47 U.S.C. § 330 — Prohibition against shipment of certain tel-

Page 181 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 330 subject to review and revision by the Commis- sion, 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 be- tween the Pacific coast of the United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, American Samoa, the Philippine Islands, 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 be- tween any countries or localities or between any locality and privately operated ships whenever privately owned and operated stations are capa- ble of meeting the normal communication re- quirements 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. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 327, 48 Stat. 1091.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Philippine Islands, referred to in text, were granted their independence by Proc. No. 2695, eff. July 4, 1946, 11 F.R. 7517, 60 Stat. 1352, issued pursuant to sec- tion 1394 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse, and set out under that section. They are now known as the Republic of the Philippines. § 328. Repealed. Pub. L. 103–414, title III, § 304(a)(10), Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4297 Section, act June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 328, 48 Stat. 1092; Proc. No. 2695, eff. July 4, 1946, 11 F.R. 7517, 60 Stat. 1352, related to representation of Canal Zone in international radio matters by Secretary of State. § 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 administra- tion of this chapter as the Commission may pre- scribe and also to designate any officer or em- ployee of any other department of the Govern- ment to render such services at any place within the United States in connection with the admin- istration of this subchapter as may be nec- essary: Provided, That such designation shall be approved by the head of the department in which such person is employed. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 329, 48 Stat. 1092; May 20, 1937, ch. 229, § 9, 50 Stat. 191.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, meaning act June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, known as the Communications Act of 1934, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 609 of this title and Tables. AMENDMENTS 1937—Act May 20, 1937, struck out provisions which prohibited designation of officers and employees in the Philippine Islands and Canal Zone and inserted provi- sions permitting designation of officers and employees within the United States. § 330. Prohibition against shipment of certain tel- evision receivers (a) No person shall ship in interstate com- merce, or import from any foreign country into the United States, for sale or resale to the pub- lic, apparatus described in subsection (s) of sec- tion 303 of this title unless it complies with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that subsection: Pro- vided, That this section shall not apply to car- riers transporting such apparatus without trad- ing in it. (b) No person shall ship in interstate com- merce, manufacture, assemble, or import from any foreign country into the United States, any apparatus described in section 303(u) and (z) of this title except in accordance with rules pre- scribed by the Commission pursuant to the au- thority granted by that section. Such rules shall provide performance and display standards for such built-in decoder circuitry or capability de- signed to display closed captioned video pro- gramming, the transmission and delivery of video description services, and the conveyance of emergency information as required by section 303 of this title. Such rules shall further require that all such apparatus be able to receive and display closed captioning which have been trans- mitted 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 num- bered E–7709–C dated May 1980, as amended by the Telecaption II Decoder Module Performance Specification published by the National Cap- tioning 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 and video description service continue to be available to consumers. This subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting such appa- ratus 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 title except in accordance with rules prescribed by the Com- mission 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 over- Page 182 TITLE 47—TELECOMMUNICATIONS § 331 1 So in original. Probably should be followed by ‘‘of’’. 2 See References in Text note below. sight 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 estab- lished by industry under the supervision of the Commission. (4) As new video technology is developed, the Commission shall take such action as the Com- mission 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 rat- ings, (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 ef- fectively and as easily as technology that al- lows parents to block programming based on common ratings, the Commission shall amend the rules pre- scribed pursuant to section 303(x) of this title to require that the apparatus described in such sec- tion be equipped with either the blocking tech- nology described in such section or the alter- native blocking technology described in this paragraph. (d) For the purposes of this section, and sec- tions 303(s), 303(u), and 303(x) of this title— (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 Co- lumbia, 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 sev- eral States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the pos- sessions of the United States, but does not in- clude the Canal Zone. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 330, as added Pub. L. 87–529, § 2, July 10, 1962, 76 Stat. 151; amended Pub. L. 101–431, § 4, Oct. 15, 1990, 104 Stat. 961; Pub. L. 104–104, title V, § 551(d), Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 141; Pub. L. 111–260, title II, § 203(c), Oct. 8, 2010, 124 Stat. 2773.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT For definition of Canal Zone, referred to in subsec. (d)(2), see section 3602(b) of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse. AMENDMENTS 2010—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 111–260, in first sentence substituted ‘‘303(u) and (z)’’ for ‘‘303(u)’’, in second sen- tence substituted ‘‘Such rules shall provide perform- ance and display standards for such built-in decoder circuitry or capability designed to display closed cap- tioned video programming, the transmission and deliv- ery of video description services, and the conveyance of emergency information as required by section 303 of this title.’’ for ‘‘Such rules shall provide performance and display standards for such built-in decoder cir- cuitry.’’, and in fourth sentence substituted ‘‘closed- captioning service and video description service con- tinue’’ for ‘‘closed-captioning service continues’’. 1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–104, § 551(d)(1)(B), added subsec. (c). Former subsec. (c) redesignated (d). Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104–104, § 551(d)(2), in introductory provisions substituted ‘‘and sections 303(s), 303(u), and 303(x) of this title’’ for ‘‘section 303(s) of this title, and section 303(u) of this title’’. Pub. L. 104–104, § 551(d)(1)(B), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d). 1990—Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 101–431 added subsec. (b), redesignated former subsec. (b) as (c), and sub- stituted ‘‘, section 303(s) of this title, and section 303(u) of this title’’ for ‘‘and section 303(s) of this title’’. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1990 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 101–431 effective July 1, 1993, see section 5 of Pub. L. 101–431, set out as a note under section 303 of this title. § 331. Very high frequency stations and AM radio stations (a) Very high frequency stations It shall be the policy of the Federal Commu- nications Commission to allocate channels for very high frequency commercial television broadcasting in a manner which ensures that not less than one such channel shall be allocated to each State, if technically feasible. In any case in which licensee of a very high frequency com- mercial television broadcast station notifies the Commission to the effect that such licensee will agree to the reallocation of its channel to a community within a State in which there is al- located no very high frequency commercial tele- vision broadcast channel at the time 1 such noti- fication, the Commission shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, order such realloca- tion and issue a license to such licensee for that purpose pursuant to such notification for a term of not to exceed 5 years as provided in section 307(d) 2 of this title. (b) AM radio stations It shall be the policy of the Commission, in any case in which the licensee of an existing AM daytime-only station located in a community with a population of more than 100,000 persons that lacks a local full-time aural station li- censed to that community and that is located within a Class I station primary service area no- tifies the Commission that such licensee seeks to provide full-time service, to ensure that such a licensee is able to place a principal commu- nity contour signal over its entire community of license 24 hours a day, if technically feasible. (June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 331, as added Pub. L. 97–248, title III, § 355, Sept. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 641; amended Pub. L. 102–243, § 4, Dec. 20, 1991, 105 Stat. 2402; Pub. L. 103–414, title III,