[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5140 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 282
116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5140

                          [Report No. 116-354]

   To amend title 17, United States Code, to narrow the category of 
households eligible to receive signals under a distant-signal satellite 
                    license, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2019

  Mr. Nadler introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

                           December 17, 2019

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
    [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on 
                           November 18, 2019]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 17, United States Code, to narrow the category of 
households eligible to receive signals under a distant-signal satellite 
                    license, and for other purposes.


 


    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 ``Satellite Television Community 
Protection and Promotion Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY TO RECEIVE SIGNALS UNDER A DISTANT-SIGNAL SATELLITE 
              LICENSE.

    (a) In General.--Section 119 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (A)--
                                    (I) by striking ``signals, and'' 
                                and inserting ``signals,'';
                                    (II) by inserting ``, and the 
                                carrier provides local-into-local 
                                service to all DMAs'' after ``receiving 
                                the secondary transmission''; and
                                    (III) by adding at the end the 
                                following new sentence: ``Failure to 
                                reach an agreement with network 
                                stations to retransmit their signals 
                                shall not be construed to affect 
                                compliance with providing local-into-
                                local service to all DMAs if the 
                                satellite carrier has the capability to 
                                retransmit such signals when an 
                                agreement is reached.''; and
                            (ii) in subparagraph (B)--
                                    (I) by striking clauses (ii) and 
                                (iii); and
                                    (II) by adding at the end the 
                                following:
                            ``(ii) Short markets.--In the case of 
                        secondary transmissions to households located 
                        in short markets, subject to clause (i), the 
                        statutory license shall be further limited to 
                        secondary transmissions of only those primary 
                        transmissions of network stations that embody 
                        the programming of networks not offered on the 
                        primary stream or the multicast stream 
                        transmitted by any network station in that 
                        market.''; and
                            (iii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) Temporary and limited use of license.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Notwithstanding the 
                        requirement under subparagraph (A) that a 
                        satellite carrier provide local-into-local 
                        service to all DMAs before making a secondary 
                        transmission under the license under this 
                        section, a satellite carrier that does not 
                        provide local-into-local service to all DMAs 
                        may make a covered transmission under such 
                        license if not later than 180 days after the 
                        date of the enactment of the Satellite 
                        Television Community Protection and Promotion 
                        Act of 2019 the satellite carrier--
                                    ``(I) demonstrates that it has 
                                acted reasonably and made a good faith 
                                effort to provide local-into-local 
                                service to all DMAs and that it will 
                                continue to make a good faith effort to 
                                provide local-into-local service to all 
                                DMAs; and
                                    ``(II) files a Notice of Temporary 
                                Limited Use with the Copyright Office 
                                in accordance with clause (ii).
                            ``(ii) Notice of temporary limited use.--A 
                        Notice of Temporary Limited Use filed with the 
                        Copyright Office under this subparagraph shall 
                        contain--
                                    ``(I) an affirmation that the 
                                carrier intends to make covered 
                                transmissions under the license under 
                                this section despite not providing 
                                local-into-local service to all DMAs;
                                    ``(II) a signed statement that the 
                                satellite carrier acted reasonably and 
                                made good faith efforts to provide 
                                local-into-local service to all DMAs;
                                    ``(III) a list of the designated 
                                market areas with respect to which no 
                                local-into-local service is provided by 
                                the satellite carrier; and
                                    ``(IV) a summary of actions taken 
                                by the satellite carrier to make 
                                arrangements to provide local-into-
                                local service to all DMAs.
                            ``(iii) Period of temporary and limited 
                        license.--
                                    ``(I) Initial 90-day period.--A 
                                satellite carrier that meets the 
                                requirements of this subparagraph may 
                                use the license under this section to 
                                make covered transmissions for a 90-day 
                                period beginning on the date such 
                                carrier files a Notice of Temporary 
                                Limited Use with the Copyright Office.
                                    ``(II) Additional periods.--The 
                                initial 90-day period described under 
                                clause (I) may be extended for 
