In the Senate of the United States,

May 20, 1999.

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 1554) entitled ‘‘An Act to amend the provisions

of title 17, United States Code, and the Communications Act

of 1934, relating to copyright licensing and carriage of broadcast signals by satellite.’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENT:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

1 TITLE I—SATELLITE HOME

2 VIEWERS IMPROVEMENTS ACT

3 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Satellite Home Viewers

5 Improvements Act’’.
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1 SEC. 102. LIMITATIONS ON EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS; SEC2 ONDARY TRANSMISSIONS BY SATELLITE CAR3 RIERS WITHIN LOCAL MARKETS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 17, United States

5 Code, is amended by adding after section 121 the following

6 new section:

7 ‘‘§ 122. Limitations on exclusive rights; secondary

8 transmissions by satellite carriers within

9 local markets

10 ‘‘(a) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS OF TELEVISION

11 BROADCAST STATIONS BY SATELLITE CARRIERS.—A sec12 ondary transmission of a primary transmission of a tele13 vision broadcast station into the station’s local market shall

14 be subject to statutory licensing under this section if—

15 ‘‘(1) the secondary transmission is made by a

16 satellite carrier to the public;

17 ‘‘(2) the secondary transmission is permissible

18 under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the

19 Federal Communications Commission; and

20 ‘‘(3) the satellite carrier makes a direct or indi21 rect charge for the secondary transmission to—

22 ‘‘(A) each subscriber receiving the secondary

23 transmission; or

24 ‘‘(B) a distributor that has contracted with

25 the satellite carrier for direct or indirect delivery

26 of the secondary transmission to the public.
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1 ‘‘(b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—

2 ‘‘(1) INITIAL LISTS.—A satellite carrier that

3 makes secondary transmissions of a primary trans4 mission made by a network station under subsection

5 (a) shall, within 90 days after commencing such sec6 ondary transmissions, submit to the network that

7 owns or is affiliated with the network station a list

8 identifying (by name and street address, including

9 county and zip code) all subscribers to which the sat10 ellite carrier currently makes secondary transmissions

11 of that primary transmission.

12 ‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT LISTS.—After the list is sub13 mitted under paragraph (1), the satellite carrier

14 shall, on the 15th of each month, submit to the net15 work a list identifying (by name and street address,

16 including county and zip code) any subscribers who

17 have been added or dropped as subscribers since the

18 last submission under this subsection.

19 ‘‘(3) USE OF SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION.—Sub20 scriber information submitted by a satellite carrier

21 under this subsection may be used only for the pur22 poses of monitoring compliance by the satellite carrier

23 with this section.

24 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENTS OF STATIONS.—The sub25 mission requirements of this subsection shall apply to
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1 a satellite carrier only if the network to whom the

2 submissions are to be made places on file with the

3 Register of Copyrights a document identifying the

4 name and address of the person to whom such submis5 sions are to be made. The Register shall maintain for

6 public inspection a file of all such documents.

7 ‘‘(c) NO ROYALTY FEE REQUIRED.—A satellite carrier

8 whose secondary transmissions are subject to statutory li9 censing under subsection (a) shall have no royalty obliga10 tion for such secondary transmissions.

11 ‘‘(d) NONCOMPLIANCE WITH REPORTING REQUIRE12 MENTS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), the willful or re13 peated secondary transmission to the public by a satellite

14 carrier into the local market of a television broadcast sta15 tion of a primary transmission made by that television

16 broadcast station and embodying a performance or display

17 of a work is actionable as an act of infringement under

18 section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided

19 under sections 502 through 506 and 509, if the satellite car20 rier has not complied with the reporting requirements of

21 subsection (b).

22 ‘‘(e) WILLFUL ALTERATIONS.—Notwithstanding sub23 section (a), the secondary transmission to the public by a

24 satellite carrier into the local market of a television broad25 cast station of a primary transmission made by that tele-
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1 vision broadcast station and embodying a performance or

2 display of a work is actionable as an act of infringement

3 under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies pro4 vided by sections 502 through 506 and sections 509 and

5 510, if the content of the particular program in which the

6 performance or display is embodied, or any commercial ad7 vertising or station announcement transmitted by the pri8 mary transmitter during, or immediately before or after,

9 the transmission of such program, is in any way willfully

10 altered by the satellite carrier through changes, deletions,

11 or additions, or is combined with programming from any

12 other broadcast signal.

