I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1027

To provide for the carriage by satellite carriers of local broadcast station

signals, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 1999

Mr. COBLE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Commerce, for a

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide for the carriage by satellite carriers of local

broadcast station signals, 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 ‘‘Satellite Television Im5 provement Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 17, UNITED STATES CODE.

7 Section 119 of title 17, United States Code, is

8 amended—

9 (1) in subsection (a)—
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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(6)’’

2 and inserting ‘‘(5)’’;

3 (B) in paragraph (2)—

4 (i) by striking

5 ‘‘(2) NETWORK STATIONS.—

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the provi7 sions of subparagraphs (B) and (C) of this

8 paragraph and paragraphs (3), (4), (5), and

9 (6)’’

10 and inserting

11 ‘‘(2) NETWORK STATIONS.—Subject to the pro12 visions of paragraphs (3), (4), and (5)’’ and running

13 in the remaining text of the subparagraph; and

14 (ii) by striking subparagraphs (B) and

15 (C);

16 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘, or has

17 failed to make the submissions to networks re18 quired by paragraph (2)(C)’’; and

19 (D) by striking paragraphs (5), (8), (9),

20 and (10) and redesignating paragraphs (6) and

21 (7) as paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and

22 (2) in subsection (d), by striking paragraphs

23 (10) and (11).
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1 SEC. 3. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT.

2 Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934

3 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended—

4 (1) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and in5 serting the following:

6 ‘‘(b)(1) No cable system or other multichannel video

7 programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of a

8 broadcasting station, or any part thereof, except—

9 ‘‘(A) with the express authority of the station;

10 ‘‘(B) pursuant to section 614, in the case of a

11 station electing, in accordance with this subsection,

12 to assert the right to carriage under such section; or

13 ‘‘(C) pursuant to section 337, in the case of a

14 station electing, in accordance with this subsection,

15 to assert the right to carriage under such section.

16 ‘‘(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply

17 to—

18 ‘‘(A) retransmission of the signal of a non19 commercial broadcasting station;

20 ‘‘(B) retransmission of the signal of a supersta21 tion by a satellite carrier to subscribers for private

22 home viewing if the originating station was a super23 station on May 1, 1991;

24 ‘‘(C) retransmission of the signal of a broad25 casting station that is owned or operated by, or af26 filiated with, a broadcasting network directly to a
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1 home satellite antenna, if the household receiving

2 the signal is located in an area in which such station

3 may not assert its rights not to have its signal dupli4 cated under the Commission’s network nonduplica5 tion regulations; or

6 ‘‘(D) retransmission by a cable operator or

7 other multichannel video programming distributor of

8 the signal of a superstation if such signal was ob9 tained from a satellite carrier and the originating

10 station was a superstation on May 1, 1991.’’;

11 (2) by adding at the end of paragraph (3) the

12 following new subparagraph:

13 ‘‘(C) Within 45 days after the effective date of the

14 Satellite Television Improvement Act, the Commission

15 shall commence a rulemaking proceeding to revise the reg16 ulations governing the exercise by television broadcast sta17 tions of the right to grant retransmission consent under

18 this subsection, and such other regulations as are nec19 essary to administer the limitation contained in paragraph

20 (2). Such regulations shall establish election time periods

21 that correspond with those regulations adopted under sub22 paragraph (B). The rulemaking shall be completed within

23 180 days after the effective date of the Satellite Television

24 Improvement Act.’’; and
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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new

2 paragraph:

3 ‘‘(7) For purposes of this subsection:

4 ‘‘(A) The term ‘superstation’ means a television

5 broadcast station, other than a network station, li6 censed by the Commission that is secondarily trans7 mitted by a satellite carrier.

8 ‘‘(B) The term ‘satellite carrier’ has the mean9 ing given that term in section 119(d) of title 17,

10 United States Code.’’.

11 SEC. 4. MUST-CARRY FOR SATELLITE CARRIERS RE12 TRANSMITTING TELEVISION BROADCAST SIG13 NALS.

14 Title III of the Communications Act of 1934 is

15 amended by inserting after section 336 the following new

16 section:

17 ‘‘SEC. 337. CARRIAGE OF LOCAL TELEVISION SIGNALS BY

18 SATELLITE CARRIERS.

19 ‘‘(a) CARRIAGE OBLIGATIONS.—Each satellite carrier

20 providing direct to home service of a television broadcast

21 station to subscribers located within the local market of

22 such station shall, not later than January 1, 2002, carry

23 all television broadcast stations located within that local

24 market. Carriage of additional television broadcast sta-
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1 tions within the local market shall be at the discretion of

2 the satellite carrier, subject to section 325(b).

