I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3192
To make amendments to section 119 of title 17 of the United States Code.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 28, 1996
Mr. MOORHEAD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To make amendments to section 119 of title 17 of the
United States Code.
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 referred to as the ‘‘Satellite Home
Viewer Protection Act of 1996’’.
SEC. 2. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
Section 119(a)(2) is amended by adding the following
at the end:
‘‘(D) NOTICE
TO
SUBSCRIBERS.—A sat-
ellite carrier that makes secondary trans-
missions of a primary transmission made by a
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network station pursuant to subparagraph (A)
shall, prior to providing service of broadcast
signals under this title to a subscriber, provide
the subscriber with a written statement describ-
ing and quoting the network territorial restric-
tions of subsections (a) (2), (5), (8), (9), and
(10) of this section. Such statement shall de-
scribe the circumstances under which a sub-
scriber may not be eligible for satellite service
of a particular network station, and a subscrib-
er’s rights under subsection (a)(8) of this sec-
tion. With respect to subscribers currently re-
ceiving broadcast signals under this title, the
satellite carrier shall provide the written state-
ment described in this subsection to such sub-
scribers no later than 60 days after the enact-
ment of this Act.’’.
SEC. 3. SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT PROCEDURES.
Section 119(a)(8) is amended as follows:
(1) Subparagraph (A) is amended to read:
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (C), upon a challenge by a network sta-
tion regarding whether a subscriber is an
unserved household within the predicted grade
B contour of the station, the satellite carrier
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shall, within 30 days after receipt of the chal-
lenge—
‘‘(i) inform the subscriber who is the
subject of the challenge from the network
station in writing that the network station
has challenged the subscriber’s receipt of
the signal of the same network from the
satellite carrier; and
‘‘(ii) offer the subscriber the option of
the satellite carrier conducting a measure-
ment of the signal intensity of the sub-
scriber’s household to determine whether
the household is an unserved household. If
the subscriber does not request, in writing,
the satellite carrier to conduct a signal in-
tensity measurement within 30 days of no-
tification of the challenge from the satellite
carrier, the satellite carrier shall terminate
service to that household of the signal that
is the subject of the challenge, and within
30 days thereafter notify the network sta-
tion that made the challenge that service
to that household has been terminated.
If the subscriber requests the satellite carrier to
conduct a signal intensity measurement as de-
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scribed in clause (ii), the satellite carrier shall
give reasonable notice to the network station is-
suing the challenge to the subscriber that the
satellite carrier will be conducting a signal in-
tensity measurement.’’.
(2) Subparagraph (B) is amended to read:
‘‘(B) 
EFFECT
OF
MEASUREMENT;
COSTS.—If the satellite carrier conducts a sig-
nal intensity measurement under subparagraph
(A) and the measurement indicates that—
‘‘(i) the household is not an unserved
household, the satellite carrier shall, within
60 days after the measurement is con-
ducted, terminate the service to that
household of the signal that is the subject
of the challenge, and within 30 days there-
after notify the network station that made
the challenge that service to that household
has been terminated. In addition, the sub-
scriber that requested the satellite carrier
to conduct the measurement shall reim-
burse the satellite carrier for the costs of
the measurement within 60 days after re-
ceipt of the measurement results and a
statement of costs of the measurement; or
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‘‘(ii) the household is an unserved
household, the station challenging the serv-
ice shall reimburse the satellite carrier for
the costs of the signal measurement within
60 days after receipt of the measurement
results and a statement of the costs of the
measurement.
(3) Subparagraph (D) is deleted.
SEC. 4. SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT; ARBITRATION.
Section 119(a)(11) is amended as follows:
‘‘(11) SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT; ARBI-
TRATION.—
‘‘(A) VOLUNTARY NEGOTIATION.—Satellite
carriers and network broadcasters may nego-
tiate the terms and conditions, including tech-
nical standards and costs, of the signal inten-
sity 
measurement 
described 
in 
subsection
(a)(8). A complete description of the agreed
upon terms of the measurement shall be filed
with the Register of Copyrights no later than
30 days after execution of the agreement.
‘‘(B) ARBITRATION.—If satellite carriers
and network broadcasters are unable to agree
to the terms and conditions of the signal inten-
sity measurement within 30 days after the en-