13 ‘‘(f) VIOLATION OF TERRITORIAL RESTRICTIONS ON

14 STATUTORY LICENSE FOR TELEVISION BROADCAST STA15 TIONS.—

16 ‘‘(1) INDIVIDUAL VIOLATIONS.—The willful or re17 peated secondary transmission to the public by a sat18 ellite carrier of a primary transmission made by a

19 television broadcast station and embodying a per20 formance or display of a work to a subscriber who

21 does not reside in that station’s local market, and is

22 not subject to statutory licensing under section 119,

23 is actionable as an act of infringement under section

24 501 and is fully subject to the remedies provided by

25 sections 502 through 506 and 509, except that—
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1 ‘‘(A) no damages shall be awarded for such

2 act of infringement if the satellite carrier took

3 corrective action by promptly withdrawing serv4 ice from the ineligible subscriber; and

5 ‘‘(B) any statutory damages shall not exceed

6 $5 for such subscriber for each month during

7 which the violation occurred.

8 ‘‘(2) PATTERN OF VIOLATIONS.—If a satellite

9 carrier engages in a willful or repeated pattern or

10 practice of secondarily transmitting to the public a

11 primary transmission made by a television broadcast

12 station and embodying a performance or display of a

13 work to subscribers who do not reside in that station’s

14 local market, and are not subject to statutory licens15 ing under section 119, then in addition to the rem16 edies under paragraph (1)—

17 ‘‘(A) if the pattern or practice has been car18 ried out on a substantially nationwide basis, the

19 court shall order a permanent injunction barring

20 the secondary transmission by the satellite car21 rier of the primary transmissions of that tele22 vision broadcast station (and if such television

23 broadcast station is a network station, all other

24 television broadcast stations affiliated with such

25 network), and the court may order statutory
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1 damages not exceeding $250,000 for each 6-

2 month period during which the pattern or prac3 tice was carried out; and

4 ‘‘(B) if the pattern or practice has been car5 ried out on a local or regional basis with respect

6 to more than one television broadcast station

7 (and if such television broadcast station is a net8 work station, all other television broadcast sta9 tions affiliated with such network), the court

10 shall order a permanent injunction barring the

11 secondary transmission in that locality or region

12 by the satellite carrier of the primary trans13 missions of any television broadcast station, and

14 the court may order statutory damages not ex15 ceeding $250,000 for each 6-month period during

16 which the pattern or practice was carried out.

17 ‘‘(g) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any action brought

18 under subsection (d), (e), or (f), the satellite carrier shall

19 have the burden of proving that its secondary transmission

20 of a primary transmission by a television broadcast station

21 is made only to subscribers located within that station’s

22 local market.

23 ‘‘(h) GEOGRAPHIC LIMITATIONS ON SECONDARY

24 TRANSMISSIONS.—The statutory license created by this sec25 tion shall apply to secondary transmissions to locations in
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1 the United States, and any commonwealth, territory, or

2 possession of the United States.

3 ‘‘(i) EXCLUSIVITY WITH RESPECT TO SECONDARY

4 TRANSMISSIONS OF BROADCAST STATIONS BY SATELLITE

5 TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC.—No provision of section 111

6 or any other law (other than this section and section 119)

7 shall be construed to contain any authorization, exemption,

8 or license through which secondary transmissions by sat9 ellite carriers of programming contained in a primary

10 transmission made by a television broadcast station may

11 be made without obtaining the consent of the copyright

12 owner.

13 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section—

14 ‘‘(1) The term ‘distributor’ means an entity

15 which contracts to distribute secondary transmissions

16 from a satellite carrier and, either as a single channel

17 or in a package with other programming, provides the

18 secondary transmission either directly to individual

19 subscribers or indirectly through other program dis20 tribution entities.

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘local market’ for a television

22 broadcast station has the meaning given that term

23 under rules, regulations, and authorizations of the

24 Federal Communications Commission relating to car-
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1 riage of television broadcast signals by satellite car2 riers.

3 ‘‘(3) The terms ‘network station’, ‘satellite car4 rier’ and ‘secondary transmission’ have the meaning

5 given such terms under section 119(d).

6 ‘‘(4) The term ‘subscriber’ means an entity that

7 receives a secondary transmission service by means of

8 a secondary transmission from a satellite and pays a

9 fee for the service, directly or indirectly, to the sat10 ellite carrier or to a distributor.

