PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 282.
Congressional Research Service
Version 07 · Reported to House · Dec 17, 2019
Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019
This bill permanently reauthorizes a provision that allows satellite television providers to retransmit distant television signals to unserved households under a statutory license. (A statutory license allows a satellite provider to rebroadcast the signals by paying set fees and without negotiating with the relevant copyright holders.) The bill also limits what constitutes an unserved household under this provision.
Under the bill, an unserved household is (1) a household in a local market where any of the four most widely viewed television networks nationwide is not transmitted by any network television station in that market, or (2) a recreational vehicle or commercial truck. The bill removes several categories of households that currently qualify as unserved, such as households that can receive a local broadcast signal but received satellite retransmissions on certain dates.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
To take advantage of the statutory license, a satellite provider generally must provide retransmissions of local television stations in all designated market areas (DMAs). However, a provider that does not provide such retransmissions of local stations to all DMAs may obtain a temporary statutory license by (1) demonstrating that the provider has made reasonable and good faith efforts to do so, and (2) filing a notice with the Copyright Office.
People & committees
Rep. Nadler, Jerrold [D-NY-10] · D–NY
Legislative record
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Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 282.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 116-354.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 116-354.
Ordered to be Reported (Amended).
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Discharged.
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Apr 7, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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