Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 106 Part 2.djvu/611

 PUBLIC LAW 102-385—OCT. 5, 1992 106 STAT. 1491 (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ", except as provided in subsection (h)," after *it)ut may not"; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: "(h) A franchising authority may require a cable operator to do any one or more of the following: "(1) Provide 30 days' advance written notice of any change in channel assignment or in the video programming service provided over any such channel. "(2) Inform subscribers, via written notice, that comments on programming and channel position changes are being recorded by a designated office of the franchising authority.'. (d) HOME WIRING. —Section 624 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 544) is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: "(i) Within 120 days after the date of enactment of this sub- Regulations, section, the Commission shall prescribe rules concerning the disposition, after a subscriber to a cable system terminates service, of any cable installed by the cable operator within the premises of such subscriber.". SEC. 17. CONSUMER ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT COMPATIBILnY. The Commimications Act of 1934 is amended by adding after section 624 (47 U.S.C. 544) the following new section: "SEC. 624A. CONSUMER ELECTRONICS EQUIPMENT COMPATIBILITY. 47 USC 544a. " (a) FINDINGS.— The Congress finds thal^ "(1) new and recent models of television receivers and video cassette recorders ofben contain premimn features and functions that are disabled or inhibited because of cable scrambling, encoding, or encryption technologies and devices, including converter boxes and remote control devices required by cable operators to receive programming; "(2) if these problems are allowed to persist, consumers will be less likely to purchase, and electronics equipment manufacturers will be less likely to develop, manufacture, or offer for sale, television receivers and video cassette recorders with new and innovative features and functions; and "(3) cable operators should use technologies that will prevent signal thefts while permitting consumers to benefit from such features and functions in such receivers and recorders. "(b) COMPATIBLE INTERFACES. — "(1) REPORT; REGULATIONS. —Within 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Commission, in consultation with representatives of the cable industry and the consiuner electromcs industry, shall report to Congress on means of assuring compatibiHty between televisions and video cassette recorders and cable systems, consistent with the need to prevent theft of cable service, so that cable subscribers will be able to enjoy the full benefit of both the programming available on cable systems and the functions available on their televisions and video cassette recorders. Within 180 days after the date of submission of the report required by this subsection, the Commission shall issue such regulations as are necessary to assure such compatibility. " (2) SCRAMBLING AND ENCRYPTION. — In issuing the regulations referred to in paragraph (1), the Commission shall determine whether and, if so, under what circumstances to permit cable systems to scramble or encrypt signals or to restrict

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