I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4449
To amend title 17, United States Code, to reform the copyright law with
respect to satellite retransmissions of broadcast signals, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 6, 1998
Mr. BURR of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. GRAHAM) 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 subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title 17, United States Code, to reform the copy-
right law with respect to satellite retransmissions of
broadcast signals, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Satellite Access to
Local Stations Act’’.
SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS; SECONDARY
TRANSMISSIONS BY SATELLITE CARRIERS
WITHIN LOCAL MARKETS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 17, United
States Code, is amended by adding after section 121 the
following new section:
‘‘§ 122. Limitations on exclusive rights; secondary
transmissions by satellite carriers within
local markets
‘‘(a) SECONDARY TRANSMISSIONS
OF TELEVISION
BROADCAST STATIONS BY SATELLITE CARRIERS.—A sec-
ondary transmission of a primary transmission of a tele-
vision broadcast station into the station’s local market
shall be subject to statutory licensing under this section
if—
‘‘(1) the secondary transmission is made by a
satellite carrier to the public;
‘‘(2) the secondary transmission is permissible
under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the
Federal Communications Commission; and
‘‘(3) the satellite carrier makes a direct or indi-
rect charge for the secondary transmission to—
‘‘(A) each subscriber receiving the second-
ary transmission; or
‘‘(B) a distributor that has contracted with
the satellite carrier for direct or indirect deliv-
ery of the secondary transmission to the public.
‘‘(b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—A satellite car-
rier whose secondary transmissions are subject to statu-
tory licensing under subsection (a) shall, on a semiannual
basis, submit to the Register of Copyrights, in accordance
with requirements that the Register shall prescribe by reg-
ulation, a statement of account, covering the preceding 6-
month period, specifying—
‘‘(1) the names and locations of all television
broadcast stations whose signals were secondarily
transmitted within the local markets of those sta-
tions at any time during that period; and
‘‘(2) the total number of, and addresses pro-
vided by, all subscribers receiving those secondary
transmissions.
‘‘(c) NO ROYALTY FEE REQUIRED.—A satellite car-
rier whose secondary transmissions are subject to statu-
tory licensing under subsection (a) shall have no royalty
obligation for such secondary transmissions.
‘‘(d) NONCOMPLIANCE WITH REPORTING REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), the willful or
repeated secondary transmission to the public by a sat-
ellite carrier of a television broadcast station and embody-
ing a performance or display of a work is actionable as
an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully sub-
ject to the remedies provided under sections 502 through
506 and 509, if the satellite carrier has not submitted the
statement of account required under subsection (b).
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—
‘‘(1) DISTRIBUTOR.—The term ‘distributor’
means an entity that contracts to distribute second-
ary transmissions from a satellite carrier and, either
as a single channel or in a package with other pro-
gramming, provides the secondary transmission ei-
ther directly to subscribers or indirectly through
other program distribution entities.
‘‘(2) LOCAL MARKET.—The ‘local market’ of a
television broadcast station has the meaning given
that term in section 337(g) of the Communications
Act of 1934.
‘‘(3) TELEVISION
BROADCAST
STATION.—The
term ‘television broadcast station’ means an over-
the-air, commercial, or noncommercial television
broadcast station licensed by the Federal Commu-
nications Commission under subpart E of part 73 of
title 47, Code of Federal Regulations.
‘‘(4) 
SUBSCRIBER.—The 
term 
‘subscriber’
means a person or entity that receives a secondary
transmission service by means of a secondary trans-
mission from a satellite and pays a fee for the serv-
ice, directly or indirectly, to the satellite carrier or
to a distributor.
‘‘(5) OTHER TERMS.—The terms ‘satellite car-
rier’ and ‘secondary transmission’ have the meanings
given such terms under section 119(d).’’.
(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 17, United
States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating
to section 121 the following:
‘‘122. Limitations on exclusive rights; secondary transmissions by satellite car-
riers within local markets.’’.
SEC. 3. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT.
Section 325(b) of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘(b)(1)’’ and all that follows
through the end of paragraph (1) and inserting the
following:
‘‘(b)(1) No cable system or other multichannel video
programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of a
broadcasting station, or any part thereof, except—
‘‘(A) with the express authority of the 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 337, in the case of a
station electing, in accordance with this subsection,
to assert the right to carriage under such section.’’;
and
(3) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘(C) Within 45 days after the effective date of the
Satellite Access to Local Stations Act, the Commission
shall commence a rulemaking proceeding to revise the reg-
ulations governing the exercise by television broadcast sta-
tions of the right to grant retransmission consent under
this subsection. Such regulations shall establish election
time periods that correspond with those regulations adopt-
ed under subparagraph (B). The rulemaking shall be com-
pleted within 180 days after the effective date of the Sat-
ellite Access to Local Stations Act.’’.
SEC. 4. 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 336 the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 337. CARRIAGE OF LOCAL TELEVISION SIGNALS BY
SATELLITE CARRIERS.
‘‘(a) CARRIAGE OBLIGATIONS.—Each satellite carrier
providing secondary transmissions of a television broad-
cast station to subscribers located within the local market
of such station shall offer to carry all television broadcast
stations located within that local market, subject to sec-
tion 325(b), except that the carriage obligations of this
section shall not apply to satellite carriers that do not re-
transmit the signals of broadcast television stations pursu-
ant to the statutory license under section 122 of title 17,
United States Code. Carriage of additional television
broadcast stations within the local market shall be at the
discretion of the satellite carrier, subject to section 325(b).
