Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994
PL 103-369 (S.2406), enacted 10/18/1994

1994. 
17 u s e 101 note. 
PUBLIC LAW 103-369—OCT. 18, 1994 
108 STAT. 3477 
Public Law 103-869 
103d Congress 
An Act 
To amend title 17, United States Code, relating to the definition of a local service 
Oct. 18, 1994 
area of a primary transmitter, and for other purposes. 
[S. 2406] 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
Satellite Home 
Viewer Act of 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the "Satellite Home Viewer Act 
of 1994". 
SEC. 2. STATUTORY LICENSE FOR SATELLITE CARRIERS. 
Section 119 of title 17, United States Code, is amended as 
follows: 
(1) Subsection (a)(2)(C) is amended— 
(A) by striking "90 days after the effective date of 
the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988, or"; 
(B) by striking "whichever is later,"; 
(C) by inserting "name and" after "identifying (by" 
each place it appears; and 
(D) by striking ", on or after the effective date of 
the SateUite Home Viewer Act of 1988,". 
(2) Subsection (a)(5) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
"(D) BURDEN OF PROOF.—In any action brought under 
this paragraph, the satellite carrier shall have the burden 
of proving that its secondary transmission of a primary 
transmission by a network station is for private home 
viewing to an unserved household.". 
(3) Subsection (b)(1)(B) is amended— 
(A) in clause (i) by striking "12 cents" and inserting 
"17.5 cents per subscriber in the case of superstations 
not subject to syndicated exclusivity under the regulations 
of the Federal Communications Commission, and 14 cents 
per subscriber in the case of superstations subject to such 
syndicated exclusivity"; and 
(B) in clause (ii) by striking "3" and inserting "6". 
(4) Subsection (c) is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (1) by striking "December 31, 1992,"; 
(B) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A) by striking "July 1, 1991" 
and inserting "July 1, 1996"; and 
(ii) in subparagraph (D) by striking "December 
31, 1994" and inserting "December 31, 1999, or in 
108 STAT. 3478 
PUBLIC LAW 103-369—OCT. 18, 1994 
accordance with the terms of the agreement, whichever 
is later"; and 
(C) in paragraph (3)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A) by striking "December 31, 
1991" and inserting "January 1, 1997"; 
(ii) by amending subparagraph (D) to read as fol-
lows: 
"(D) ESTABLISHMENT OF ROYALTY FEES.—In determin-
ing roygdty fees under this paragraph, the Copyright 
Arbitration Panel shall establish fees for the retransmission 
of network stations and superstations that most clearly 
represent the fair market value of secondary transmissions. 
In determining the fair market value, the Panel shall base 
its decision on economic, competitive, and programming 
information presented by the parties, including— 
"(i) the competitive environment in which such 
programming is distributed, the cost for similar signals 
in similar private and compulsory license market-
places, and any special features ana conditions of the 
retransmission marketplace; 
"(ii) the economic impact of such fees on copyright 
owners and satellite carriers; and 
"(iii) the impact on the continued availability of 
secondary transmissions to the public"; 
(iii) in subparagraph (E) by striking "60" and 
inserting "180"; and 
(iv) in subparagraph (C)— 
(I) by striking ", or until December 31, 1994"; 
and 
(II) by inserting "or July 1, 1997, whichever 
is later" after "section 802(g)". 
(5) Subsection (a) is amended— 
(A) in paragraph (5)(C) by striking "the Satellite Home 
Viewer Act of 1988" and inserting "this section"; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
"(8) TRANSITIONAL SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT PROCE-
DURES.— 
"(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subparagraph (C), upon 
a challenge by a network station regarding whether a 
subscriber is an unserved household within the predicted 
Grade B Contour of the station, the satellite carrier shall, 
within 60 days after the receipt of the challenge— 
"(i) terminate service to that household of the sig-
nal that is the subject of the challenge, and within 
30 days thereafter notify the network station that made 
the challenge that service to that household has been 
terminated; or 
"(ii) conduct a measurement of the signal intensity 
of the subscriber's household to determine whether 
the household is an unserved household after giving 
reasonable notice to the network station of the satellite 
carrier's intent to conduct the measurement. 
