Senate Judiciary Passes Satellite TV Modernization Act

Via voice vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Satellite TV Modernization Act (S. 1670) with the additional provision instructing the Copyright Office to produce a study on phasing out the compulsory copyright license for satellite distant network TV stations signals. The bill, like the version that passed the House Judiciary Committee, would allow for the importation of distant signals into so-called short markets that lack one of the network affiliates or a sufficiently strong signal from a nearby affiliate. It also makes technical corrections to reflect the advent of digital TV. But left for another day was the issue of allowing satellite operators to deliver the games of local sports teams to viewers in so-called orphan markets, wherein viewers from Wisconsin, for example, receive Minnesota TV stations because the market crosses state lines.