More Changes In Store For Satellite TV Bill

Today, the House Commerce Committee is slated to markup a bill that would reauthorize sections of the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act set to expire Dec. 31. Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is suggesting some changes to the version passed by a subcommittee: 1) Grandfathering language to ensure that consumers who are lawfully receiving distant network programming do not lose access to that programming. 2) Establishing a process by which a federal court could lift an injunction that prevents one satellite carrier, Dish Network, from using the distant compulsory copyright license once it provides local into local service in every U.S. market. 3) Allowing private negotiations over the retransmission of programming. 4) Requiring the Federal Communications Commission to issue a report to Congress concerning the ability of consumers to access in-state programming and the use of the designated market area system to define local markets for the purposes of receiving in-state programming.