Senate Judiciary Okays Satellite Reauthorization Bill
The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday unanimously okayed the satellite TV modernization Act (S-1670), with one amendment and a brief debate that ended with Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., emphasizing the importance of passing a clean bill. The House Judiciary Committee already passed its version of the reauthorization legislation (CD Sept 17 p3), but markups are still needed in the House and Senate Commerce committees.
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Leahy praised the work of the broadcast, satellite and cable industries that helped develop the bill, though he noted “it is not everything anybody wanted.” Still, he said, the bill is “a good legislative product that needs to move forward and should move forward.” Leahy and the committee’s top Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, introduced an amendment adding language that calls for a study by the U.S. Copyright Office on proposals that would get rid of the compulsory licenses that require reauthorization every five years.
While the bill would not lift the 2006 injunction against Dish Network use of distant signals in some markets, as the House Judiciary measure does, it would allow the company to use distant signals by moving some parts of the distant signal licence into the local signal license. As is, the movement of the language would impose retransmission consent fees in addition to royalty fees, essentially creating a “disincentive to go into all 210 markets,” one Dish official said. The Senate Commerce Committee could adjust that disincentive when it considers the bill. Dish released a statement saying the committee has taken important steps toward enabling subscribers in all “local markets to receive a full complement of network stations.”
Wisconsin Democrats Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl introduced an amendment that would have allowed out-of-state Green Bay Packers fans to receive the games by importing nearby NFL, news, and weather coverage while blocking out the rest of the programming. Feingold said one unnamed company, presumably DirecTV, which offers an NFL Sunday Ticket package allowing subscribers to receive every football game, was against the amendment, because it would allow die-hard Packer fans to see the games without subscribing to the package.
Feingold agreed to pull back the amendment after urging from Leahy and Minnesota Democrats Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, who said working this out at the committee level would lead it down a “slippery slope” and delay the bill, which must be passed by the end of the year. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he considered but decided against introducing a similar amendment and that he hoped the parties involved can work together to get it solved. Coburn said the players need to work together to solve the local carriage issue and a deadline is needed to force action.
Like the House bill, the legislation solves the “phantom signal” problem that caused the cable industry to pay royalties on programming subscribers didn’t see. The broadcast and cable industries worked together on the issue and resulted in the cable industry paying the broadcasters a large sum of money for past and future royalties. In a statement, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said it appreciates the committee’s resolution on the matter that is “fair to both copyright owners and distributors.”