[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2921 Referred in Senate (RFS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2921


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

              October 8 (legislative day, October 2), 1998

  Received, read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
   To promote the competitive viability of direct-to-home satellite 
                          television service.

    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 1998''.

SEC. 2. 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. 3. TEMPORARY STAY OF SATELLITE ROYALTY FEE INCREASE.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Copyright Office 
shall not before December 31, 1999, implement, enforce, collect, or 
award copyright royalty fees pursuant to the decision of the Librarian 
of Congress on October 28, 1997, which established a royalty fee of 
$0.27 per subscriber per month for the retransmission of distant 
broadcast signals by satellite carriers, and no obligation or liability 
for copyright royalty fees shall accrue before December 31, 1999, 
pursuant to that decision. This section shall not affect implementing, 
enforcing, collecting, or awarding copyright royalty fees pursuant to 
the royalty fee structure affected by the decision, as it existed prior 
to October 28, 1997.

            Passed the House of Representatives October 7, 1998.

            Attest:

                                                ROBIN H. CARLE,

                                                                 Clerk.