"(B) EFFECT OF MEASUREMENT.—If the satellite carrier 
conducts a signal intensity measurement under subpara-
graph (A) and the measurement indicates that— 
"(i) the household is not an unserved household, 
the satelUte carrier shall, within 60 days after the 
PUBLIC LAW 103-369—OCT. 18,1994 
108 STAT. 3479 
measurement is conducted, terminate the service to 
that household of the signal that is the subject of 
the challenge, and within 30 days thereafter notify 
the network station that made the challenge that serv-
ice to that household has been terminated; or 
"(ii) the household is an unserved household, the 
station challenging the service shall reimburse the sat-
elUte 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. 
"(C) LIMITATION ON MEASUREMENTS.—(i) Notvdthstand-
ing subparagraph (A), a satellite carrier may not be 
required to conduct signal intensity measurements diuing 
any calendar year in excess of 5 percent of the number 
of subscribers within the network station's local market 
that have subscribed to the service as of the effective 
date of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994. 
"(ii) If a network station challenges whether a sub-
scriber is an luiserved household in excess of 5 percent 
of the subscribers within the network's station local market 
within a calendar year, subparagraph (A) shall not apply 
to challenges in excess of such 5 percent, but the station 
may conduct its own signal intensity measurement of the 
subscriber's household after giving reasonable notice to 
the satelUte carrier of the network station's intent to con-
duct the measurement. If such measurement indicates that 
the household is not an unserved household, the carrier 
shall, within 60 days after receipt of the measurement, 
terminate service to the household of the signal that is 
the subject of the challenge and within 30 days thereafter 
notify the network station that made the challenge that 
service has been terminated. The carrier shall also, within 
60 days after receipt of the measurement and a statement 
of the costs of the measurement, reimburse the network 
station for the cost it incurred in conducting the measure-
ment. 
"(D) OUTSIDE THE PREDICTED GRADE B CONTOUR.—(i) 
If a network station challenges whether a subscriber is 
an unserved household outside the predicted Grade B Con-
tour of the station, the station may conduct a measurement 
of the signal intensity of the subscriber's household to 
determine whether the household is an unserved household 
after giving reasonable notice to the satelUte carrier of 
the network station's intent to conduct the measurement, 
"(ii) If the network station conducts a signal intensity 
measurement under clause (i) and the measurement 
indicates that— 
, 
"(I) the household is not an imserved household, 
the station shall forward the results to the satellite 
carrier who shall, within 60 days after receipt of the 
measurement, terminate the service to the household 
of the signal that is the subject of the challenge, and 
shall reimburse the station for the costs of the 
measurement within 60 days after receipt of the 
measurement results and a statement of such costs; 
or 
108 STAT. 3480 
PUBLIC LAW 103-369—OCT. 18, 1994 
"(II) the household is an unserved household, the 
station shall pay the costs of the measurement. 
"(9) 
LOSER PAYS FOR SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT; 
RECOVERY OF MEASUREMENT COSTS IN A CIVIL ACTION.—IN ANY 
civil action filed relating to the ehgibiUty of subscribing house-
holds as unserved households— 
"(A) a network station challenging such eUgibility shall, 
within 60 days after receipt of the measurement results 
and a statement of such costs, reimburse the satellite car-
rier for any signal intensity measurement that is conducted 
by that carrier in response to a challenge by the network 
station and that estabUshes the household is an imserved 
household; and 
"(B) a satelUte carrier shall, within 60 days after 
receipt of the measurement results and a statement of 
such costs, reimburse the network station challenging such 
eligibiUty for any signal intensity measurement that is 
conducted by that station and that estabUshes the house-
hold is not an unserved household. 