‘‘(b) DUPLICATION NOT REQUIRED.—Notwithstand-
ing subsection (a), a satellite carrier shall not be required
to offer to carry the signal of any local television broadcast
station that substantially duplicates the signal of another
local television broadcast station which is secondarily
transmitted by the satellite carrier, or to offer to carry
the signals of more that one local television broadcast sta-
tion affiliated with a particular broadcast network (as the
term is defined by regulation).
‘‘(c) CARRIAGE OF ALL LOCAL TELEVISION STA-
TIONS ON CONTIGUOUS CHANNELS.—All local television
broadcast stations retransmitted by a satellite carrier to
subscribers in the stations’ local markets shall be made
available to subscribers in their local markets on contig-
uous channels and in a nondiscriminatory manner on any
navigational device, on-screen program guide, or menu.
‘‘(d) COMPENSATION
FOR CARRIAGE.—A satellite
carrier shall not accept or request monetary payment or
other valuable consideration in exchange either for car-
riage of local television broadcast stations in accordance
with the requirements of this section or for channel posi-
tioning rights provided to such stations under this section,
except that any such station may be required to bear the
costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to
the principal headend of the satellite carrier. No station
carried in accordance with the requirements of this section
shall be required to bear the costs of delivering a good
quality signal to a location other than the principal
headend of the satellite carrier.
‘‘(e) REMEDIES.—
‘‘(1) COMPLAINTS BY BROADCAST STATIONS.—
Whenever a local television broadcast station believes
that a satellite carrier has failed to meet its obliga-
tions under this section, such station shall notify the
carrier, in writing, of the alleged failure and identify
its reasons for believing that the satellite carrier is
obligated to offer to carry the signal of such station
or has otherwise failed to comply with other require-
ments of this section. The satellite carrier shall,
within 30 days after such written notification, re-
spond in writing to such notification and either
begin carrying the signal of such station in accord-
ance with the terms requested or state its reasons
for believing that it is not obligated to carry such
signal or is in compliance with other requirements
of this section. A local television broadcast station
that is denied carriage in accordance with this sec-
tion by a satellite carrier may obtain review of such
denial by filing a complaint with the Commission.
Such complaint shall allege the manner in which
such satellite carrier has failed to meet its obliga-
tions and the basis for such allegations. A failure
by a satellite carrier to carry a local television broad-
cast station within its local market if there has been
a change in that station’s local market, or to carry
a local broadcast television station that is signifi-
cantly viewed outside its local market due to tech-
nical limitations of that satellite carrier’s existing fa-
cilities, shall not constitute a failure by the satellite
carrier to comply with its obligations under this sec-
tion.
‘‘(2) OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND.—The Com-
mission shall afford such satellite carrier an oppor-
tunity to present data and arguments to establish
that there has been no failure to meet its obligations
under this section.
‘‘(3) REMEDIAL ACTIONS; DISMISSAL.—Within
120 days after the date a complaint is filed, the
Commission shall determine whether the satellite
carrier has met its obligations under this section. If
the Commission determines that the satellite carrier
has failed to meet such obligations, the Commission
shall order the satellite carrier, in the case of an ob-
ligation to carry a station, to begin carriage of the
station and to continue such carriage for at least 12
months. If the Commission determines that the sat-
ellite carrier has fully met the requirements of this
section, it shall dismiss the complaint.
‘‘(f) REGULATIONS
BY COMMISSION.—Within 180
days after the effective date of this section, the Commis-
sion shall, following a rulemaking proceeding, issue regula-
tions implementing the requirements imposed by this sec-
tion.
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
‘‘(1) TELEVISION
BROADCAST
STATION.—The
term ‘television broadcast station’ means a full-
power television broadcast station, and does not in-
clude a low-power or translator television broadcast
station.
‘‘(2) LOCAL MARKET.—The term ‘local market’
means the designated market area in which a station
is located and—
‘‘(A) for a commercial television broadcast
station located in any of the 150 largest des-
ignated market areas, all commercial television
broadcast stations licensed to a community
within the same designated market area are
within the same local market;
‘‘(B) for a commercial television broadcast
station that is located in a designated market
area that is not one of the 150 largest, the local
market includes all commercial television broad-
cast stations licensed to a community within the
same designated market area, and may also in-
clude any station that is significantly viewed, as
such term is defined in section 76.54 of the title
47, Code of Federal Regulations; and
‘‘(C) for a noncommercial educational tele-
vision broadcast station, the local market in-
cludes any station that is licensed to a commu-
nity within the same designated market area as
the noncommercial educational television broad-
cast station.
‘‘(3) DESIGNATED MARKET AREA.—The term
‘designated market area’ means a designated market
area, as determined by the Nielsen Media Research
and published in the DMA Market and Demographic
Report.
‘‘(4) PRINCIPAL HEADEND OF THE SATELLITE
CARRIER.—The term ‘principal headend of the sat-
ellite carrier’ means the reception point in the local
market of a broadcast television station or in a mar-
ket contiguous to the local market of a broadcast
television station at which the satellite carrier ini-
tially receives the signal of the station for purposes
of transmission of such signals to the facility which
uplinks the signals to the carrier’s satellites for sec-
ondary transmission to the satellite carrier’s sub-
scribers.
‘‘(5) SECONDARY
TRANSMISSION.—The term
‘secondary transmission’ has the meaning given that
term in section 119(d) of title 17, United States
Code.’’.