3 ‘‘(b) GOOD SIGNAL REQUIRED.—

4 ‘‘(1) COSTS.—A television broadcast station eli5 gible for carriage under subsection (a) shall be re6 quired to bear the costs associated with delivering a

7 good quality signal to the designated local receive fa8 cility of the satellite carrier. The selection of a local

9 receive facility by a satellite carrier shall not be

10 made in a manner that frustrates the purposes of

11 this section.

12 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The regulations issued

13 under subsection (g) shall set forth the obligations

14 necessary to carry out this subsection.

15 ‘‘(c) DUPLICATION NOT REQUIRED.—Notwithstand16 ing subsection (a), a satellite carrier shall not be required

17 to carry the signal of any local television broadcast station

18 that substantially duplicates the signal of another local tel19 evision broadcast station which is secondarily transmitted

20 by the satellite carrier, or to carry the signals of more

21 that one local television broadcast station affiliated with

22 a particular broadcast network (as the term is defined by

23 regulation).

24 ‘‘(d) CHANNEL POSITIONING.—Each signal carried

25 in fulfillment of the carriage obligations of a satellite car-
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1 rier under this section shall be carried on the satellite car2 rier channel number on which the local television broad3 cast station is broadcast over the air, or on the channel

4 on which it was broadcast on January 1, 1985, or on the

5 channel it was broadcast on January 1, 1998, at the elec6 tion of the station, or on such other channel number as

7 is mutually agreed upon by the station and the satellite

8 carrier. Any dispute regarding the positioning of local tele9 vision broadcast stations shall be resolved by the Commis10 sion.

11 ‘‘(e) COMPENSATION FOR CARRIAGE.—A satellite

12 carrier shall not accept or request monetary payment or

13 other valuable consideration in exchange either for car14 riage of local television broadcast stations in fulfillment

15 of the requirements of this section or for channel position16 ing rights provided to such stations under this section, ex17 cept that any such station may be required to bear the

18 costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to

19 the principal headend of the satellite carrier.

20 ‘‘(f) REMEDIES.—

21 ‘‘(1) COMPLAINTS BY BROADCAST STATIONS.—

22 Whenever a local television broadcast station believes

23 that a satellite carrier has failed to meet its obliga24 tions under this section, such station shall notify the

25 carrier, in writing, of the alleged failure and identify
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1 its reasons for believing that the satellite carrier is

2 obligated to carry the signal of such station or has

3 otherwise failed to comply with the channel position4 ing or repositioning or other requirements of this

5 section. The satellite carrier shall, within 30 days of

6 such written notification, respond in writing to such

7 notification and either commence to carry the signal

8 of such station in accordance with the terms re9 quested or state its reasons for believing that it is

10 not obligated to carry such signal or is in compliance

11 with the channel positioning and repositioning or

12 other requirements of this section. A local television

13 broadcast station that is denied carriage or channel

14 positioning or repositioning in accordance with this

15 section by a satellite carrier may obtain review of

16 such denial by filing a complaint with the Commis17 sion. Such complaint shall allege the manner in

18 which such satellite carrier has failed to meet its ob19 ligations and the basis for such allegations.

20 ‘‘(2) OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND.—The Com21 mission shall afford such satellite carrier and oppor22 tunity to present data and arguments to establish

23 that there has been no failure to meet its obligations

24 under this section.
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1 ‘‘(3) REMEDIAL ACTIONS; DISMISSAL.—Within

2 120 days after the date a complaint is filed, the

3 Commission shall determine whether the satellite

4 carrier has met its obligations under this section. If

5 the Commission determines that the satellite carrier

6 has failed to meet such obligations, the Commission

7 shall order the satellite carrier to reposition the com8 plaining station or, in the case of an obligation to

9 carry a station, to commence carriage of the station

10 and to continue such carriage for at least 12

11 months. If the Commission determines that the sat12 ellite carrier has fully met the requirements of this

13 section, it shall dismiss the complaint.

14 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS BY COMMISSION.—Within 180

15 days after the effective date of this section, the Commis16 sion shall, following a rulemaking proceeding, issue regula17 tions implementing the requirements imposed by this sec18 tion.

