PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 120.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 25, 1999
Satellite Television Act of 1999 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to state that the mandatory local television signal carriage provisions of such Act shall apply no later than January 1, 2002, to satellite carriers retransmitting any television broadcast station in that local market and pursuant to Federal compulsory licensing requirements. States that a local television station may be required to bear the costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to the local receiving facility of the satellite carrier. Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to institute a single rulemaking to examine the extent to which carriage of distant network stations already provided to subscribers on March 1, 1998, may continue without causing a projected loss of audience and revenue as to cause material harm to the viability of local television stations. Makes this section inapplicable to the carriage of the digital signals of television stations by cable television systems. Prohibits a cable system or other multichannel video programming distributor from retransmitting the signal of a broadcast station except: (1) with such station's express authority; or (2) in the case of a station electing to assert the right to such carriage. Provides exceptions. States that nothing in this Act shall prohibit the FCC from revising or reassigning designated market areas if done in the same manner and extent as the FCC's cable television mandatory carriage rules provide.
People & committees
Sen. McCain, John [R-AZ] · R–AZ
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 120.
Committee on Commerce. Reported to Senate by Senator McCain with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 106-51. Minority views filed.
Committee on Commerce. Reported to Senate by Senator McCain with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 106-51. Minority views filed.
Committee on Commerce. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 106-482.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S976-977)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.303 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.303 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.303 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.303 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.