"(10) INABILITY TO CONDUCT MEASUREMENT.—If a network 
station makes a reasonable attempt to conduct a site measure-
ment of its signal at a subscriber's household and is denied 
access for the purpose of conducting the measurement, and 
is otherwise unable to conduct a measurement, the satellite 
carrier shall within 60 days notice thereof, terminate service 
of the station's network to that household.". 
(6) Subsection (d) is amended— 
(A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows: 
"(2) 
NETWORK 
STATION.—The term 
'network 
station' 
means— 
"(A) a television broadcast station, including any trans-
n. 5
. 
lator station or terrestrial satelUte station that rebroad-
casts all or substantiaUy aU of the programming broadcast 
by a network station, that is owned or operated by, or 
afiiUated with, one or more of the television networks in 
the United States which offer an interconnected program 
service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week 
to at least 25 of its afiiUated television Ucensees in 10 
or more States; or 
"(B) a noncommercial educational broadcast station (as 
defined in section 397 of the Communications Act of 1934)."; 
(B) in p£iragraph (6) by inserting "and operates in 
the Fixed-Satellite Service under part 25 of title 47 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations or the Direct Broadcast 
Satellite Service under part 100 of title 47 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations" after "Commission"; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
"(11) LOCAL MARKET.—^The term local market' means the 
area encompassed within a network station's predicted Grade 
B contour as that contour is defined by the Federal Communica-
tions Commission.". 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) CABLE SYSTEM.—Section 111(f) of title 17, United States 
Code, is amended in the paragraph relating to the definition of 
"cable system" by inserting microwave," after "wires, cables,". 
PUBLIC LAW 103-369—OCT. 18,1994 
108 STAT. 3481 
(b) LOCAL SERVICE AREA.—Section 111(f) of title 17, United 
States Code, is amended in the paragraph relating to the definition 
of "local service area of a primary transmitter" by inserting after 
"April 15, 1976," the following: "or such station's television market 
as defined in section 76.55(e) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations 
(as in effect on September 18, 1993), or any modifications to such 
television market made, on or after September 18, 1993, pursuant 
to section 76.55(e) or 76.59 of title 47 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations,". 
SEC. 4. TERMINATION. 
(a) EXPIRATION OF AMENDMENTS.—Section 119 of title 17, 1
7 use ii9 note. 
United States Code, as amended by section 2 of this Act, ceases 
to be effective on December 31,1999. 
(b) CONFORMING AME^fDMENT.—Section 207 of the SatelUte 
Home Viewer Act of 1988 (17 U.S.C. 119 note) is repealed. 
SEC. 6. LIMITATION. 
17 USC 119 note. 
The amendments made by this section apply only to section 
119 of title 17, United States Code. 
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
17 USC 119 note. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—^Except as provided in subsections (b) and 
(d), this Act and the amendments made by this Act take effect 
on the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(b) BURDEN OF PROOF PROVISIONS.—The provisions of section 
119(aX5XD) of title 17, United States Code (as added by section 
2(2) of this Act) relating to the burden of proof of satellite carriers, 
shall take effect on January 1, 1997, with respect to civil actions 
relating to the eUgibility of subscribers who subscribed to service 
as an unserved household before the date of the enactment of 
this Act. 
(c) TRANSITIONAL SIGNAL INTENSITY MEASUREMENT PROCE-
DURES.—^The provisions of section 119(a)(8) of title 17, United States 
Code (as added by section 2(5) of this Act), relating to transitional 
signal intensity measurements, shall cease to be effective on Decem-
ber 31,1996. 
(d) LOCAL SERVICE AREA OF A PRIMARY TRANSMITTER.—The 
amendment made by section 3(b), relating to the definition of the 
108 STAT. 3482 
PUBLIC LAW 103-369—OCT. 18, 1994 
local service area of a primary transmitter, shall take effect on 
July 1,1994. 
Approved October 18,1994. 
f-./ 
St « 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 2406: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 140 (1994): 
Aug. 18, considered and passed Senate. 
Sept. 20, considered and passed House, amended. 
Oct. 4, Senate concurred in House amendment.