[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           SATELLITE COMPULSORY LICENSE EXTENSION ACT OF 1994

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, on Thursday, March 3, 1994, I came to the 
Senate floor to reassure the thousands of families in Vermont and 
millions of households nationwide that Congress was not about to pull 
the plug on home satellite dish reception. I return today to mark our 
progress toward extending the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988.
  On March 24, the Senate Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and 
Trademarks amended and voted unanimously to report S. 1485 to the 
Senate Judiciary Committee. This bill now moves on for consideration by 
the full Judiciary Committee and should be on the Senate calendar 
before much longer. Four members of the Judiciary Committee are 
cosponsors and nine members have now voted for the bill.
  I commend the leadership of the Chairman of the Subcommittee and the 
ranking Member, the distinguished senior Senators from Arizona and 
Utah, respectively. They know full well how important satellite dish 
reception is to those within their States.
  For the rest of our colleagues, I respectfully suggest that areas 
served by satellite technology are not limited to the mountains of 
Vermont and our expansive western States. We all have rural areas in 
our home States. We all have constituents whose television reception is 
dependent on satellite technology, who cannot receive network broadcast 
signals due to distance or terrain, and for whom cable is not a viable 
alternative. Indeed, for purposes of this bill, I submit that we should 
all be Senators concerned about our rural areas and interested in 
ensuring that our constituents therein have the opportunities to 
participate in the widest possible array of news, sports, 
entertainment, educational and informational programming that can be 
made available through satellite technology. Direct broadcast satellite 
service, with its dramatically smaller and more affordable dish, holds 
great promise to connect all our citizens, even those in the most 
remote areas, in our modern information age.
  I am sure my colleagues have received calls from their constituents 
who are concerned that the expiration of the current license this year 
will mean that their satellite dishes will go dark. I am continuing to 
work to avert that possibility by supporting passage of this necessary 
legislation to extend the Satellite Home Viewer Act copyright license 
without further delay. I note that just since my statement on March 3, 
my friend from Vermont, the distinguished Senator from my neighboring 
New Hampshire and the senior Senator from Alabama have all joined as 
cosponsors on the bill. I urge our other colleagues to do the same. 
Join us to ensure prompt passage of this needed legislation.
  The Subcommittee bill contains amendments that improve the 
legislation initially introduced. While the bill extends the satellite 
license, as amended, it now contains a sunset provision. It includes 
the Public Broadcasting System and Fox as network signals, at their 
behest, and clarifies that Fox affiliates are to be treated as local 
stations for cable compulsory license purposes. Of importance to many 
of my constituents is the provision including microwave as ``wireless 
cable'' in the cable compulsory license.
  One of the principal disputes that had slowed the bill's progress has 
been removed by compromise language that establishes a more effective 
mechanism for enforcing the license limitations to so-called ``white 
areas'' that do not receive a strong local network affiliate broadcast 
signal. I commend the representatives of the network affiliates and the 
satellite industry who worked out this compromise with our 
encouragement.
  While hurdles remain before final passage, I take this opportunity to 
mark the progress we have made.

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