Copyright Compulsory License Improvement Act

Summary

Satellite Television Improvement Act - Amends Federal copyright law to repeal the following requirements or conditions relating to secondary transmissions of local television (TV) broadcast signals by satellite carriers: (1) the limit of such transmissions to unserved households; (2) the requirement of submitting subscriber lists to networks; (3) violation of territorial restrictions on the statutory license for network stations; (4) transitional signal intensity measurement procedures; (5) recovery of signal measurement costs in civil actions; and (6) prohibition against network stations conducting such measurements. Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit a cable system or other multichannel video programming distributor from retransmitting the signal of a broadcast TV station, except: (1) with express authority of the station; or (2) in accordance with provisions of this Act which provide for the carriage of local TV signals by satellite carriers. Provides exceptions. Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to commence a rulemaking proceeding to revise regulations governing the exercise by TV broadcast stations of the right to grant retransmission consent to a cable system or other distributor. Requires each satellite carrier providing direct to home service of a TV broadcast station to subscribers located within the local market of such station to carry, no later than January 1, 2002, all TV broadcast stations located within that market. Requires the station to bear all costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to the designated local receive facility of the carrier. States that such carrier shall not be required to carry the signal of any local TV station that substantially duplicates the signal of another station which is secondarily transmitted by the carrier, or to carry the signals of more than one station of a particular broadcast network. Provides for: (1) channel positioning of local TV stations carried by a carrier; (2) a prohibition against the carrier charging a local TV station for such carriage, except for charges associated with good quality signals; and (3) remedies for local TV stations alleging that a satellite carrier has not complied with such requirements, with complaint determination by the FCC. Directs the FCC to commence a rulemaking to establish regulations that apply network nonduplication protection, syndicated exclusivity protection, and sports blackout protection to the retransmission of TV broadcast signals by satellite carriers to subscribers.

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Documents

6 official files

• Reported in House (text)

  Reported in House · EN · 16 April 1999

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• Reported in House (PDF)

  Reported in House · EN · 16 April 1999

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• Reported to House amended, Part I

  summary · EN · 12 April 1999

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• Introduced in House (text)

  Introduced in House · EN · 8 March 1999

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• Introduced in House (PDF)

  Introduced in House · EN · 8 March 1999

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• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 8 March 1999

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