[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 127 (Friday, October 8, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10823-S10824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SATELLITE HOME VIEWER ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am very upset that the Congress has been 
unable to pass legislation to prevent the termination of satellite 
television service to hundreds of thousands households in the United 
States. In September, I raised these concerns on the Senate floor in 
the hope of preventing these potential terminations of satellite 
service. The Senate Judiciary Committee got its job done in June. We 
reported out a great satellite television bill which would have 
expanded viewing options for satellite dish owners. The other body has 
also developed a very good satellite bill which I shall discuss in a 
moment.
  However, history may repeat itself because Congress has not completed 
action on this legislation. I explained my concerns on the Senate floor 
when I reminded everyone that 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 televisions network stations.''
  These terminations of satellite service will begin just after 
midnight on December 31, 2004. The problem is that the Congress will be 
out of session during most of the time between now and that termination 
date. If we are in session for a small portion of that time, it will 
most likely be during a lame duck session of Congress after the 
November elections. There will be very little time to enact this 
satellite bill with the huge press of business yet to be completed.
  Many Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states have vast areas where 
satellite dish owners receive network stations, such as ABC, NBC, CBS 
or Fox, from out-of-state stations because signals from their local 
stations are blocked by mountains or diminished by distance from TV 
broadcast towers. Thousands of these families do not have any other way 
to receive television signals except by satellite. They do not have 
access to TV stations over-the-air because mountain terrain blocks 
those signals, and distance from the broadcast towers weakens the 
signals. Many residents in those states do not have access to cable TV 
service because of the rough terrain or the low population density 
which makes it economically difficult for cable companies to invest in 
the needed cables. Without access to network stations via satellite 
because the satellite legislation did not pass, and because they do not 
receive service over-the-air, or via cable, thousands of families in 
those areas will lose national network service.
  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 Hatch-Leahy Satellite Home Viewer Extension Act of 2004 was 
approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in June. All the Members of 
the Judiciary Committee supported that bill. Similar legislation in the 
other body entitled the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and 
Reauthorization Act of 2004, if enacted, would also be a boon to public 
television, the satellite industry, the movie, music and television 
industries, and to satellite dish owners throughout America. 
Unfortunately, the time is rapidly approaching when it will be too late 
to act.
  I am especially pleased that both the Senate and the House, H.R. 
4518, bills contain 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 centers, this provision is 
nonetheless 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 
contains this provision, which was just included in H.R. 4518, the 
House bill.

[[Page S10824]]

  In Vermont this will mean if one of these bills passes--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.
  The Senate 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. As I mentioned in a September statement on the Senate floor, 
the bills allow additional programming via satellite through adoption 
of the so-call ``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 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 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.
  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.
  Mr. President, 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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