SHVERA Estimated to Cost $11 per FamilyOctober 20, 2009
WASHINGTON:
Satellite copyright legislation moving through Congress will cost the average
American family nearly $11, according to Washington
Watch. The watchdog Web site maintained by the Cato Institute estimated Satellite
Home Viewer Update and Reauthorization Act of 2009 will cost taxpayers around
$10.96 per family. H.R. 3570, the version passed by the House Judiciary
Committee in September, provides rules for satellite TV providers to carry
local broadcast signals. Among the bill’s details:
“Applies various existing provisions to digital transmissions by removing the
word ‘analog.’ Requires a separate royalty fee for each stream of a multicast
transmission.
“Requires that a specified predictive model be used to determine presumptively
whether a person resides in an unserved household with respect to digital
signals.
“Increases the maximum statutory damages for violation of territorial
restrictions: (1) for willful or repeated individual violations, from $5 to
$250 per month for each subscriber to whom the secondary transmission was
inappropriately sent; and (2) for a willful or repeated pattern of violations,
from $250,000 to $2.5 million for each six-month period.
SHERVA, as the satellite carriage law is commonly known, must be renewed before
it expires at the end of this year. The various versions of the bill working
their way through the House and Senate extend it five years, through Dec. 31,
2013.
The House Commerce Committee last week passed its version, H.R.
2994. Parallel legislation in the Senate was the subject of a subcommittee
hearing two weeks ago. The text of the House Judiciary bill is available at
Thomas under H.R.
3570.
More on SHERVA:
October 15, 2009: House
Commerce Committee Passes SHVERA
The House Commerce Committee passed its version of satellite TV legislation
today. H.R. 2994 included a directive for determining digital-signal
eligibility based on new digital reception methodology.
October 8, 2009: “Broadcasters Fight SHVERA Modifications”
Until a new digital metric is determined, Karpowicz suggested
grandfathering in distant signals allowed by the previous determination.
July 15, 2009: “Congressman Bows Bill
to Import TV Signals”
Arkansas Democrat Mike Ross is pushing legislation to overturn the current
rules governing which broadcast signals satellite and cable operators can
carry.
June 25, 2009: “SHVERA Passes House
Subcommittee”
The only changes to the legislation as it was written in 2004 were the date and
the provision to measure digital signal coverage using the Longley-Rice model
employed by the FCC.
June 16, 2009: “Broadcasters Battle for
Signal Protection”
The broadcast lobby is playing the localism card in a big way as Congress
considers the renewal of the SHVERA.
May 8, 2009: “ACA Says Retrans is
Squeezing Too Hard”
The cable industry has not yet rolled over on retransmission consent, whether
or not it comes up in pending satellite copyright legislation.
March 30, 2009: “Network Affiliates Urge
Lawmakers to Preserve Distant-Signal Limits”
CBS and NBC are urging key lawmakers to maintain restrictions on what TV
stations cable and satellite operators can carry in a given market.
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