[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2921 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2921

    To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal 
Communications Commission to conduct an inquiry into the impediments to 
  the development of competition in the market for multichannel video 
                       programming distribution.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 1997

 Mr. Tauzin (for himself, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Boucher) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in 
    addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal 
Communications Commission to conduct an inquiry into the impediments to 
  the development of competition in the market for multichannel video 
                       programming distribution.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Multichannel Video Competition and 
Consumer Protection Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. INQUIRY REQUIRED.

    Section 623 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 623) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(o) Inquiry on Impediments to Development of Effective 
Competition.--
            ``(1) Inquiry required.--Within 30 days after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall initiate an 
        inquiry on the extent to which the differential fee decision 
        constitutes an impediment to the development of effective 
        competition in the market for multichannel video programming 
        distribution from multichannel video programming distributors 
        described in subsection (l)(1)(B).
            ``(2) Report required.--Within 90 days after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall submit a 
        report on the results of the inquiry to the Committee on 
        Commerce and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
        Transportation and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
        Senate.
            ``(3) Rulemaking.--Within 180 days after the date of 
        enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall complete any 
        actions necessary (including any reconsideration) to make such 
        changes as the Commission may determine to be necessary to its 
        regulations on the basis of the inquiry required by this 
        subsection.
            ``(4) Definition.--For the purposes of this subsection, the 
        term `differential fee decision' means the decision of the 
        Librarian of Congress on October 27, 1997, relating to the per 
        subscriber per month royalty fee for the retransmission of 
        superstation and distant network signals by direct-to-home 
        satellite service providers.''.

SEC. 3. DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE PIRACY PREVENTION.

    Section 705(d)(6) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
605(d)(6)) is amended by inserting ``or direct-to-home satellite 
services (as defined in section 303(v))'' after ``satellite cable 
programming''.

SEC. 4. STAY PENDING COMPLETION OF INQUIRY.

    Until 120 days after the submission of the report required by 
section 623(o) of the Communications Act of 1934 (as added by section 2 
of this Act), no officer or employee of the United States shall take 
any action to implement or enforce, and no obligation or liability 
shall accrue pursuant to, the differential fee decision described in 
paragraph (4) of such section.
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