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handle is hein.crs/govyww0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Cogesoa Resarc Servic 0 December 20, 2018 Cable and Satellite Television Issues in the 116th Congress More than 119 million U.S. households watch television. Of those, more than three-quarters receive television signals via cable, telephone lines, or direct broadcast satellite. Federal laws govern which broadcast signals subscribers to these services can view. The laws also govern the compensation that owners of copyrighted programming carried on certain broadcast signals can receive and the negotiations between broadcasters and cable and satellite operators for the right to retransmit broadcast signals. Some of these provisions of the Communications Act of 1934 and the Copyright Act, most recently revised in 2014 in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act (STELAR Act; P.L. 113-200), are set to expire at the end of 2019. As Congress considers whether to renew these provisions or otherwise revise communications and copyright laws, technological, consumer, and business forces are reshaping the television industry. Background There are two primary ways for a household to receive broadcast television programs: by using an individual antenna that receives signals over the air from a television station or by subscribing to a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), such as a cable or satellite company, which retransmits signals of broadcast stations to subscribers. In addition, a growing number of viewers are watching broadcast television over the internet. Since the 1970s, Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have constructed a regulatory framework for the retransmission of broadcast television signals by MVPDs. This regulatory framework attempts to balance a number of potentially conflicting public policy goals, including the competitive provision of video services, protection of property rights, localism, the provision of television service to customers unable to receive over-the-air broadcasts, and the interests of broadcasters, television networks, MVPDs, content owners, device manufacturers, small businesses, and consumers. Retransmission Consent and Flow of Payments Broadcast television stations produce some of the programming they transmit and also contract with television networks, which supply them with programs. The networks produce some of the programming they distribute and therefore own the copyrights to those programs. In the case of other programs, however, third parties such as sports leagues and studios may own the copyrights. MVPDs may not redistribute a broadcast signal to their customers unless they have obtained the permission of the broadcast station that originated the signal. When granting permission, a commercial station has two options: it may require cable operators, and, to a more limited extent, satellite operators to carry its signal without compensation to subscribers located within the station's market, or it may negotiate retransmission consent in exchange for payment. Provisions in broadcast stations' network affiliation agreements typically give them the exclusive right to negotiate for the retransmission of their signals, including the network programming that airs on an established schedule. These negotiations often occur at the corporate level, between a company that owns multiple broadcast stations and an MVPD that operates many cable systems or a nationwide satellite service, rather than the local level. If a station's parent company and an MVPD fail to reach an agreement, the broadcasting company may require the MVPD to black out its stations' signals and not retransmit the stations' broadcasts to subscribers. The broadcast networks have claimed that much of the value of broadcasters' signals derives from the networks' sports, entertainment, and news programming. Broadcast stations' network affiliation agreements may require them to pay the network a portion of their retransmission consent revenues. DMAs and Geographic Exclusivity The Nielsen Company, a market research firm, assigns each television station and each U.S. county to one of 210 separate geographic markets, known as Designated Market Areas (DMAs). In the private sector, advertisers and television stations rely on Nielsen's audience measurements to negotiate rates for advertising slots. Broadcast television networks use DMAs in their contracts with stations to define geographic zones within which each station has the exclusive right to broadcast the network's programs. The DMAs generally define the geographic zones of exclusivity for retransmission of broadcast signals. In general, a cable or satellite operator must retransmit the broadcast signal of a network affiliate to subscribers within the affiliate's DMA, and may not import the signal of a network affiliate based in one DMA into a DMA served by another of that network's affiliates. The policy rationale is that protecting broadcast stations' rights to geographic exclusivity enables them to invest in local programming that is responsive to viewers living within the stations' communities. Television Trends Since Congress enacted STELAR in 2014, television viewing habits have changed in ways that could make retransmission consent negotiations more contentious. https:I/crsreports.conc -- _-_

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