I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2862

To amend the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 to provide 

residents of States with single network affiliate stations to receive the 

signals of such stations via satellite, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2003

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire (for himself and Mr. BASS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To amend the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 

1999 to provide residents of States with single network 

affiliate stations to receive the signals of such stations 

via satellite, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North Country Access 

5 Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Under the provisions set forth in section 

2 122 of title 17, United States Code, a satellite car3 rier retransmitting to its subscribers an over-the-air 

4 television broadcast station within the local market 

5 of that station may make a secondary transmission 

6 under the statutory license of the programming con7 tained on that broadcast signal. 

8 (2) Under the section 119 of title 17, United 

9 States Code, a satellite carrier retransmitting to its 

10 subscribers an over-the-air television broadcast sta11 tion from a distant market may make a secondary 

12 transmission under the statutory license of the pro13 gramming contained on that broadcast signal. How14 ever, the statutory license under section 119 does 

15 not permit retransmission of a distant network tele16 vision station to subscribers who reside within the 

17 local market of a television station owned by or af18 filiated with the same network and who receive an 

19 over-the-air signal of Grade B intensity, as defined 

20 by the Federal Communications Commission, using 

21 a conventional rooftop antenna. 

22 (3) Within some States of the United States, 

23 there is only one licensed commercial network tele24 vision station of any network. Nevertheless, there 

25 can be more than one television market within the 
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1 State, as defined by the Federal Communications 

2 Commission, resulting in the commercial network 

3 station being a distant signal to satellite subscribers 

4 who are located outside the local market of the sta5 tion but who reside within the geographic borders of 

6 the State. As a result, many of these satellite sub7 scribers outside the local market are not eligible to 

8 receive the commercial network station under either 

9 the section 119 or section 122 statutory license. 

10 (4) Such a commercial television network sta11 tion serves a strong public interest in the State by 

12 providing regional and local news, weather, and 

13 other information. There is an important interest in 

14 assuring that all citizens of that State be eligible to 

15 receive satellite service of that commercial network 

16 station under the copyright laws. 

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF LOCAL MARKET TO INCLUDE EN18 TIRE STATE. 

19 Section 122(j)(2) of title 17, United States Code, is 

20 amended—

21 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub22 paragraph (D); and 

23 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol24 lowing new subparagraph: 
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1 ‘‘(D) STATES WITH SINGLE COMMERCIAL

2 NETWORK STATION.—In addition to the areas 

3 described in subparagraphs (A) and (B), a com4 mercial network station’s local market shall in5 clude all communities within the geographic 

6 borders of the State in which the commercial 

7 network station is licensed, if that commercial 

8 network station is the only commercial network 

9 station of any network licensed within the 

10 State. ’’.

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