Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, delivered the following statement on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives during consideration of H.R. 4572, “The Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act of 2014.”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4572, the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014, which renews for another five years the statutory license that allows satellite providers to retransmit distant signals into local broadcast areas in certain circumstances.

“The satellite distance into local license contained in section 119 of the Copyright Act is set to expire on December 31^st of this year. Among other things, that license allows satellite carriers to provide an out-of-market station to customers who are not served by local television broadcasts. Enacted in 1988, when the satellite industry was in its infancy, the section 119 license was intended to foster competition with the cable industry, and also to increase service to unserved households, those subscribers who cannot receive an over-the-air signal of a local network.

“In 2010, as was the case on three prior occasions, Congress extended the section 119 license for another five years. In granting cable and satellite providers the statutory right to retransmit copyrighted content at a government-regulated rate, Congress has created an exception to the general rule that creators have exclusive rights to their works, including the right to determine when and how to distribute them. This licensing system replaces the free market, something that we are generally reluctant to do. And when we did so for cable and satellite providers, these industries were just starting up and the licenses were intended to encourage growth, foster competition, and enhance consumer access.

“On these fronts, the system has been a tremendous success. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of American households now subscribe to a paid TV service provided by multi-channel video programming distributors, in most cases, cable or satellite operators, and nearly all households have a choice of at least three different providers.

“Nonetheless, dramatic recent changes in marketplace dynamics, as well as technological advances that continue to revolutionize ways of distributing video programming content raise legitimate questions about whether the statutory licensing system and the Copyright Act is still needed or should be changed.

“I support this five year reauthorization of the section 119 distant into local satellite license. We still need answers as to how many households would actually lose one of more than four major network channels if section 119 was not renewed. I nonetheless support this five-year reauthorization because it will ensure that consumers that are receiving service by virtue of the section 119 license retain that service when the agreements providing for that service expire at the end of the year.

“I hope we use the time afforded by this renewal to make the modifications to see if we have to keep the statutory license and keep away from the free market or modify the statutory license in the future. But for the time being, we ought to extend it and renew this license now. I therefore urge my colleagues to join me in voting for H.R. 4572, and I yield the balance of my time.”

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