[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 125 (Wednesday, October 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10563-S10564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SATELLITE HOME VIEWER ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am very pleased that the other body just 
passed their version of the Satellite Home Viewer Act under suspension 
of the rules. H.R. 4518, the W.J. (Billy) Tauzin Satellite Television 
Act of 2004, is a strong bill.
  During this process, I have heard from many Vermonters who are 
concerned about not being able to receive Vermont stations over 
satellite. Others have been concerned about possibly having their 
ability to receive certain stations terminated. One reason for these 
strong concerns is that Vermont has the highest percentage in the 
Nation of TV owners who receive programming using satellite dishes. One 
reason for this is our beautiful mountains and valleys which make it 
more difficult to receive TV signals using regular antennas.
  The Hatch-Leahy Satellite Homer Viewer Extension Act of 2004 was 
approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in June. All the members of 
the Judiciary Committee supported that bill.
  In the other body, members of both the Judiciary Committee and the 
Energy and Commerce Committee worked together in a bipartisan fashion 
to craft a comprehensive bill which will be good for consumers and for 
the affected industries. That bill, if enacted, will be a boon to 
public television, the satellite industry, the movie, music and 
television industries, and to satellite dish owners throughout America.
  I am especially pleased that it contains a provision which I worked 
on with my colleagues from New Hampshire, Senator Sununu and Senator 
Gregg. We, along with Senator Jeffords, introduced legislation to 
ensure that satellite dish owners in every county in each of our States 
would be able to receive signals, via satellite, from our respective 
in-State television stations. While our two States represent a small 
television market as compared to some of the major population markets, 
nonetheless this provision is very important to residents in six of our 
collective counties--two in Vermont and four counties in New Hampshire. 
The Senate bill, S. 2013, as reported in June by the Judiciary 
Committee also contained this provision just included in H.R. 4518.
  In Vermont this will mean that satellite dish owners in Bennington 
and Windham Counties will be able to receive all Vermont network 
stations in addition to the out-of-State network stations they now 
receive.
  It is very important that in the waning days of this Congress that 
the Senate enact this satellite legislation. In 1998 and 1999 over 2 
million families were faced with the prospect of losing the ability to 
receive one or more of their satellite television network stations. 
Back then, Congress acted and not only protected access to those 
stations but also expanded consumer opportunities to receive more 
programming options.
  Families who own satellite dishes may end up being the big losers if 
provisions of that act are not extended. Many Midwestern and Rocky 
Mountain States have vast areas where satellite dish owners receive 
imported network stations such as ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox. Thousands of 
these families do not have any other choices. They do not have access 
to TV stations over-the-air because of mountain terrain or distance 
from the broadcast towers. They do not have access to cable because of 
the rough terrain or the lack of population density which makes it 
economically impossible for cable companies to invest. Without access 
to network stations via satellite, over-the-air, or cable, those 
families will no longer be able to receive national news programming or 
other network TV programming.
  If Congress does not reauthorize provisions of current law by 
December 31, 2004, hundreds of thousands of households will lose 
satellite access to network TV stations. Since information about 
subscribers is proprietary it is difficult for me to tell you exactly 
how many families will be affected by this, but I assure you it is not 
a small number.
  The Senate Judiciary Committee got its job done in June. We reported 
a great bill out of committee without a single amendment and without a 
single nay vote. That bill was introduced on January 21, 2004, by 
Chairman Hatch and was cosponsored by myself and Senators DeWine and 
Kohl. When the bill was reported out of committee on June 17, 2004, I 
noted that the bill does far more than just protect satellite dish 
owners from losing signals. I pointed out that the new satellite bill 
``protects subscribers in every state, expands viewing choices for most 
dish owners, promotes access to local programming, and increases 
direct, head-to-head, competition between cable and satellite 
providers.''
  I continued by saying that ``easily, this bill will benefit 21 
million satellite television dish owners throughout the nation, and I 
am happy to note that over 85,000 of those subscribers are in 
Vermont.''
  The Senate Judiciary Committee-reported bill, and the recently passed 
bill H.R. 4518, go far beyond protecting what current subscribers 
receive. The bills allow additional programming via satellite through 
adoption of the so-called ``significantly viewed'' test now used for 
cable, but not satellite subscribers. That test means that, in general, 
if a person in a cable service area that historically received over-
the-air TV reception from ``nearby'' stations outside that area, those 
cable operators could offer those station signals in

[[Page S10564]]

that person's cable service area. In other words, if you were in an 
area in which most families in the past had received TV signals using a 
regular rooftop antenna then you could be offered that same signal TV 
via cable. By having similar rules, satellite carriers will be able to 
directly compete with cable providers who already operate under the 
significantly viewed test. This gives home dish owners more choices of 
programming.
  In the past, Congress got the job done. Congress worked well together 
in 1998 and 1999 when we developed a major satellite law that 
transformed the industry by allowing local television stations to be 
carried by satellite and beamed back down to the local communities 
served by those stations. This marked the first time that thousands of 
TV owners were able to get the full complement of local network 
stations. In 1997 we found a way to avoid cutoffs of satellite TV 
service to millions of homes and to protect the local affiliate 
broadcast system. The following year we forged an alliance behind a 
strong satellite bill to permit local stations to be offered by 
satellite, thus increasing competition between cable and satellite 
providers.
  We also worked with the Public Broadcasting System so they could 
offer a national feed as they transitioned to having their local 
programming beamed up to satellites and then beamed back down to much 
larger audiences.
  Because of those efforts, in Vermont and most other States, dish 
owners are able to watch their local stations instead of getting 
signals from distant stations. Such a service allows television 
watchers to be more easily connected to their communities as well as 
providing access to necessary emergency signals, news and broadcasts.
  I hope we are able to work together to finish this important 
satellite television bill in the few remaining days of this Congress.

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