11 ‘‘(5) The term ‘television broadcast station’

12 means an over-the-air, commercial or noncommercial

13 television broadcast station licensed by the Federal

14 Communications Commission under subpart E of

15 part 73 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations.’’.

16 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

17 The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 17, United States

18 Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to sec19 tion 121 the following:

‘‘122. Limitations on exclusive rights; secondary transmissions by satellite carriers within local market.’’.

20 SEC. 103. EXTENSION OF EFFECT OF AMENDMENTS TO SEC21 TION 119 OF TITLE 17, UNITED STATES CODE.

22 Section 4(a) of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994

23 (17 U.S.C. 119 note; Public Law 103–369; 108 Stat. 3481)
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1 is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 1999’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘December 31, 2004’’.

3 SEC. 104. COMPUTATION OF ROYALTY FEES FOR SATELLITE

4 CARRIERS.

5 Section 119(c) of title 17, United States Code, is

6 amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

7 ‘‘(4) REDUCTION.—

8 ‘‘(A) SUPERSTATION.—The rate of the roy9 alty fee in effect on January 1, 1998 payable in

10 each case under subsection (b)(1)(B)(i) shall be

11 reduced by 30 percent.

12 ‘‘(B) NETWORK.—The rate of the royalty fee

13 in effect on January 1, 1998 payable under sub14 section (b)(1)(B)(ii) shall be reduced by 45 per15 cent.

16 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE AS

17 AGENT.—For purposes of section 802, with respect to

18 royalty fees paid by satellite carriers for retransmit19 ting the Public Broadcasting Service satellite feed, the

20 Public Broadcasting Service shall be the agent for all

21 public television copyright claimants and all Public

22 Broadcasting Service member stations.’’.
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1 SEC. 105. DEFINITIONS.

2 Section 119(d) of title 17, United States Code, is

3 amended by striking paragraph (10) and inserting the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘(10) UNSERVED HOUSEHOLD.—The term

6 ‘unserved household’, with respect to a particular tele7 vision network, means a household that cannot re8 ceive, through the use of a conventional outdoor roof9 top receiving antenna, an over-the-air signal of grade

10 B intensity (as defined by the Federal Communica11 tions Commission) of a primary network station af12 filiated with that network or is not otherwise eligible

13 to receive directly from a satellite carrier a signal of

14 that television network (other than a signal provided

15 under section 122) in accordance with section 338 of

16 the Communications Act of 1934.’’.

17 SEC. 106. PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE SATELLITE

18 FEED.

19 (a) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS.—Section 119(a)(1)

20 of title 17, United States Code, is amended—

21 (1) by striking the paragraph heading and in22 serting ‘‘(1) SUPERSTATIONS AND PBS SATELLITE

23 FEED.—’’;

24 (2) by inserting ‘‘or by the Public Broadcasting

25 Service satellite feed’’ after ‘‘superstation’’; and
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1 (3) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘In the

2 case of the Public Broadcasting Service satellite feed,

3 the compulsory license shall be effective until January

4 1, 2002.’’.

5 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 119(d) of title 17, United

6 States Code, is amended—

7 (1) by amending paragraph (9) to read as fol8 lows:

9 ‘‘(9) SUPERSTATION.—The term ‘superstation’—

10 ‘‘(A) means a television broadcast station,

11 other than a network station, licensed by the

12 Federal Communications Commission that is

13 secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier;

14 and

15 ‘‘(B) includes the Public Broadcasting Serv16 ice satellite feed.’’; and

17 (2) by adding at the end the following:

18 ‘‘(12) PUBLIC BROADCASTING SERVICE SAT19 ELLITE FEED.—The term ‘Public Broadcasting Serv20 ice satellite feed’ means the national satellite feed dis21 tributed by the Public Broadcasting Service con22 sisting of educational and informational program23 ming intended for private home viewing, to which the

24 Public Broadcasting Service holds national terrestrial

25 broadcast rights.’’.
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1 SEC. 107. APPLICATION OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

2 COMMISSION REGULATIONS.

3 Section 119(a) of title 17, United States Code, is

4 amended—

5 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘is permis6 sible under the rules, regulations, and authorizations

