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Conyers and Smith Announce Bipartisan Reform Plan for Cable and Satellite Television

Congressman John Conyers

For Immediate Release
June 16, 2009
Contact: Jonathan Godfrey (Conyers)
Amy Smith (Smith)

(Washington) -- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) announced their plan for satellite television reform legislation.

Satellite TV legislation was last updated in 2004 with the enactment of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act (SHVERA). Provisions of the law will expire on December 31st, 2009 unless Congress acts. The Conyers-Smith measure would reauthorize the compulsory copyright license that permits qualifying satellite carriers to retransmit distant television programming to American viewers who cannot otherwise receive an over-the-air signal of a station affiliated with that network. Under this license, the government establishes the terms and determines the compensation to be paid to copyright owners for the programming retransmitted by satellite carriers.

"The Judiciary Committee held an expansive hearing on the cable and satellite TV licenses earlier this year," said Conyers. "After careful review of the issues involved, we intend to introduce and report satellite television legislation by the August recess." That should allow us time to work with the Energy & Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over related matters."

"We believe this timeline gives us the best opportunity to ensure that a satellite television bill is enacted before Congress adjourns this year," added Smith. "We decided to announce our target schedule so that all interested parties will know our plan for moving forward and have an opportunity to raise any concerns."

Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith announced that the following principles will guide their decisions in crafting satellite television legislation:

In reauthorizing the copyright laws that facilitate the delivery of TV programming to consumers, Congress should:

  1. Ensure that consumers are able to benefit from vigorous competition among broadcast, satellite, cable, telecommunications, and emerging distribution channels for the delivery of high-quality TV programming;
  2. Recognize that compulsory licenses are an abrogation of the exclusive rights generally accorded to copyright owners and limit their use;
  3. Promote continued investments in new creative works by safeguarding copyright owner's rights and ensuring creators are treated equitably when the public interest requires their works be made available via a compulsory license; and
  4. Foster a thriving free market for the licensing of creative works while striving to avoid disruptions in the existing marketplace.

"We announce these principles to provide a policy framework within which to evaluate proposals for changing the Section 119 compulsory license and related Copyright Act provisions, including the ‘local-into-local’ satellite license embodied in Section 122 and the Section 111 statutory license for use by cable operators," said Conyers and Smith. "Already, we have concerns with some proposals that have been floated, including ‘adjacent market’ or ‘market modification’ expansions of the compulsory licenses. "These issues affect policies that are central to the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee. We intend to evaluate all of the proposed changes to the compulsory licenses with a critical eye as to whether they advance our stated principles."

 

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