II
Calendar No. 93
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1554
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 28, 1999
Received; read twice and placed on the calendar
AN ACT
To amend the provisions of title 17, United States Code,
and the Communications Act of 1934, relating to copy-
right licensing and carriage of broadcast signals by sat-
ellite.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Satellite Copyright,
Competition, and Consumer Protection Act of 1999’’.
TITLE I—SATELLITE COMPETI-
TION AND CONSUMER PRO-
TECTION
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Satellite Competition
and Consumer Protection Act’’.
SEC. 102. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT.
Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended—
(1) by amending paragraphs (1) and (2) to
read as follows:
‘‘(b)(1) No cable system or other multichannel video
programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of a
television broadcast station, or any part thereof, except—
‘‘(A) with the express authority of the origi-
nating station;
‘‘(B) pursuant to section 614, in the case of a
station electing, in accordance with this subsection,
to assert the right to carriage under such section; or
‘‘(C) pursuant to section 338, in the case of a
station electing, in accordance with this subsection,
to assert the right to carriage under such section.
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‘‘(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not
apply—
‘‘(A) to retransmission of the signal of a non-
commercial television broadcast station;
‘‘(B) to retransmission of the signal of a tele-
vision broadcast station outside the station’s local
market by a satellite carrier directly to its sub-
scribers, if—
‘‘(i) such station was a superstation on
May 1, 1991;
‘‘(ii) as of July 1, 1998, such station was
retransmitted by a satellite carrier under the
statutory license of section 119 of title 17,
United States Code; and
‘‘(iii) the satellite carrier complies with all
network nonduplication, syndicated exclusivity,
and sports blackout rules adopted by the Com-
mission pursuant to section 712 of this Act;
‘‘(C) until 7 months after the date of enactment
of the Satellite Competition and Consumer Protec-
tion Act, to retransmission of the signal of a tele-
vision network station directly to a satellite antenna,
if the subscriber receiving the signal is located in an
area outside the local market of such station; or
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‘‘(D) to retransmission by a cable operator or
other multichannel video provider, other than a sat-
ellite carrier, of the signal of a television broadcast
station outside the station’s local market if such sig-
nal was obtained from a satellite carrier and—
‘‘(i) the originating station was a supersta-
tion on May 1, 1991; and
‘‘(ii) as of July 1, 1998, such station was
retransmitted by a satellite carrier under the
statutory license of section 119 of title 17,
United States Code.’’;
(2) by adding at the end of paragraph (3) the
following new subparagraph:
‘‘(C) Within 45 days after the date of enactment of
the Satellite Competition and Consumer Protection Act,
the Commission shall commence a rulemaking proceeding
to revise the regulations governing the exercise by tele-
vision broadcast stations of the right to grant retrans-
mission consent under this subsection, and such other reg-
ulations as are necessary to administer the limitations
contained in paragraph (2). The Commission shall com-
plete all actions necessary to prescribe such regulations
within one year after such date of enactment. Such regula-
tions shall—
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‘‘(i) establish election time periods that cor-
respond with those regulations adopted under sub-
paragraph (B) of this paragraph; and
‘‘(ii) until January 1, 2006, prohibit television
broadcast stations that provide retransmission con-
sent from engaging in discriminatory practices, un-
derstandings, arrangements, and activities, including
exclusive contracts for carriage, that prevent a mul-
tichannel video programming distributor from ob-
taining retransmission consent from such stations.’’;
(3) in paragraph (4), by adding at the end the
following new sentence: ‘‘If an originating television
station elects under paragraph (3)(C) to exercise its
right to grant retransmission consent under this
subsection with respect to a satellite carrier, the pro-
visions of section 338 shall not apply to the carriage
of the signal of such station by such satellite car-
rier.’’;
(4) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘614 or 615’’
and inserting ‘‘338, 614, or 615’’; and
(5) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(7) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘tele-
vision broadcast station’ means an over-the-air commercial
or noncommercial television broadcast station licensed by
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the Commission under subpart E of part 73 of title 47,
Code of Federal Regulations, except that such term does
not include a low-power or translator television station.’’.
SEC. 103. MUST-CARRY FOR SATELLITE CARRIERS RE-
TRANSMITTING TELEVISION BROADCAST SIG-
NALS.
Title III of the Communications Act of 1934 is
amended by inserting after section 337 (47 U.S.C. 337)
the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 338. CARRIAGE OF LOCAL TELEVISION SIGNALS BY
SATELLITE CARRIERS.
‘‘(a) CARRIAGE OBLIGATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the limitations
of paragraph (2), each satellite carrier providing sec-
ondary transmissions to subscribers located within
the local market of a television broadcast station of
a primary transmission made by that station shall
carry upon request all television broadcast stations
located within that local market, subject to section
325(b), by retransmitting the signal or signals of
such stations that are identified by Commission reg-
ulations for purposes of this section.
‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—No satellite carrier
shall be required to carry local television broadcast
stations under paragraph (1) until January 1, 2002.
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‘‘(b) GOOD SIGNAL REQUIRED.—
‘‘(1) COSTS.—A television broadcast station as-
serting its right to carriage under subsection (a)
shall be required to bear the costs associated with
delivering a good quality signal to the designated
local receive facility of the satellite carrier or to an-
other facility that is acceptable to at least one-half
the stations asserting the right to carriage in the
local market.
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—The regulations issued
under subsection (g) shall set forth the obligations
necessary to carry out this subsection.
‘‘(c) DUPLICATION NOT REQUIRED.—
‘‘(1) COMMERCIAL STATIONS.—Notwithstanding
subsection (a), a satellite carrier shall not be re-
quired to carry upon request the signal of any local
commercial television broadcast station that substan-
tially duplicates the signal of another local commer-
cial television broadcast station which is secondarily
transmitted by the satellite carrier within the same
local market, or to carry upon request the signals of
more than 1 local commercial television broadcast
station in a single local market that is affiliated with
a particular television network.