7 of the Federal Communications Commission,’’ after

8 ‘‘satellite carrier to the public for private home view9 ing,’’;

10 (2) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘is permis11 sible under the rules, regulations, and authorizations

12 of the Federal Communications Commission,’’ after

13 ‘‘satellite carrier to the public for private home view14 ing,’’; and

15 (3) by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(11) STATUTORY LICENSE CONTINGENT ON COM17 PLIANCE WITH FCC RULES AND REMEDIAL STEPS.—

18 The willful or repeated secondary transmission to the

19 public by a satellite carrier of a primary trans20 mission made by a broadcast station licensed by the

21 Federal Communications Commission is actionable as

22 an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully

23 subject to the remedies provided by sections 502

24 through 506 and 509, if, at the time of such trans25 mission, the satellite carrier is not in compliance

26 with the rules, regulations, and authorizations of the
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1 Federal Communications Commission concerning the

2 carriage of television broadcast station signals.’’.

3 SEC. 108. TELEVISION BROADCAST STATION STANDING.

4 Section 501 of title 17, United States Code, is amended

5 by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(f) With respect to any secondary transmission that

7 is made by a satellite carrier of a primary transmission

8 embodying the performance or display of a work and is ac9 tionable as an act of infringement under section 122, a tele10 vision broadcast station holding a copyright or other license

11 to transmit or perform the same version of that work shall,

12 for purposes of subsection (b) of this section, be treated as

13 a legal or beneficial owner if such secondary transmission

14 occurs within the local market of that station.’’.

15 SEC. 109. MORATORIUM ON COPYRIGHT LIABILITY.

16 Until December 31, 1999, no subscriber, as defined

17 under section 119(d)(8) of title 17, United States Code, lo18 cated within the predicted Grade B contour of a local net19 work television broadcast station shall have satellite service

20 of a distant network signal affiliated with the same network

21 terminated, if that subscriber received satellite service of

22 such network signal before July 11, 1998, as a result of sec23 tion 119 of title 17, United States Code.
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1 SEC. 110. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This title and the amendments made by this title shall

3 take effect on January 1, 1999, except the amendments

4 made by section 104 shall take effect on July 1, 1999.

5 TITLE II—SATELLITE

6 TELEVISION ACT OF 1999

7 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.

8 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Satellite Television Act

9 of 1999’’.

10 SEC. 202. FINDINGS.

11 The Congress makes the following findings:

12 (1) In the Cable Television Consumer Protection

13 and Competition Act of 1992, Congress stated its pol14 icy of promoting competition in cable services and

15 making available to the public a diversity of views

16 and information through cable television and other

17 video media.

18 (2) In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Con19 gress stated its policy of securing lower prices and

20 higher quality service for American telecommuni21 cations consumers and encouraging the rapid deploy22 ment of new telecommunications technologies.

23 (3) In most places throughout America, cable tel24 evision system operators still do not face effective

25 competition from other providers of multichannel

26 video service.
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1 (4) Absent effective competition, the market

2 power exercised by cable television operators enables

3 them to raise the price of cable service to consumers,

4 and to control the price and availability of cable pro5 gramming services to other multichannel video service

6 providers. Current Federal Communications Commis7 sion rules have been inadequate in constraining cable

8 price increases.

9 (5) Direct-to-home satellite service has over 8

10 million subscribers and constitutes the most signifi11 cant competitive alternative to cable television service.

12 (6) Direct-to-home satellite service currently suf13 fers from a number of statutory, regulatory, and tech14 nical barriers that keep it from being an effective

15 competitor to cable television in the provision of mul16 tichannel video services.

17 (7) The most prominent of these barriers is the

18 inability to provide subscribers with local television

19 broadcast signals by satellite.

20 (8) Permitting providers of direct-to-home sat21 ellite service to retransmit local television signals to

22 their subscribers would greatly enhance the ability of

23 direct-to-home satellite service providers to compete

24 more effectively in the provision of multichannel video

25 services.
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1 (9) Due to capacity limitations and in the inter2 est of providing service in as many markets as pos3 sible, providers of direct-to-home satellite service, un4 like cable television systems, cannot at this time carry

5 all local television broadcast signals in all the local

6 television markets they seek to serve.

