DSS should get local TV signals -- U.S. Copyright Office.............
U.S. Copyright Office: Give DBS Local Signals
(Cable World) The U.S. Copyright Office is recommending that Congress balance the laws that govern how cable and satellite companies pay royalties for broadcast signals.
In a report issued Aug. 1, the Copyright Office said Congress should simplify the framework that determines how cable operators pay royalties for local signals.
What's more, in what could be a big win for the direct-broadcast-satellite industry, the agency recommended allowing satellite providers to offer local signals where they currently can't.
Under current law, DBS providers can't beam local signals to viewers who can receive them with an over-the-air antenna. But that rule points up so-called "unserved households" that can't get local signals when they subscribe to a DBS service because the antenna signal is often too weak.
Saying "a technological solution would be the best solution," the Copyright Office pointed out that allowing subscribers to receive local affiliates' signals would "eliminate the need to import distant network signals and there will be no 'unserved households.'"
The broadcast industry has argued that letting DBS operators offer distant network signals would undermine local stations' value. One problem, according to broadcasters: Local ad sales will bottom out because subscribers will get their affiliate signals from a distant market.
But the Copyright Office said: "The problem can be eliminated entirely" if DBS companies are technologically capable of offering a range of signals, including local affiliates'.
The Copyright Office also recommended simplifying the so-called cable compulsory license that dictates how much cable should pay for broadcast signals. What's more, it said "the satellite industry should have a compulsory license to retransmit broadcast signals as long as the cable industry has one."
The satellite compulsory license is due to expire Dec. 31, 1999. The Copyright Office recommended that Congress extend satellite carriers' license indefinitely. However, the agency also said the cable and satellite compulsory licenses shouldn't be "merged" into one law. Keeping two separate rules on the books, it said, will prevent upsetting "the competitive balance between the satellite ... and cable industries."
Finally, the Copyright Office recommended updating cable's royalty payment structure, which has been in place since 1976. In its report, the agency said: 1) The payment scheme should "reflect fair market value" and "eliminate ... administrative costs"; 2) Small cable systems shouldn't receive royalty subsidies that barely cover copyright administrative costs; and 3) The law should define two cable systems under common ownership as one for copyright purposes.
Cowles/Simba Media Daily 8/14/97
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