[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 22 (Thursday, March 3, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                EXTENDING THE SATELLITE HOME VIEWER ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I come to the floor of the U.S. Senate to 
assure the thousands of families in Vermont and the millions of 
households nationwide that their home satellite dishes are not going to 
go dark and that the Congress is not about to pull the plug on home 
satellite reception. I am going to do everything in my power to ensure 
that we pass the legislation necessary to continue home viewer access 
to satellite reception of television.
  Where mountains and distances can interfere with over-the-air 
reception of network broadcasts and cable is not a viable alternative--
and I can think of my own home in the mountains of Vermont, in a very 
rural area with houses about a mile apart where you are not going to 
have cable and the mountains interfere with reception--satellite 
technology has provided access to the information and entertainment 
available on television that those in a more urban area take for 
granted.
  In 1988, we made possible the development of home satellite viewing 
by passing the Satellite Home Viewer Act. I am proud to have been a 
principal in the passage of that act. I am delighted that so many 
people in my own home State, who might not otherwise receive signals 
from the networks or the superstations or the special channels, now can 
through satellite viewing.
  In fact, there are an estimated 35,000 satellite dishes in Vermont. 
To put that in perspective, Mr. President, we are a State of only 
570,000 people. That is a pretty high percentage. In fact, some say 
that we ought to change our State flower from red clover to the 
satellite dish. I am not quite prepared to go that far. But if you go 
down any of the rural roads in Vermont--and there are many of them--you 
will see how much we rely on satellites.
  Last year Senator DeConcini introduced S. 1485 in order to extend the 
statutory copyright license that has made the development of the home 
satellite dish industry possible. The license provided by current law 
expires this year, 1994. Indeed, there are less than 120 legislative 
days left to us in this Congress to act on this necessary legislation. 
To date, the legislation has yet to be considered by either the House 
or Senate Judiciary Committees, let alone scheduled for floor action. 
With the extensive agenda we face in this legislative session, 
including health care reform, welfare reform and crime legislation--all 
things I and so many others want to go forward with--we should not 
delay our consideration of home satellite legislation any longer.
  We are undercutting consumer confidence in the future of the home 
viewing of satellite transmission and raising needless concerns for our 
constituents, local distributors and satellite retransmission carriers. 
Home satellite technology has advanced to where the dish is becoming 
more affordable and about the size of a large dinner plate. This is 
hardly the time to allow congressional inaction to interfere with these 
developments that hold such promise for so many viewers in rural areas 
of the country.
  In fact, the distinguished presiding officer comes from a State, a 
very rural State where--I know from my own experience and--the pleasure 
I have had visiting North Dakota--you see a number of satellite dishes 
as you go around that wonderful State.
  I join today with my distinguished colleague from Arizona, the 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks of 
the Judiciary Committee to urge prompt consideration and passage of 
legislation designed to continue to make possible home satellite 
viewing of television by those in rural areas and those who opt to take 
advantage of this exciting technological opportunity.
  By cosponsoring S. 1485 today I signal that I intend to make sure 
that the Satellite Home Viewer Act is extended without interruption. 
While the precise contours of the legislation will be improved by 
consideration and amendment, the fundamental purpose of my action today 
is to reaffirm that home satellite viewing will continue and the 
development of broadcast satellite technology and so-called wireless 
cable and other technologies should be encouraged and have access to 
signals in order to provide video programming and viewing alternatives 
that the public wants. The prompt consideration and passage of S. 1485 
will provide an essential component of the legal framework that is 
currently needed if all of our constituents are to have increased 
opportunity to receive information and entertainment by way of 
television.
  As we begin travelling the information highway we should extend to 
those in unserved and underserved areas, in remote locations and 
outside our cities, the opportunity to see their government in action 
and their favorite sports team, a chance to see performing arts and 
international news developments, as they happen, and the capability to 
share in the harvest of information and entertainment that is before 
us.
  Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair advises the Senator there are two 
minutes and 40 seconds remaining.

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