7 (10) It would be in the public interest for pro8 viders of direct-to-home satellite service to fully com9 ply with the mandatory signal carriage rules at the

10 earliest possible date. In the interim, requiring full

11 compliance with the mandatory signal carriage rules

12 would substantially limit the ability of direct-to-home

13 satellite service providers to compete in the provision

14 of multichannel video services and would not serve the

15 public interest.

16 (11) Maintaining the viability of free, local,

17 over-the-air television service is a matter of pre18 eminent public interest.

19 (12) All subscribers to multichannel video serv20 ices should be able to receive the signal of at least one

21 station affiliated with each of the major broadcast tel22 evision networks.

23 (13) Millions of subscribers to direct-to-home sat24 ellite service currently receive the signals of network25 affiliated stations not located in these subscribers’
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1 local television markets. Where conventional rooftop

2 antennas cannot provide satisfactory reception of

3 local stations, distant network signals may be these

4 subscribers’ only source of network television service.

5 (14) The widespread carriage of distant network

6 stations in local network affiliates’ markets could

7 harm the local stations’ ability to serve their local

8 community.

9 (15) Abrupt termination of satellite carriers’

10 provision of distant network signals could have a neg11 ative impact on the ability of direct-to-home satellite

12 service to compete effectively in the provision of mul13 tichannel video services.

14 (16) The public interest would be served by per15 mitting direct-to-home satellite service providers to

16 continue existing carriage of a distant network affil17 iate station’s signal where—

18 (A) there is no local network affiliate;

19 (B) the local network affiliate cannot be

20 adequately received off-air; or

21 (C) continued carriage would not harm the

22 local network station.

23 SEC. 203. PURPOSE.

24 The purpose of this title is to promote competition in

25 the provision of multichannel video services while protecting
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1 the availability of free, local, over-the-air television, par2 ticularly for the 22 percent of American television house3 holds that do not subscribe to any multichannel video pro4 gramming service.

5 SEC. 204. MUST-CARRY FOR SATELLITE CARRIERS RE6 TRANSMITTING TELEVISION BROADCAST SIG7 NALS.

8 Part I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934

9 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end

10 thereof the following:

11 ‘‘SEC. 338. CARRIAGE OF LOCAL TELEVISION STATIONS BY

12 SATELLITE CARRIERS.

13 ‘‘(a) APPLICATION OF MANDATORY CARRIAGE TO SAT14 ELLITE CARRIERS.—The mandatory carriage provisions of

15 sections 614 and 615 of this Act will apply in a local mar16 ket no later than January 1, 2002, to satellite carriers re17 transmitting any television broadcast station in that local

18 market pursuant to the compulsory license provided by sec19 tion 122 of title 17, United States Code.

20 ‘‘(b) GOOD SIGNAL REQUIRED.—

21 ‘‘(1) COSTS.—A television broadcast station eli22 gible for carriage under subsection (a) may be re23 quired to bear the costs associated with delivering a

24 good quality signal to the designated local receive fa25 cility of the satellite carrier. The selection of a local
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1 receive facility by a satellite carrier shall not be made

2 in a manner that frustrates the purposes of this Act.

3 The Commission shall implement the requirements of

4 this section without imposing any undue economic

5 burden on any party.

6 ‘‘(2) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—The Commission

7 shall adopt rules implementing paragraph (1) within

8 180 days after the date of enactment of the Satellite

9 Television Act of 1999.

10 ‘‘(c) CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM DIGITAL SIGNAL

11 CARRIAGE NOT COVERED.—Nothing in this section applies

12 to the carriage of the digital signals of television broadcast

13 stations by cable television systems.

14 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

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

16 term ‘television broadcast station’ means a full power

17 local television broadcast station, but does not include

18 a low-power or translator television broadcast station.

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

20 station’ means a television broadcast station that is

21 owned or operated by, or affiliated with, a broad22 casting network.

23 ‘‘(3) BROADCASTING NETWORK.—The term

24 ‘broadcasting network’ means a television network in

25 the United States which offers an interconnected pro-
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1 gram service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours

2 per week to at least 25 affiliated broadcast stations in

3 10 or more States.

4 ‘‘(4) DISTANT TELEVISION STATION.—The term

5 ‘distant television station’ means any television

6 broadcast station that is not licensed and operating

7 on a channel regularly assigned to the local television

8 market in which a subscriber to a direct-to-home sat9 ellite service is located.

