# 119-hr-2230: Independent Programmers Tax Incentive Act

119-hr-2230, Independent Programmers Tax Incentive Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17] (R-FL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2230
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-2230
- Congress: 119
- Title: Independent Programmers Tax Incentive Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-03-18
- Sponsor: Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17] (R-FL)
- Cosponsors: 19
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**Creates a tax credit for multichannel and virtual multichannel video distributors that add or expand carriage of small, U.S.-based independent programmers.** It would also require the FCC to produce a biennial report and allow limited IRS-to-FCC tax data sharing to support that reporting. - Eligible distributors: MVPDs and vMVPDs would get a nonrefundable credit per qualifying carriage agreement. The credit equals the lesser of net license fees paid or $0.10 times the average monthly subscribers under the agreement, and yearly credits per distributor cannot exceed $0.30 times average monthly subscribers, with no double tax benefit for the same amounts. - Independent programmers: Qualified U.S.-based, nonpublic producers could gain new or expanded carriage when an agreement serves at least 40% of a distributor's subscribers and the license fees are net positive for the programmer. - FCC reporting and tax data sharing: The FCC must report to Congress within 180 days and then every two years on counts and durations of such carriage. The IRS may share return information about taxpayers claiming the credit with FCC staff for those reports, but reports cannot include taxpayer-identifiable return information.

## Cosponsors (19)

- Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12] (R-FL), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19] (D-CA), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY-9] (D-NY), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Van Duyne, Beth [R-TX-24] (R-TX), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. DelBene, Suzan K. [D-WA-1] (D-WA), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Castor, Kathy [D-FL-14] (D-FL), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Soto, Darren [D-FL-9] (D-FL), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2] (D-IL), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Espaillat, Adriano [D-NY-13] (D-NY), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Veasey, Marc A. [D-TX-33] (D-TX), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Harshbarger, Diana [R-TN-1] (R-TN), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1] (R-GA), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Gimenez, Carlos A. [R-FL-28] (R-FL), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22] (R-CA), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1] (R-WV), 2025-03-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27] (R-FL), 2025-03-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA), 2025-03-25T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Malliotakis, Nicole [R-NY-11] (R-NY), 2025-05-06T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Tax credit for carrying independent channels: benefit, high. This bill would create a nonrefundable business tax credit for TV distributors that add or expand independent channels. For each deal, the credit would be the smaller of net license fees or $0.10 times that deal’s average monthly subscribers. Each year, a distributor’s total credit would be capped…
- Limited tax data sharing with FCC: cost, low. Treasury could share limited tax return data with the FCC for taxpayers who claim this credit. The FCC could use the data only to prepare required biennial reports. Reports could not include information that identifies any taxpayer. Sharing would require a written request from the FCC.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-hr-3514: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-1422: Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2102: Major Richard Star Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-2230 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2230)

## Related
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877)
- [119-hr-3514: Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3514)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-1422: Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1422)
- [119-hr-2102: Major Richard Star Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2102)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2230 (as of 2025-12-21).