Union Calendar No. 385

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 1103

[Report No. 103–703]

A BILL

To amend title 17, United States Code, with reand with respect to cable systems. and network stations for private home viewing, spect to secondary transmissions of superstations

AUGUST 16, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 385

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 1103

[Report No. 103–703]

To amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to secondary transmissions of superstations and network stations for private home viewing,

and with respect to cable systems.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 24, 1993

Mr. HUGHES (for himself and Mr. MOORHEAD) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

AUGUST 16, 1994

Additional sponsors: Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. CHAPMAN, Mr.

SPRATT, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr.

PAYNE of Virginia, Mr. WISE, and Mr. WILLIAMS

AUGUST 16, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 24, 1993]

A BILL

To amend title 17, United States Code, with respect to

secondary transmissions of superstations and network

stations for private home viewing, and with respect to

cable systems.
2

•HR 1103 RH

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 Home Viewer

5 Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. STATUTORY LICENSE FOR SATELLITE CARRIERS.

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

8 as follows:

9 (1) Subsection (a)(2)(C) is amended—

10 (A) by striking ‘‘90 days after the effective

11 date of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988,

12 or’’;

13 (B) by striking ‘‘whichever is later,’’;

14 (C) by inserting ‘‘name and’’ after ‘‘identi15 fying (by’’ each place it appears; and

16 (D) by striking ‘‘, on or after the effective

17 date of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988,’’.

18 (2) Subsection (a)(5) is amended by adding at

19 the end the following:

20 ‘‘(D) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any action

21 brought under this paragraph, the satellite car22 rier shall have the burden of proving that its sec23 ondary transmission of a primary transmission

24 by a network station is for private home viewing

25 to an unserved household.’’.
3

•HR 1103 RH

1 (3) Subsection (b)(1)(B) is amended—

2 (A) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘12 cents’’ and

3 inserting ‘‘17.5 cents per subscriber in the case

4 of superstations not subject to syndicated exclu5 sivity under the regulations of the Federal Com6 munications Commission, and 14 cents per sub7 scriber in the case of superstations subject to

8 such syndicated exclusivity’’; and

9 (B) in clause (ii) by striking ‘‘3’’ and in10 serting ‘‘6’’;

11 (4) Subsection (c) is amended—

12 (A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘December

13 31, 1992,’’;

14 (B) in paragraph (2)—

15 (i) in subparagraph (A) by striking

16 ‘‘July 1, 1991’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1,

17 1996’’; and

18 (ii) in subparagraph (D) by striking

19 ‘‘December 31, 1994’’ and inserting ‘‘De20 cember 31, 1999, or in accordance with the

21 terms of the agreement, whichever is later’’;

22 (C) in paragraph (3)—

23 (i) in subparagraph (A) by striking

24 ‘‘December 31, 1991’’ and inserting ‘‘July

25 1, 1996’’;
4

•HR 1103 RH

1 (ii) by amending subparagraph (D) to

2 read as follows:

3 ‘‘(D) ESTABLISHMENT OF FAIR MARKET

4 RATES.—In determining royalty fees under this

5 paragraph, the Arbitration Panel shall establish

6 a rate, for the secondary transmission of network

7 stations and superstations, that reflects the fair

8 market value of such secondary transmissions.

9 The Arbitration Panel shall base its decision

10 upon economic, competitive, and programming

11 information presented by the parties, and shall

12 take into account the competitive environment in

13 which such programming is distributed.’’;

14 (iii) in subparagraph (E) by striking

15 ‘‘60’’ and inserting ‘‘180’’; and

16 (iv) in subparagraph (G) by striking

17 ‘‘, or until December 31, 1994’’.