                                additional periods of 90 days if the 
                                satellite carrier files a new Notice of 
                                Temporary Limited Use with the 
                                Copyright Office on or before the last 
                                day of such initial period, and each 
                                successive 90-day period thereafter.
                            ``(iv) Audit and verification of notices.--
                        The Register of Copyrights shall issue 
                        regulations that are similar in nature to the 
                        regulations issued under subsection (b)(2) to 
                        permit interested parties to verify and audit 
                        Notices of Temporary Limited Use filed by 
                        satellite carriers under this subparagraph.
                            ``(v) Challenge.--Any owner of a network 
                        station for which the primary stream or 
                        multicast stream of that network would have 
                        been transmitted by a satellite carrier under 
                        the license under this section but for the 
                        failure of that satellite carrier to provide 
                        local-into-local service to all DMAs may bring 
                        a civil action to challenge the sufficiency of 
                        the reasonable actions and good faith efforts 
                        of that satellite carrier to provide local-
                        into-local service to all DMAs, as such actions 
                        and efforts are described in the applicable 
                        Notice of Temporary Limited Use.
                            ``(vi) Covered transmission defined.--In 
                        this subparagraph, the term `covered 
                        transmission' means a secondary transmission of 
                        a primary transmission made by a network 
                        station to an unserved household.''.
                    (B) by striking paragraphs (3), (6)(E), (9), (10), 
                and (13); and
                    (C) by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), (6), (7), 
                (8), (11), (12), and (14) as paragraphs (3) through 
                (10), respectively;
            (2) in subsection (c)(1)(E)--
                    (A) by striking the comma after ``in the 
                agreement'';
                    (B) by striking ``until December 31, 2019, or''; 
                and
                    (C) by striking ``, whichever is later'' and 
                inserting ``until the subscriber for which the royalty 
                is payable is no longer eligible to receive a secondary 
                transmission pursuant to the license under this 
                section'';
            (3) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in paragraph (10)--
                            (i) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
                        ``subsection (a)(11)'' and inserting 
                        ``subsection (a)(8)'';
                            (ii) by striking subparagraphs (A), (B), 
                        (C), and (E);
                            (iii) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 
                        subparagraph (A); and
                            (iv) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) is a subscriber located in a short market.'';
                    (B) by striking paragraph (13);
                    (C) by redesignating paragraphs (14) and (15) as 
                paragraphs (13) and (14), respectively; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(15) Local-into-local service to all dmas.--The term 
        `local-into-local service to all DMAs' has the meaning given 
        such term in subsection (f)(7).
            ``(16) Short market.--The term `short market' means a local 
        market in which programming of one or more of the four most 
        widely viewed television networks nationwide is not offered on 
        either the primary stream or multicast stream transmitted by 
        any network station in that market.'';
            (4) by striking subsections (e) and (h); and
            (5) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections 
        (e) and (f).
    (b) Previously Covered Subscribers Under the STELA Reauthorization 
Act of 2014.--
            (1) In general.--A subscriber of a satellite carrier who 
        receives the secondary transmission of a network station under 
        the statutory license in section 119 of title 17, United States 
        Code, as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, and to whom subsection (a)(2)(B) of such section, 
        as amended by subsection (a), does not apply, shall continue to 
        be eligible to receive that secondary transmission from such 
        carrier under such license, and at the royalty rate established 
        for such license by the Copyright Royalty Board or voluntary 
        agreement, as applicable, until the date that is the earlier 
        of--
                    (A) 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
                this Act; or
                    (B) the date on which such carrier provides local-
                into-local service to all DMAs.
            (2) Definitions.--In this subsection, the terms ``satellite 
        carrier'', ``subscriber'', ``secondary transmission'', 
        ``network station'', and ``local-into-local service to all 
        DMAs'' have the meaning given those terms in section 119 of 
        title 17, United States Code.
    (c) Conforming Amendments.--Title 17, United States Code, is 
further amended--
            (1) in section 119, as amended by subsection (a)--
                    (A) in subsection (a)--
                            (i) in paragraph (1), by striking 
                        ``paragraphs (4), (5), and (7)'' and inserting 
                        ``paragraphs (3), (4), and (6)''; and
                            (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 
                        ``paragraphs (4), (5), (6), and (7)'' and 
                        inserting ``paragraphs (3), (4), (5), and 
                        (6)''; and
                    (B) in subsection (g), by striking ``subsection 
                (a)(7)(B)'' each place it appears and inserting 
                ``subsection (a)(5)(B)''; and
            (2) in section 501(e), by striking ``section 119(a)(5)'' 
        and inserting ``section 119(a)(3)''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 282

116th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 5140

                          [Report No. 116-354]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To amend title 17, United States Code, to narrow the category of 
households eligible to receive signals under a distant-signal satellite 
                    license, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           December 17, 2019

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed