Watching television used to mean tuning into one of a few broadcast television stations with the help of an antenna. People living in areas with trees or mountains that interfered with these signals could receive broadcast signals retransmitted by cable television systems, which began operating in the 1940s. The emergence of satellite technology in the 1970s enabled television networks and some broadcast stations (known as "superstations") to deliver signals to cable systems from great distances, providing viewers with dozens of alternatives to their local broadcast television stations. People living in areas where broadcast reception was poor and cable systems were unavailable installed their own backyard satellite dishes to intercept satellite signals, enabling them to watch programming at home. More recently, viewers have taken to watching TV programming on their computers, tablets, mobile phones, and other Internet-connected devices, dispensing with television stations, and cable and satellite operators altogether. Technological innovation has made this possible, but behind the scenes a thicket of laws and federal regulations govern how television programs make their way to viewers. With each innovation in the distribution of television, Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the courts have applied a combination of communications and copyright laws to regulate the conditions under which cable and satellite operators may retransmit the signals of television stations. Three key public policies are intertwined: 1. protecting the property rights of the copyright owners to encourage the production of television programs; 2. promoting competition among distributors of video programming; and 3. enabling broadcast television stations to serve the local communities to which they are licensed by the FCC. The Copyright Act, as amended in 1976 (with respect to cable operators) and in later years (with respect to satellite operators), governs the rights of owners of copyrights to programming carried in retransmitted broadcast television signals. Based on the Copyright Act, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which is composed of three administrative judges appointed by the Librarian of Congress, sets the rates cable and satellite operators pay copyright owners for this programming. A combination of communications statutes and FCC regulations govern the retransmission of broadcast television signals by cable and satellite operators. This regulatory and legal structure has come under increasing stress as firms offer alternative ways to watch television programming, upsetting established relationships and raising questions about whether the key public policy goals defined by Congress can still be achieved. In particular, firms offering television programming to consumers over the Internet, known as online video distributors (OVDs), are not covered by some of the laws and regulations governing video distribution by providers that rely on their own facilities, such as cable and satellite operators. Both cable and satellite operators have special, technology-specific copyright exemptions with respect to programming contained within retransmitted broadcast television signals. Federal courts have reached conflicting conclusions about the extent to which some OVD services are covered by existing copyright laws. The FCC is proposing to modify its regulations governing the retransmission of broadcast television signals by cable and satellite operators to cover certain OVDs in order to promote competition among distributors of video programming. Due to the disparity between copyright laws applying to OVDs and MVPDs, however, creating legal and economic parity between them is not a matter entirely within the FCC's jurisdiction. In addition, the FCC suggests that some of its existing regulations may no longer be necessary to enable broadcast television stations to serve their local communities. Both the House Judiciary Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have announced plans to review copyright and communications laws, respectively. Because of the intertwined relationship between copyright and communications laws, major reform of the regulatory structure is likely to require Congress or the courts to consider how copyright and communications laws intersect. The television industry comprises many players. While the terms describing the roles of the players are not standardized, the following framework offers a way to understand the relationships among industry participants. Individual corporations may operate in one or more of the following categories: Co ntent o wners hold the copyrights to television programs, movies, and sporting events. Content owners may create the content themselves, or pay producers to create the content for them. Generally, content owners license or sell the copyrights to television programs to television networks or broadcast television stations. Examples of content owners include television studios, movie studios, and sports teams. In addition, television networks and broadcast stations may own the copyrights to programs they produce themselves. Packager s assemble various television series, movies, and sporting events. Generally, packagers license content from content owners and resell it to cable operators, satellite operators, broadcast television stations, and OVDs. They may also sell packages of programs directly to consumers. Examples of packagers include cable networks, broadcast networks, and certain types of online distributors of video programming. Broadcast stations, by assembling programming from broadcast television networks, studios, sports leagues, and their own news departments, also operate as packagers. Distributors deliver television programs to consumers over their own facilities. They purchase from packagers the rights to "publicly perform" television programming, as defined in copyright law, and to retransmit that programing to viewers. Congress has defined a class of distributors, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), that have certain rights and obligations under copyright and communications laws. These include the right and/or obligation to retransmit the signals of broadcast television stations. MVPDs distribute programs, including the retransmitted signals of broadcast stations, via cables, telephone lines, or satellite dishes on the viewer's premises. Thus, MVPDs comprise cable operators and satellite operators. Because broadcast television stations can deliver programming directly to viewers via over-the-air broadcast signals, they also act as distributors, but are not MVPDs. The Big Bang Theory , a popular television series, illustrates these industry interactions. Chuck Lorre Productions hires writers, directors, actors, and staff to produce episodes of the show under a contract with Warner Brothers Television Studio (Warner Brothers), which acquires the copyright to the content. Warner Brothers, in turn, has sold the Columbia Broadcasting System (the CBS broadcast network), a packager, the exclusive right to offer the episodes produced for the current broadcast season. Separately, Warner Brothers licenses the right to show past seasons of The Big Bang Theory to the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), a cable network with the same corporate parent, and to local broadcast television stations owned and operated by 21 st Century Fox. Thus, TBS and broadcast television stations airing The Big Bang Theory also act as packagers. The CBS network's broadcast station affiliates, the TBS cable network, and the local broadcast stations that have licensed rights to past seasons all rely on MVPDs to distribute their programs to the MVPDs' subscribers. TBS and many of the broadcast stations receive payment from the MVPDs. Viewers who do not subscribe to MVPDs may receive The Big Bang Theory directly from broadcast television stations via over-the-air reception. Figure 1 depicts the complex relationships within the television industry in simplified form. Most of the 116 million U.S. television households continue to rely on broadcast television stations or MVPDs to receive television programming. Approximately 86% of U.S. television households subscribe to an MVPD service. About 11% of U.S. television households receive broadcast signals "over the air" from a television station. The remaining 3% rely exclusively on an Internet connection to watch television programming. Since Congress enacted the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (1992 Cable Act; P.L. 102-385 ) to foster competition in the delivery of video programming services, the number of cable subscribers has declined. In 1993, the FCC reported that 60% of U.S. television households, about 57.4 million, subscribed to cable. As of the fourth quarter of 2015, the Nielsen Company estimated that 45% of U.S. television households, about 52 million, subscribed to cable. Within the last 22 years, the emergence of alternative distributors of television programming, including satellite operators, has increased competition. Mergers between MVPDs have nonetheless increased concentration among video programming distributors, enabling some operators to reach large numbers of customers. The reach of these larger MVPDs has increased their bargaining power with respect to negotiating distribution agreements with television stations, television networks, and copyright owners. Consolidation among broadcast stations, television networks, and copyright owners has increased their bargaining power as well. On both sides of these video distribution negotiations, large companies have leverage over smaller companies. As described in Table 2 , many leading companies in the television industry are engaged in multiple aspects of television production, packaging, and distribution. Companies are in frequent negotiation with one another for the right to transmit cable network programming or to retransmit broadcast signals. In some cases, these negotiations are governed directly by communications and copyright laws, as when MVPDs negotiate with broadcast television stations for the right to carry broadcast signals. In other instances, negotiations over the right to broadcast or resell programming are based more on market forces and reciprocal relationships, with fewer government-imposed strictures. Television programs are distributed to viewers in multiple formats and versions. A key concept underlying agreements between the various players in the television industry is "exclusivity." Exclusivity—that is, unique rights to show programing to viewers—is delineated by both time and geography. Distinct time periods of viewing are called "windows." Distinct geographical zones of exclusivity are called "local television markets." Copyright laws, by giving content owners control over the distribution of their content, enable content owners to enforce window and market exclusivity. However, the copyright laws contain limitations with respect to the geographic exclusivity of broadcast signals retransmitted by MVPDs. Geographic exclusivity is reinforced by communications laws and regulations administered by the FCC. In general, these laws and regulations are intended to protect broadcast stations' exclusive rights to distribute television programming within local television markets. One of the policy goals is to enable stations to generate sufficient revenue to cover the costs of producing local news that meets the needs of the viewers in their communities.