Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act

Summary

Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act - Title I: Satellite Television - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to extend until December 31, 2019, the exemption from retransmission consent requirements for satellite retransmissions of network station signals to subscribers located outside of a station's local market who reside in unserved households (commonly referred to as "distant signals"). Extends until January 1, 2020: (1) the prohibition on exclusive retransmission consent contracts, and (2) the requirement that television broadcast stations and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) negotiate in good faith. Limits the definition of "local market," in the case of both commercial and noncommercial television broadcast stations, to the designated market area in which a television broadcast station is located, but allows the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to add communities to or exclude communities from a station's local market following a written request. Requires designated market areas, for purposes of determining a satellite carrier's obligations to carry local television signals, to be determined by Nielsen Media Research or by any FCC-adopted successor system of assigning television broadcast stations to local markets. Directs the FCC, in considering requests to add communities to or exclude communities from a station's local market, to afford particular attention to the value of localism, including the promotion of a consumer's access to television signals that originate in the consumer's state of residence, and to consider: (1) whether the station has been carried historically within such community, (2) the station's coverage of issues of concern or sporting events of interest to the community, and (3) viewing patterns in households that subscribe, and households that do not subscribe, to MVPD services. Permits communities to be part of more than one local market. Prohibits a satellite carrier from deleting from carriage the signal of a commercial television station during the pendency of any such proceeding. Title II: Video Policy Reforms - Directs the FCC to commence a rulemaking proceeding to revise regulations governing the exercise by television broadcast stations of the right to grant retransmission consent. Requires such revised regulations to prohibit television broadcast stations, unless such stations are under common de jure control permitted by the FCC, from: (1) coordinating negotiations or negotiating on a joint basis with another television broadcast station to grant retransmission consent to an MVPD, and (2) limiting the ability of an MVPD to carry a television signal that has been deemed significantly viewed (or any other television broadcast signal such distributor is authorized to carry under current laws governing the carriage of local television signals by satellite carriers or the carriage of local commercial television signals by cable operators) into the local market of such station. Permits the FCC to determine that a party to a retransmission consent negotiation has committed a per se violation of its duty to negotiate in good faith. Requires the FCC's rulemaking to consider whether each of the following constitutes a failure to negotiate in good faith: (1) blocking online content owned or controlled by a television broadcast station or network, or seeking to have another entity block access to online content during retransmission consent negotiations or after the expiration of an agreement; and (2) allowing a television network to review and approve the rates, terms, and conditions of a retransmission consent agreement for any television broadcast station not wholly owned by such network. Directs the FCC to review and update the totality of the circumstances test to encourage negotiating parties to present bona fide proposals and engage in timely negotiations. Requires the FCC's annual report on cable rates to include the aggregate average total amount that cable systems pay for retransmission consent. Terminates, two years after this Act's enactment, the FCC's set-top box integration ban that prohibits MVPDs from placing in service new navigation devices that perform both conditional access and other functions in a single integrated device. Directs the FCC to convene a working group to identify standards for a non-burdensome, uniform, technology-neutral, software-based, downloadable security system that promotes the competitive availability of such devices. Requires the FCC to establish a streamlined process for the filing of effective competition petitions by small cable operators, particularly those that serve primarily rural areas. Prohibits this Act from being construed to have any effect on the duty of a small cable operator to prove the existence of effective competition. Title III: Miscellaneous - Sets forth implementation and severability requirements.

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Documents

6 official files

• Reported to Senate (text)

  Reported to Senate · EN · 17 September 2014

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• Reported to Senate (PDF)

  Reported to Senate · EN · 17 September 2014

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• Reported to Senate with amendment(s)

  summary · EN · 17 September 2014

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• Introduced in Senate (text)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 11 September 2014

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• Introduced in Senate (PDF)

  Introduced in Senate · EN · 11 September 2014

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 11 September 2014

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