Amends TCA Title 47, Chapter 25, Part 1.

Present law concerning antitrust declares to be void any agreements between persons or corporations made with a view to lessen, or which tend to lessen, full and free competition in the importation or sale of articles imported into this state, or in the manufacture or sale of articles of domestic growth or of domestic raw material, and all agreements between persons or corporations designed, or which tend, to advance, reduce, or control the price or the cost to the producer or the consumer of any such product or article. A violation is a Class E felony. In the case of a corporation, a violation may be punished by a fine of up to $1 million. Present law authorizes a person who is injured or damaged by an antitrust violation to sue the violator for the full amount paid for the product or article. This bill adds that it is an antitrust violation, subject to the same penalties and remedies as provided under present law, for persons or corporations to make agreements with a view to lessening, or which tend to lessen, full and free competition in the provision of services held out as generally available to the public, and all agreements between persons or corporations designed, or which tend, to advance, reduce, or control the price or the cost to the producer or the consumer of any service held out as generally available to the public. Any such agreement concerning a service that is held out as generally available to the public will also be void. Under present law, it is a Class C misdemeanor offense for: (1) Any person or association engaged in the business of buying, gathering, or accumulating information or news, or vending, supplying, distributing, or publishing information or news, to refuse to vend, supply, distribute, or publish such information or news to any person, firm, or corporation, conducting a newspaper in Tennessee, offering to pay for the information or news, or to make discrimination in any manner between persons, firms, or corporations conducting newspapers in Tennessee in the vending, supplying, distributing or publishing of such information or news; or (2) Any agent or employee in this state of a person or association engaged in the business of gathering, accumulating, vending, supplying, and distributing news or information, to assist in the carrying on or conducting of such business when such person or association has refused to furnish news or information without discrimination in price, method of supply, or otherwise to any person, firm, or corporation conducting a newspaper in this state and desiring to be supplied with such information or news. This bill extends the protections against discrimination that apply to persons conducting newspapers under (1) and (2) to persons conducting news distribution products or services held out as generally available for purchase by the public in Tennessee. This bill adds that it is a Class C misdemeanor offense for an agent or employee to whom (2) applies to assist in the carrying on or conducting of the business of gathering, accumulating, vending, supplying, and distributing news or information when the person or association has refused to provide access for publication or dissemination as generally provided all other businesses and persons without discrimination in price, method of supply, or otherwise to a political candidate qualified to run for office in this state. This bill establishes a cause of action whereby a political candidate has a cause of action against a person who discriminates against the candidate. This bill adds the following exceptions to the prohibitions against discrimination toward newspapers or news distribution products or services: (1) To portions of newspapers or news distribution products or services clearly identified as works of art, clearly identified as solely editorials, opinions, letters to the editor, commentary, or guest column commentary; (2) To newspapers or news distribution products or services clearly identified as solely dedicated to a legally constituted political party or legally established political advocacy organization or public assembly of citizens engaged in petitioning government for redress; (3) To newspapers, newsletters, or news distribution products or services clearly identified as restricted in general distribution to limited membership organizations; (4) To newspapers, newsletters, or news distribution products or services reasonably edited only for obscenity, credible threats of violence, or limitations for libel or defamation and held out as generally available free of charge to the public and distributed without discrimination; or (5) To newspapers, newsletters, or news distribution products or services clearly discernable by a reasonable person as satire, fiction, or a work of art.