Latest senate proposal - SHVIA

Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Below is a copy of the latest Senate proposal (just as I received it)
followed by a list of the senators on the committee and how to reach them.
Since I wanted to get this posted as soon as possible, I have not studied it
in depth yet. Also attached at the bottom is a copy of Sen Ensign's press
release.

I've been told that how well this bill stays intact may depend a lot on
grass roots support from people like us, so please voice your support.

WaltinVt



Section-by-Section Summary of Senate Commerce Committee's

Satellite Home Viewer Extension and

Rural Consumer Access to Digital Television Act of 2004



The Senate Commerce Committee's Satellite Home Viewer Extension and

Rural Consumer Access to Digital Television Act of 2004 generally
reauthorizes provisions of the Communications Act that allow providers of
satellite service to retransmit the broadcasts of television stations to
satellite subscribers. Following is a section-by-section summary of the
Senate Commerce Committee's Staff Working Draft of the bill as it stood at
3:00 p.m. on July 13, 2004:



Section 1.



Section 1 contains the Short Title and Table of Contents



Section 2.



This Section extends the retransmission consent provisions of Section 325 of
the Communications Act to December 31, 2009. The provisions are set to
expire December 31, 2004.



Section 3.

Section 3 prohibits the division of local stations between two dishes
starting 180 days after the bill's enactment. Two-dish local markets in
existence as of July 1, 2004 must be phased out on the following schedule -

Two-dish service will only be allowed:

§ in 33 markets 180 days after the bill's enactment;

§ in 28 markets by December 31, 2005;

§ in 14 markets by December 31, 2006; and

§ complete phase out by December 31, 2007.

Digital stations may be provided by means of a dish separate from that for
analog stations, but all digital stations must be provided on a single dish
as well.



There is a penalty for failure to phase out according to the schedule; the
penalty is assessable under Section 503(b) of the Communications Act (which
currently sets forth a maximum penalty of $11,000 per violation). The bill
specifies that each market in which a satellite carrier is out of compliance
is considered a separate violation, and each day of a continuing violation
constitutes a separate violation.





Section 4.



This provision directs the FCC to develop a method for identifying
households unserved by digital signals. Within two years, the FCC must (1)
determine the appropriate signal standard for determining eligibility for
distant digital signals; (2) develop a predictive model for presumptively
determining the ability of individual locations to receive digital signals
in accordance with the signal standard adopted by the FCC; and (3) establish
waiver and objective verification standards.



Until the FCC makes the aforementioned determinations, the bill contains a
provision that allows satellite carriers to provide distant digital signals
on an interim basis. During this period, satellite carriers may import a
distant digital signal to:



§ A household that is eligible to receive an analog distant signal, i.e., an
analog unserved household; or

§ After December 31, 2004, a household that is outside the analog Grade B
contour of a network station that also has its license for a full power DTV
facility, and is also located in a local market where there is a network
station not broadcasting in digital; or

§ After December 31, 2004, a household that is outside the analog Grade B
contour of a network station that also has its license for a full power DTV
facility, and is also outside the city of license of a station that is
broadcasting in digital under a low power STA.

There is an exception to this interim authority if the household is in a
market where the local network station has failed to build full power DTV
facilities due to "noneconomic circumstances beyond its control."



Low power digital stations will be required to notify satellite carriers
within 48 hours of filing with the Commission a license application for full
power facilities, and stations not broadcasting in digital must similarly
notify satellite carriers within 48 hours of filing an application for a DTV
STA. Within 60 days of receiving such notice, satellite carriers must
provide the network station with a list of all subscribers receiving distant
digital signals under interim authority whose service will have to be
terminated due to the station's commencement of low power or full power
digital service.



Interim service to a household must be terminated within 120 days after the
date on which the satellite carrier is notified that the household ceases to
be an unserved household with respect to digital signals.



Satellite carriers will be required to give distant digital signal
subscribers clear, conspicuous prior notice that the distant digital service
provided under the interim authority must be terminated within 120 days
after the date the subscriber becomes ineligible for the service.

Satellite carriers must also provide networks with lists of subscribers
receiving distant digital signals within 120 days after the Commission has
completed development of the method for identifying digital unserved
households.



