Senate Communications Subcommittee to Take Up Satellite Compulsory License Extension

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The Senate Communications Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, Oct. 7 to take up extension of the satellite compulsory license.

That is the license that allows satellite operators to import distant network signals. The law establishing that license sunsets at the end of the year unless reauthorized.

The Senate Judiciary Committee last week approved a version of the extension, now called the Satellite TV Modernization Act, but the two committees share jurisdiction over the issue since it implicates both communications and copyright.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.