10 ‘‘(5) LOCAL MARKET.—The term ‘local market’

11 means the designated market area in which a station

12 is located. For a noncommercial educational tele13 vision broadcast station, the local market includes

14 any station that is licensed to a community within

15 the same designated market area as the noncommer16 cial educational television broadcast station.

17 ‘‘(6) SATELLITE CARRIER.—The term ‘satellite

18 carrier’ has the meaning given it by section 119(d) of

19 title 17, United States Code.

20 ‘‘SEC. 339. CARRIAGE OF DISTANT TELEVISION STATIONS

21 BY SATELLITE CARRIERS.

22 ‘‘(a) PROVISIONS RELATING TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub24 section (d), direct-to-home satellite service providers

25 shall be permitted to provide the signals of 1 affiliate
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1 of each television network to any household that ini2 tially subscribed to direct-to-home satellite service on

3 or after July 10, 1998.

4 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION.—The deter5 mination of a new subscriber’s eligibility to receive

6 the signals of one or more distant network stations as

7 a component of the service provided pursuant to

8 paragraph (a) shall be made by ascertaining whether

9 the subscriber resides within the predicted Grade B

10 service area of a local network station. The Individual

11 Location Longley-Rice methodology described by the

12 Commission in Docket 98-201 shall be used to make

13 this determination. A direct-to-home satellite service

14 provider may provide the signal of a distant network

15 station to any subscriber determined by this method

16 to be unserved by a local station affiliated with that

17 network.

18 ‘‘(3) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—

19 ‘‘(A) Within 90 days after the date of enact20 ment of the Satellite Television Act of 1999, the

21 Commission shall adopt procedures that shall be

22 used by any direct-to-home satellite service sub23 scriber requesting a waiver to receive one or

24 more distant network signals. The waiver proce25 dures adopted by the Commission shall—
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1 ‘‘(i) impose no unnecessary burden on

2 the subscriber seeking the waiver;

3 ‘‘(ii) allocate responsibilities fairly be4 tween direct-to-home satellite service pro5 viders and local stations;

6 ‘‘(iii) prescribe mandatory time limits

7 within which direct-to-home satellite service

8 providers and local stations shall carry out

9 the obligations imposed upon them; and

10 ‘‘(iv) prescribe that all costs of con11 ducting any measurement or testing shall be

12 borne by the direct-to-home satellite service

13 provider, if the local station’s signal meets

14 the prescribed minimum standards, or by

15 the local station, if its signal fails to meet

16 the prescribed minimum standards.

17 ‘‘(4) PENALTY FOR VIOLATION.—Any direct-to18 home satellite service provider that knowingly and

19 willfully provides the signals of 1 or more distant tel20 evision stations to subscribers in violation of this sec21 tion shall be liable for forfeiture in the amount of

22 $50,000 per day per violation.

23 ‘‘(b) PROVISIONS RELATING TO EXISTING SUB24 SCRIBERS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) MORATORIUM ON TERMINATION.—Until De2 cember 31, 1999, any direct-to-home satellite service

3 may continue to provide the signals of distant tele4 vision stations to any subscriber located within pre5 dicted Grade A and Grade B contours of a local net6 work station who received those distant network sig7 nals before July 11, 1998.

8 ‘‘(2) CONTINUED CARRIAGE.—Direct-to-home sat9 ellite service providers may continue to provide the

10 signals of distant television stations to subscribers lo11 cated between the outside limits of the predicted

12 Grade A contour and the predicted Grade B contour

13 of the corresponding local network stations after De14 cember 31, 1999, subject to any limitations adopted

15 by the Commission under paragraph (3).

16 ‘‘(3) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—

17 ‘‘(A) Within 180 days after the date of en18 actment of the Satellite Television Act of 1999,

19 the Commission shall conclude a single rule20 making, compliant with subchapter II of chapter

21 5 of title 5, United States Code, to examine the

22 extent to which any existing program exclusivity

23 rules should be imposed on distant network sta24 tions provided to subscribers under paragraph

25 (2).
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1 ‘‘(B) The Commission shall not impose any

2 program exclusivity rules on direct-to-home sat3 ellite service providers pursuant to subparagraph

4 (A) unless it finds that it would be both tech5 nically and economically feasible and otherwise

6 in the public interest to do so.