Failure to provide networks with "complete" lists of subscribers receiving
service under the interim authority provided by this section, and failure to
cease distant digital transmissions within 120 days of the date a subscriber
becomes ineligible, will subject satellite carriers to enforcement action
for each household in question. Each household at issue is considered a
separate violation, and each day of a continuing violation is a separate
violation.



The bill specifies that a satellite carrier may retransmit analog and
digital signals of no more than two stations to each unserved household per
day.



The bill specifies that the current statutory definition of "unserved
household" applies in the analog context. "Unserved household" in the
digital context is defined by reference to the new Section 339(d) of the
Communications Act (which directs the FCC to develop a standard for
identifying digital unserved households).



Section 5.



Section 5 makes the good faith retransmission consent bargaining
requirements reciprocal, so that the good faith obligation is now imposed on
MVPDs, not only on broadcasters. The good faith bargaining obligation is
extended from the current January 1, 2006 sunset to January 1, 2010.



Section 6.



This provision precludes subscribers who are capable of receiving local
signals via satellite, as well as subscribers who are predicted to receive a
signal of an intensity better than whatever standard is in effect (currently
Grade B intensity) from the network at issue, from demanding a signal
strength test under 47 U.S.C. § 339(c)(4). Such subscribers may, however,
request a test at their own expense.



Section 7.



Section 7 makes Section 631 of the Communications Act, which sets forth
requirements for the protection of cable subscriber privacy, applicable to
DBS operators.



Section 8.



This section directs the FCC to apply Section 317 of the Communications Act
to DBS. This provision of the Act deals with sponsorship identification, and
provides that any matter that is broadcast in exchange for payment must be
accompanied by an announcement that the matter was paid for or sponsored by
the paying entity.





Section 9.
************************************************** ***************

Call 202.224.3121
and ask to be connected to your Senator's office



Arizona Senator John McCain

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens

California Senator Barbara Boxer

Florida Senator Bill Nelson

Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye

Illinois Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback

Louisiana Senator John B. Breaux

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe

Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry

Mississippi Senator Trent Lott

Montana Senator Conrad Burns

Nevada Senator John Ensign

New Hampshire Senator John Sununu

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg

North Dakota Senator Byron L. Dorgan

Oregon Senator Gordon Smith

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden

South Carolina Senator Ernest F. Hollings

Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison

Virginia Senator George Allen

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell

West Virginia Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV


Section 9 includes aircraft and "recreational vessels" (i.e., certain types
of boats) within the definition of unserved households, making such craft
eligible for distant signal service. Such service is currently allowed to
recreational vehicles and commercial trucks.

Contact: Jack Finn (202) 224-6244

Cell: (702) 290-1487

Jack_Finn@Ensign.Senate.Gov

http://ensign.senate.gov











ENSIGN BILL WILL IMPROVE DIGITAL TELEVISION ACCESS FOR NEVADA



July 13, 2004



Washington, D.C. - A bill introduced today by Senator John Ensign will
require satellite providers to supply customers that cannot receive an
over-the-air digital signal from CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX with a distant
digital network signal by satellite.



"My goal is to make sure consumers are not denied digital television based
on where they live or whether the digital conversion has been completed in
their area," Ensign said. "People outside major market areas, like those in
rural Nevada, should not be left behind in the digital television
revolution."



Ensign's bill, the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Rural Consumer Access
to Digital Television Act of 2004, includes strong protections against abuse
and tough penalties to ensure that satellite providers comply with a fair
and equitable process by which all Americans can take part in the digital
transition in a realistic timeframe. Local broadcasters who have been unable
to turn up a full-power digital signal due to circumstances beyond their
control will not be unfairly penalized.



The bill will also mandate that satellite providers phase out their use of
two-dish markets, the first customers seeing results in 6 months. Currently,
customers in some markets need a second dish to receive all local stations
and, since many customers choose not to receive a second dish, many stations
are not seen.



"If we expect consumers to participate in the digital transition by
purchasing new digital televisions, Congress must provide access for
consumers to high-quality digital programming," said Ensign. "The bill I've
introduced today will help make sure they are protected."






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