[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E109]]



      INTRODUCTION OF THE RURAL LOCAL BROADCAST SIGNAL ACT OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2000

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleague from 
Virginia, Congressman Rick Boucher, to introduce crucial legislation 
that will have a significant impact on the lives of millions of 
Americans, especially those who live in smaller cities and towns, on 
farms and throughout rural areas. This legislation will ensure that 
community information such as local weather forecasts, natural disaster 
alerts, and local government announcements reach those who needed it 
most.
  Our legislation, entitled the Rural Local Broadcast Signal Act, would 
accomplish these goals by authorizing the Rural Utilities Service, an 
agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to provide loan 
guarantees to entities that can obtain the private funding to launch 
technologies that will provide local TV signals over satellite in the 
medium sized and smaller TV markets. Through these loan guarantees, the 
RUS will continue its mission of promoting economic development and 
improving the lives of rural Americans while fulfilling the original 
intention of legislation enacted last November--to enable all Americans 
to receive their local television signals over satellite.
  I was proud to be a member of the conference committee on the 
recently enacted Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus 
Reform Act of 1999, which included language to allow direct broadcast 
satellite providers to immediately begin retransmitting local 
television broadcast signals into the broadcast station's area, subject 
to a retransmission consent agreement negotiated with each station 
carried. This new law allows satellite providers to become more 
effective competitors to cable operators, who have been able to provide 
local over-the-air broadcast stations to their subscribers for years. 
It will also benefit American consumers in markets where local TV via 
satellite is made available by offering them full service digital 
television at an affordable price.
  More importantly, these consumers will benefit from local news, 
weather reports, information such as natural disasters or community 
emergencies, local sports, politics, and election information, as well 
as other information that is vital to maintaining the integrity of 
communities across the country.
  Local TV via satellite is already available to satellite subscribers 
in America's twenty largest television markets. In these markets 
DirecTV and Echostar, the existing satellite ``platform providers,'' 
have begun retransmission of affiliates of the ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX 
broadcast networks. DirecTV and Echostar have also announced their 
intention to begin retransmission of local TV stations in an additional 
twenty or thirty television markets over the next 24 months. 
Ultimately, the two existing satellite ``platform providers'' will 
provide local TV via satellite to households in most, if not all, of 
the 50 largest television markets in the United States.
  However, there are 211 markets in the United States and in excess of 
100 million U.S. TV households. There, if matters are left solely to 
the initiative of the existing satellite ``platform providers,'' more 
than 50 percent of existing satellite subscribers (over 6 million 
households) will continue to be deprived of their local TV stations; 
more than 60 percent of existing commercial television stations (over 
1,000) will NOT be available via satellite; and more than 30 million US 
TV households will remain beyond the reach of local TV via satellite.
  Put another way, local TV via satellite will not be available in 27 
states and in parts of nearly every state.
  So while the law enacted last fall has eliminated the legal barriers 
to delivery of local TV via satellite, it alone will not assure 
delivery of local TV via satellite to the majority of local TV stations 
and satellite subscribers. For that reason, and because many folks in 
parts of my district and in the districts of most members on this 
Committee cannot receive their local signals any other way, I am 
joining with Rick Boucher, JoAnn Emerson, and over 100 Members of the 
House in supporting this legislation to assure that all Americans, not 
just those in profitable urban markets, can receive their local TV 
signals over satellite.

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