[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3120-3121]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCING LEGISLATION TO PROTECT SATELLITE HOME VIEWERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I want to yield half of that time to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, but let me first inform the House 
and the American public that, as many now know, consumers across 
America have been notified that they will soon lose access to network 
programming signals that are currently delivered via satellite.
  Satellite television distributors are under now a Federal court order 
to terminate delivery of these network signals because of a finding 
that distributors have violated the Satellite Home Viewers Act. What we 
learned in the subcommittee yesterday was that, with new FCC findings, 
some 220,000 American citizens who are scheduled to be terminated from 
network signal delivery are, in fact, qualified to receive those 
signals legally under the act.
  What we are announcing today is the filing of a moratorium bill, with 
the support of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) and the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) and a lot of other members of 
our committee and Members of this Congress, a moratorium bill to give 
us 90 days to work this problem out without unnecessarily cutting off 
Americans from network programming delivered by satellite. It is 
intolerable that over 200,000 citizens would be terminated in that 
service without giving them a chance to qualify under the act according 
to the FCC's new findings.
  Let me point out we are not suggesting in our legislation that any 
violations of law be tolerated. Those folks who can receive local 
signals are going to have to do so. But the hundreds of thousands who 
are going to get cut off this weekend unnecessarily should not be cut 
off, and we are hopeful that this moratorium bill can become law 
quickly next week in order to protect their rights.
  We had hoped that the parties could settle this. We still encourage 
them to do so this weekend. We had hoped that the broadcast and 
satellite industries would walk into court this weekend together and 
ask the court to modify its injunction to incorporate the new FCC 
findings so that these hundreds of thousands of Americans would not 
lose their network signals.
  But unless the parties go to court this weekend and modify the 
injunction, our only way to protect those consumers while we work with 
the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Commerce on a new 
Satellite Home Viewers Act to provide those local signals to consumers, 
our only hope will be this moratorium bill which we are filing today 
and which we intend to move expeditiously next week absent an agreement 
by the parties to do so.
  I yield to my friend from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman points out, there are 
thousands of people across the country who are affected by this court 
ordered cutoff of distant TV signals, meaning that people with 
satellite dishes cannot pick up the national NBC or CBS or ABC or Fox 
feed. Specifically here I think CBS and Fox are in question.
  The legislation that we are introducing today will help give 
consumers limited relief to reapply for permission to obtain these 
signals or to apply for waivers from their local broadcasters, that is, 
write or visit their local TV station and say, ``Please, I can't get 
your signal here locally. Let me take this national feed so I can gain 
advantage to the programming, news and entertainment that are so 
valuable for my family.''

[[Page 3121]]

  Equally important, it will give Congress additional time to develop a 
long-term plan to update the Satellite Home Viewer Act and to include 
permission for satellite local-to-local broadcasts. Meaning that we 
have to now develop as a strategy a way in which an individual with an 
18-inch dish now, to pick up their local TV stations.
  Today, they cannot do that. Today, it is impossible. If you want to 
have a satellite dish, you have to give up access to your local TV 
stations. You have got to put up your own antenna. You have got to 
subscribe to the cable service as a supplement.

                              {time}  1230

  But you cannot get it all from a satellite dish.
  What we are going to try to do this year is craft legislation that 
will make it possible for you to buy an 18-inch satellite dish, pick up 
all of that great cable and satellite programming and have access to 
your local TV stations at the same time. Then people will have real 
consumer choice.
  So, the legislation, which has been drafted by the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) 
working with the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and I and other 
members of our committee, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) and 
a long list of Members is something which we think makes lot of sense. 
But again, we have this moment arriving where on March 31 all 
regulation of the cable industry goes off the books, and we, as the 
committee, are going to have to respond. We are going to have to find 
ways of insuring that the consumers have access to more competition and 
that there is a real protection.

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