18 (5) Subsection (a) is amended—

19 (A) in paragraph (5)(C) by striking ‘‘the

20 Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988’’ and insert21 ing ‘‘this section’’; and

22 (B) by adding at the end the following:

23 ‘‘(8) TRANSITIONAL SIGNAL INTENSITY MEAS24 UREMENT PROCEDURES.—
5

•HR 1103 RH

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara2 graph (C), upon a challenge by a network station

3 regarding whether a subscriber is an unserved

4 household within the predicted Grade B Contour

5 of the station, the satellite carrier shall, within

6 60 days after the receipt of the challenge—

7 ‘‘(i) terminate service to that household

8 of the signal that is the subject of the chal9 lenge, and within 30 days thereafter notify

10 the network station that made the challenge

11 that service to that household has been ter12 minated; or

13 ‘‘(ii) conduct a measurement of the sig14 nal intensity of the subscriber’s household to

15 determine whether the household is an

16 unserved household.

17 ‘‘(B) EFFECT OF MEASUREMENT.—If the

18 satellite carrier conducts a signal intensity

19 measurement under subparagraph (A) and the

20 measurement indicates that—

21 ‘‘(i) the household is not an unserved

22 household, the satellite carrier shall, within

23 60 days after the measurement is conducted,

24 terminate the service to that household of

25 the signal that is the subject of the chal-
6

•HR 1103 RH

1 lenge, and within 30 days thereafter notify

2 the network station that made the challenge

3 that service to that household has been ter4 minated; or

5 ‘‘(ii) the household is an unserved

6 household, the station challenging the service

7 shall reimburse the satellite carrier for the

8 costs of the signal measurement within 60

9 days after receipt of the measurement re10 sults and a statement of the costs of the

11 measurement.

12 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION ON MEASUREMENTS.—(i)

13 Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a satellite

14 carrier may not be required to conduct signal in15 tensity measurements during any calendar year

16 in excess of 5 percent of the number of subscrib17 ers within the network station’s local market

18 that have subscribed to the service as of the effec19 tive date of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of

20 1994.

21 ‘‘(ii) If a network station challenges whether

22 a subscriber is an unserved household in excess

23 of 5 percent of the subscribers within the net24 work’s station local market within a calendar

25 year, subparagraph (A) shall not apply to chal-
7

•HR 1103 RH

1 lenges in excess of such 5 percent, but the station

2 may conduct its own signal intensity measure3 ment of the subscriber’s household. If such meas4 urement indicates that the household is not an

5 unserved household, the carrier shall, within 60

6 days after receipt of the measurement, terminate

7 service to the household of the signal that is the

8 subject of the challenge and within 30 days there9 after notify the network station that made the

10 challenge that service has been terminated. The

11 carrier shall also, within 60 days after receipt of

12 the measurement and a statement of the costs of

13 the measurement, reimburse the network station

14 for the cost it incurred in conducting the meas15 urement.

16 ‘‘(D) OUTSIDE THE PREDICTED GRADE B

17 CONTOUR.—(i) If a network station challenges

18 whether a subscriber is an unserved household

19 outside the predicted Grade B Contour of the sta20 tion, the station may conduct a measurement of

21 the signal intensity of the subscriber’s household

22 to determine whether the household is an

23 unserved household.
8

•HR 1103 RH

1 ‘‘(ii) If the network station conducts a sig2 nal intensity measurement under clause (i) and

3 the measurement indicates that—

4 ‘‘(I) the household is not an unserved

5 household, the station shall forward the re6 sults to the satellite carrier who shall, with7 in 60 days after receipt of the measurement,

8 terminate the service to the household of the

9 signal that is the subject of the challenge,

10 and shall reimburse the station for the costs

11 of the measurement within 60 days after re12 ceipt of the measurement results and a

13 statement of such costs; or

14 ‘‘(II) the household is an unserved

15 household, the station shall pay the costs of

16 the measurement.

17 ‘‘(9) LOSER PAYS FOR SIGNAL INTENSITY MEAS18 UREMENT; RECOVERY OF MEASUREMENT COSTS IN A

19 CIVIL ACTION.—In any civil action filed relating to

20 the eligibility of subscribing households as unserved

21 households—

22 ‘‘(A) a network station challenging such eli23 gibility shall reimburse the satellite carrier for

24 any signal intensity measurement that is con25 ducted by that carrier in response to a challenge
9

•HR 1103 RH

1 by the network station and that establishes the

2 household is an unserved household; and

3 ‘‘(B) a satellite carrier shall reimburse the

4 network station challenging such eligibility for

5 any signal intensity measurement that is con6 ducted by that station and that establishes the

7 household is not an unserved household.