7 ‘‘(c) WAIVERS NOT PRECLUDED.—Notwithstanding

8 any other provision in this section, nothing shall preclude

9 any network stations from authorizing the continued provi10 sion of distant network signals in unaltered form to any

11 direct-to-home satellite service subscriber currently receiv12 ing them.

13 ‘‘(d) CERTAIN SIGNALS.—Providers of direct-to-home

14 satellite service may continue to carry the signals of distant

15 network stations without regard to subsections (a) and (b)

16 in any situation in which—

17 ‘‘(1) a subscriber is unserved by the local station

18 affiliated with that network;

19 ‘‘(2) a waiver is otherwise granted by the local

20 station under subsection (c); or

21 ‘‘(3) if the carriage would otherwise be consistent

22 with rules adopted by the Commission in CS Docket

23 98-201.

24 ‘‘(e) REPORT REQUIRED.—Within 180 days after the

25 date of enactment of the Satellite Television Act of 1999,
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1 the Commission shall report to Congress on methods of fa2 cilitating the delivery of local signals in local markets, espe3 cially smaller markets.’’.

4 SEC. 205. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT.

5 (a) AMENDMENT OF SECTION 325(b).—Section 325(b)

6 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is

7 amended by striking the subsection designation and para8 graphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following:

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

10 programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of a

11 broadcasting station, or any part thereof, except—

12 ‘‘(A) with the express authority of the station; or

13 ‘‘(B) pursuant to section 614 or section 615, in

14 the case of a station electing, in accordance with this

15 subsection, to assert the right to carriage under that

16 section.

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

18 to—

19 ‘‘(A) retransmission of the signal of a television

20 broadcast station outside the station’s local market by

21 a satellite carrier directly to subscribers if—

22 ‘‘(i) that station was a superstation on May

23 1, 1991;

24 ‘‘(ii) as of July 1, 1998, such station’s sig25 nal was transmitted under the compulsory li-
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1 cense of section 119 of title 17, United States

2 Code, by satellite carriers directly to at least

3 250,000 subscribers; and

4 ‘‘(iii) the satellite carrier complies with any

5 program exclusivity rules that may be adopted

6 by the Federal Communications Commission

7 pursuant to section 338.

8 ‘‘(B) retransmission of the distant signal of a

9 broadcasting station that is owned or operated by, or

10 affiliated with, a broadcasting network directly to a

11 home satellite antenna, if the subscriber resides in an

12 unserved household; or

13 ‘‘(C) retransmission by a cable operator or other

14 multichannel video programming distributor (other

15 than by a satellite carrier direct to its subscribers) of

16 the signal of a television broadcast station outside the

17 station’s local market, if that signal was obtained

18 from a satellite carrier and—

19 ‘‘(i) the originating station was a supersta20 tion on May 1, 1991; and

21 ‘‘(ii) the originating station was a network

22 station on December 31, 1997, and its signal was

23 retransmitted by a satellite carrier directly to

24 subscribers.
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1 ‘‘(3) Any term used in this subsection that is defined

2 in section 337(d) of this Act has the meaning given to it

3 by that section.’’.

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by sub5 section (a) take effect on January 1, 1999.

6 SEC. 206. DESIGNATED MARKET AREAS.

7 Nothing in this title, or in the amendments made by

8 this title, prevents the Federal Communications Commis9 sion from revising the listing of designated market areas

10 or reassigning those areas if the revision or reassignment

11 is done in the same manner and to the same extent as the

12 Commission’s cable television mandatory carriage rules

13 provide.

14 SEC. 207. SEVERABILITY.

15 If any provision of this title or section 325(b) or 337

16 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b) or

17 337, respectively), or the application of that provision to

18 any person or circumstance, is held by a court of competent

19 jurisdiction to violate any provision of the Constitution of

20 the United States, then the other provisions of that section,

21 and the application of that provision to other persons and

22 circumstances, shall not be affected.

23 SEC. 208. DEFINITIONS.

24 In this title:
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1 (1) TERMS DEFINED IN COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF

2 1934.—Any term used in this title that is defined in

3 section 337(d) of the Communications Act of 1934, as

4 added by section 204 of this title, has the meaning

5 given to it by that section.

6 (2) DESIGNATED MARKET AREA.—The term ‘‘des7 ignated market area’’ means a designated market

8 area, as determined by Nielsen Media Research and

9 published in the DMA Market and Demographic Re10 port.

Attest:

Secretary.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1554

AMENDMENT