19 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

20 ‘‘(1) TELEVISION BROADCAST STATION.—The

21 term ‘television broadcast station’ means a full22 power television broadcast station, and does not in23 clude a low-power or translator television broadcast

24 station.
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1 ‘‘(2) LOCAL MARKET.—The term ‘local market’

2 means the designated market area in which a station

3 is located and—

4 ‘‘(A) for a commercial television broadcast

5 station located in any of the 150 largest des6 ignated market areas, all commercial television

7 broadcast stations licensed to a community

8 within the same designated market area are

9 within the same local market;

10 ‘‘(B) for a commercial television broadcast

11 station that is located in a designated market

12 area that is not one of the 150 largest, the local

13 market includes, in addition to all commercial

14 television broadcast stations licensed to a com15 munity within the same designated market

16 area, any station that is significantly viewed, as

17 such term is defined in section 76.54 of the

18 Commission’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 76.54);

19 and

20 ‘‘(C) for a noncommercial educational tele21 vision broadcast station, the local market in22 cludes any station that is licensed to a commu23 nity within the same designated market area as

24 the noncommercial educational television broad25 cast station.
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1 ‘‘(3) DESIGNATED MARKET AREA.—The term

2 ‘designated market area’ means a designated market

3 area, as determined by the Nielsen Media Research

4 and published in the DMA Market and Demographic

5 Report.’’.

6 SEC. 5. NETWORK NONDUPLICATION; SYNDICATED EXCLU7 SIVITY AND SPORTS BLACKOUT.

8 (a) REGULATIONS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 45 days after the ef10 fective date of this Act, the Federal Communications

11 Commission shall commence a rulemaking to estab12 lish regulations that apply network nonduplication

13 protection, syndicated exclusivity protection, and

14 sports blackout protection to the retransmission of

15 broadcast signals by satellite carriers to subscribers.

16 To the extent possible, such regulations shall, sub17 ject to paragraph (2), include the same level of pro18 tection accorded retransmissions of television broad19 cast signals by cable systems for network non20 duplication (47 C.F.R. 76.92), syndicated exclusivity

21 (47 C.F.R. 151), and sports blackout (47 C.F.R.

22 76.67).

23 (2) NETWORK NONDUPLICATION.—The network

24 nonduplication regulations required under paragraph
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1 (1) shall allow a television broadcast station to as2 sert nonduplication rights—

3 (A) against a satellite carrier throughout

4 that station’s local market if that satellite car5 rier is providing retransmissions of television

6 signals in that market to subscribers of another

7 television broadcast station located within that

8 local market; or

9 (B) against a satellite carrier in the geo10 graphic area in which the signal of that tele11 vision broadcast station is of Grade B intensity

12 based upon the Individually Located Longley13 Rice methodology described by the Federal

14 Communications Commission in its Docket No.

15 98–201, but such geographic area shall not ex16 tend beyond the local market of such station.

17 (3) WAIVERS.—(A) the network nonduplication

18 protection described in paragraph (2)(b) shall not

19 apply to a subscriber located in the geographic area

20 that is identified by the Individually Located

21 Longley-Rice methodology described by the Federal

22 Communications Commission in its Docket No. 98–

23 201 who files with the satellite carrier a written

24 waiver obtained from the network station whose

25 local market is in that geographic area, allowing the
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1 subscriber to receive satellite service of another net2 work station affiliated with that same network. The

3 local network station and the satellite carrier shall

4 maintain a file available to the public that contains

5 such waiver.

6 (B) If a subscriber within the local market of

7 a network station petitions the Federal Communica8 tions Commission with the written findings and con9 clusions of a test conducted in accordance with the

10 provisions of section 73.686(d) of title 47, Code of

11 Federal Regulations, as in effect on March 1, 1999,

12 demonstrating that the subscriber does not receive

13 an over-the-air signal of the network station of

14 Grade B intensity, the network station shall have 30

15 days in which to file with the Commission an objec16 tion to the petition. If the network station does not

17 file a timely objection, then the station may not as18 sert network nonduplication protection described in

19 paragraph (2)(B) against that subscriber. If the sta20 tion does file a timely objection, then the Commis21 sion shall have 120 days in which to determine the

22 sufficiency of the subscriber’s petition. If the Com23 mission determines that the petition is sufficient,

24 then The network nonduplication protection de-
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1 scribed in paragraph (2)(B) shall not apply to that

2 subscriber.

3 (4) LOCAL MARKET DEFINED.—The term ‘‘local

4 market’’ has the meaning provided in section 337(h)

5 of the Communications Act of 1934, as added by

6 section 3 of this Act.

7 (b) DEFERRED APPLICABILITY OF AMENDMENTS TO

8 SECTION 119 OF TITLE 17, UNITED STATES CODE.—

9 Notwithstanding the amendments to section 119 of title

10 17, United States Code, made by this Act, until the regu11 lations regarding network nonduplication protection are

12 established under subsection (a), the statutory license

13 under subsection (a) of such section 119 for secondary

14 transmissions of primary transmissions of programming

15 contained in a primary transmission made by a network

16 station (as defined in section 119(d) of title 17, United

17 States Code, as in effect on the day before the effective

18 date of this Act) shall be limited to secondary trans19 missions to persons who reside in unserved households (as

20 defined in section 119(d) of title 17, United States Code,

21 as in effect on the day before the effective date of this

22 Act).
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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

3 take effect on July 1, 1999.

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