8 ‘‘(10) INABILITY TO CONDUCT MEASUREMENT.—

9 If a network station makes a reasonable attempt to

10 conduct a site measurement of its signal at a sub11 scriber’s household and is denied access for the pur12 pose of conducting the measurement, the satellite car13 rier shall within 60 days notice thereof, terminate

14 service of the station’s network to that household.’’.

15 (6) Subsection (d) is amended—

16 (A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as

17 follows:

18 ‘‘(2) NETWORK STATION.—The term ‘network

19 station’ means—

20 ‘‘(A) a television broadcast station, includ21 ing any translator station or terrestrial satellite

22 station that rebroadcasts all or substantially all

23 of the programming broadcast by a network sta24 tion, that is owned or operated by, or affiliated

25 with, one or more of the television networks in
10

•HR 1103 RH

1 the United States which offer an interconnected

2 program service on a regular basis for 15 or

3 more hours per week to at least 25 of its affili4 ated television licensees in 10 or more States; or

5 ‘‘(B) a noncommercial educational broad6 cast station (as defined in section 397 of the

7 Communications Act of 1934).’’;

8 (B) in paragraph (6) by inserting ‘‘and op9 erates in the Fixed-Satellite Service under part

10 25 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations

11 or the Direct Broadcast Satellite Service under

12 part 100 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regu13 lations’’ after ‘‘Commission’’; and

14 (C) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(11) LOCAL MARKET.—The term ‘local market’

16 means the area encompassed within a network sta17 tion’s predicted Grade B contour as that contour is

18 defined by the Federal Communications Commis19 sion.’’.

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

21 (a) CABLE SYSTEM.—Section 111(f) of title 17, United

22 States Code, is amended in the paragraph relating to the

23 definition of ‘‘cable system’’ by inserting ‘‘microwave,’’ after

24 ‘‘wires, cables,’’.
11

•HR 1103 RH

1 (b) LOCAL SERVICE AREA.—Section 111(f) of title 17,

2 United States Code, is amended in the paragraph relating

3 to the definition of ‘‘local service area of a primary trans4 mitter’’ by inserting after ‘‘April 15, 1976,’’ the following:

5 ‘‘or such station’s television market as defined in section

6 76.55(e) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect

7 on September 18, 1993), or any modifications to such tele8 vision market made, on or after September 18, 1993, pursu9 ant to section 76.55(e) or 76.59 of title 47 of the Code of

10 Federal Regulations,’’.

11 SEC. 4. TERMINATION.

12 (a) EXPIRATION OF AMENDMENTS.—Section 119 of

13 title 17, United States Code, as amended by section 2 of

14 this Act, ceases to be effective on December 31, 1999.

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 207 of the

16 Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988 (17 U.S.C. 119 note)

17 is repealed.

18 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsections

20 (b) and (d), this Act and the amendments made by this

21 Act take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

22 (b) BURDEN OF PROOF PROVISIONS.—The provisions

23 of section 119(a)(5)(D) of title 17, United States Code (as

24 added by section 2(2) of this Act) relating to the burden

25 of proof of satellite carriers, shall take effect on January
12

•HR 1103 RH

1 1, 1997, with respect to civil actions relating to the eligi2 bility of subscribers who subscribed to service as an

3 unserved household before the date of the enactment of this

4 Act.

5 (c) TRANSITIONAL SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT

6 PROCEDURES.—The provisions of section 119(a)(8) of title

7 17, United States Code (as added by section 2(5) of this

8 Act), relating to transitional signal intensity measure9 ments, shall cease to be effective on December 31, 1996.

10 (d) LOCAL SERVICE AREA OF A PRIMARY TRANSMIT11 TER.—The amendment made by section 3(b), relating to the

12 definition of the local service area of a primary transmitter,

13 shall take effect on July 1, 1994.