The Home Dish Market: H.R. 2848 (100th Congress) and The Copyright Liability of Satellite Carriers

The number of home satellite dishes in operation in the United States has grown from an estimated 5,000 in 1980 to approximately 2 million today. One of the features which has led to this popularity is the ability of the satellite dish to provide a wide variety of programming at no extra cost, through the unauthorized direct reception of satellite transmitted television broadcast and cable programming. In recent years, however, program owners have increasingly turned toward encryption (scrambling) to prevent the unauthorized use of their signals. As a result, a new category of program suppliers has developed who for a fee, package and distribute a wide variety of programming to meet the programming demands of a growing home dish market.

The move towards the scrambling and marketing of programming to the home dish market has not been without its controversies. Included among these are those relating to the treatment of both program owners and program suppliers under the 1976 Copyright Act. Confusion over the extent of the copyright liability of satellite carriers wishing to supply broadcast programming to this market and the degree of compensation which should be given to copyright holders of such programming has generated significant debate. As a consequence, the ambiguity over the application of copyright laws to the various players in the marketplace has hampered the supply of broadcast programming to the home dish market. The loss of network broadcast programming in particular, is of major significance in areas (i.e., "white areas") where network programming is not accessible by any other means but the home satellite dish.

In an effort to clarify copyright controversies and ensure the availability of broadcast programming to the home dish market, the 100th Congress enacted H.R. 2848 (P.L. 100-667). This measure resolves ambiguities over the compensation rights of broadcast program copyright holders and the copyright liability of satellite carriers offering broadcast (network and superstation) programming for private viewing to the home dish market. This is accomplished through the addition of a new section 119 to the 1976 Copyright Act which creates a temporary (6-year) copyright license for satellite carriers. This interim license establishes both a copyright royalty rate fee schedule for the compensation of broadcast program holders and a blanket monthly copyright license to facilitate payments by program distributors. This license is applicable to both cable superstation programming and, in limited circumstances, to network programming.

While the passage of P.L. 100-667 resolves the present issue of copyright compensation and liability, the creation of a six-year license (effective January 1, 1989) only provides a temporary solution to the problem. Whether this controversy will re-emerge after the legislation's six-year sunset (December 31, 1994) remains to be seen.