[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 53 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ACTION ON SATELLITE COMPULSORY LICENSE 
                         EXTENSION ACT OF 1994

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, May 5, 1994, the Congress took 
another important step toward extending the Satellite Home Viewer Act. 
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee met and approved S. 1485 by voice 
vote and without objection. This bill will extend the statutory 
compulsory copyright license for satellite home viewing for another 5 
years.
  On March 3 of this year, I came to the Senate floor to announce my 
cosponsorship of this legislation to reassure the thousands of families 
in Vermont and millions of households nationwide that their home 
satellite dishes would not go dark at the end of this year. Since that 
time a number of Senators have joined with us as cosponsors or 
supporters of this necessary legislation.
  On March 24, the Senate Subcommittee on Patents, Copyrights and 
Trademarks voted unanimously to report the bill to the full committee. 
The Judiciary Committee's action today mirrors that of the subcommittee 
and favorably reports the bill to the full Senate.
  I will continue to seek expedited consideration of this important 
matter and look forward to prompt and favorable action by the Senate. I 
want to reassure my fellow Vermonters who rely on satellite 
transmissions that we will protect them by prompt extension of the 
copyright licenses necessary to satellite home viewing. With so little 
time left in this session we cannot allow this legislation to be side-
tracked on issues better left to comprehensive copyright law review and 
reform or items of only narrow special interest.
  I commend the leadership on this issue shown by the chairman of the 
subcommittee and the ranking member, the distinguished senior Senators 
from Arizona and Utah. I want to complete our action on behalf of the 
thousands of viewers in mountainous and rural regions of Vermont who 
would have no TV without satellite reception.
  Areas served by satellite technology are not limited to the mountains 
of Vermont and our expansive western States. We all have rural or 
remote areas in our home States. We all have constituents whose 
television reception is dependent on satellite technology, who cannot 
receive network broadcast signals and for whom cable is not a viable 
alternative. Indeed, as I have noted before, for purposes of this bill, 
we are, in a sense, all Senators from rural States who should be 
concerned about remote areas and interested in giving our constituents 
the opportunity to participate in the widest possible array of news, 
sports, entertainment, educational and informational programming 
available through satellite technology.

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