignating paragraphs (11) through (15) as paragraphs (13) through (17), respectively; (4) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (10) as paragraphs (2) through (11), respectively; (5) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so redesignated) the following new paragraph: "(1) the term 'activated channels* means those channels engineered at the headend of a cable system for the provision of services generally available to residential subscribers of the cable system, regardless of whether such services actually are provided, including any channel designated for public, educational, or governmental use;"; (6) by inserting after paragraph (11) (as so redesignated) the following new paragraph: "(12) the term 'multichannel video programming distributor' means a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple cheumels of video programming;"; and (7) by inserting after paragraph (17) (as so redesignated) the following new paragraph:

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