Wicker Sees 'More Progress' on STELA Talks, Amid House Markups

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., insisted Thursday he's also making progress on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization, amid two House committees' success this week in advancing their own renewal bills. Wicker postponed a markup earlier this month of his original Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) amid committee members' objections (see 1911130055). That bill would renew STELA through 2024. The law is set to expire Dec. 31.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act (HR-5140) Thursday on a voice vote, as expected (see 1911200048). Ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., supported the measure but said he's “not at all happy with how the markup of this bill came about.” The bill, led by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., would make permanent STELA's distant-signal compulsory license language but limit its scope to cover only trucks, RVs and households in short markets. It would provide a limited extension of the distant-signal license for all other currently covered subscribers and would require satellite providers using the distant-signal license to serve all 210 designated market areas (see 1911180014).

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us Wednesday he fully intends to “fold in” HR-5140's distant-signal language into the House Commerce Committee-cleared Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035) before the measure reaches the floor. “We're dealing with the things” in STELA that are within House Commerce's purview, he said. HR-5035, which House Commerce advanced Wednesday (see 1911200048), would make permanent STELA's good-faith retransmission consent negotiations requirement and continue to allow import of distant signals under the compulsory license. The measure incorporates amended language from the Truth-in-Billing, Remedies and User Empowerment over Fees (True Fees) Act (HR-1220) and would let small MVPDs collectively negotiate for retransmission consent using a qualified buying group.

Doyle and House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us it's up to Wicker, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and other chamber leaders to decide whether it's preferable to take up HR-5035 rather than advance their own STELA bill. “They've been having problems” advancing a renewal bill in the chamber, Doyle said. “My job was to get it out of here and I did that, so now it's up to the Senate.” House Commerce's “job was to get the best product” out of the committee, Walden said. A "strong agreement" means lawmakers can “send over a really good package for the Senate.”

'Meaningful Talks'

Wicker told reporters Thursday he has “been having meaningful talks today with House members” connected to STELA renewal following advancement of HR-5035 and HR-5140.

“There's more progress than might meet the eye” on efforts to move recertification forward in the Senate, Wicker said. “I would rather not negotiate with the press,” but he's willing to consider many different proposals beyond the base S-2789 text he filed earlier this month. Wicker called earlier this week for his Senate colleagues to "make their positions clear" on STELA given the limited legislative time left (see 1911190037).

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., separately told us they don't believe the impending STELA deadline should be an impediment to a broader media policy revamp. Both are pushing Wicker to move beyond the clean renewal language he sought in S-2789.

“I think the optimal solution at this point is a very short-term reauthorization” for less than a year “that will enable us to do a full-fledged markup in the spring” involving other issues, Schatz said. “Anything longer than that and you're deciding the existing statute ought not to be changed significantly.” Senate Commerce members “can just buy ourselves some time to let the committee do its work,” he said. “This is one of the main things Commerce does and I don't want to forfeit that opportunity.” Wicker said he's considering a short-term extension as one alternative, but "it's not the only thing I would be open to."

“I think we can get some things done” even with the sunset date looming, Blackburn said. “Deadlines are always a good thing for pushing action.” She's seeking to attach language from her Ask Musicians for Music (AM-FM) Act to a STELA measure in a bid to secure a performance right for terrestrial radio (see 1911210067). Legislation to enact a terrestrial performance right remains a lightning rod for broadcaster criticism (see 1902200055).

“I think the broadcasters have got to make their minds up,” Blackburn said. “Are they going to pay for content or not? Because they're playing both sides of this issue depending on whether its radio or TV. So they need to pick a side and stick with it.” She sought an amendment before the postponed S-2789 markup to require broadcasters to mandate radio stations “obtain the express authority of the copyright owner” of a sound recording to broadcast it (see 1911120062).

House Judiciary

Collins scolded House Judiciary for not acting on the STELA debate sooner, asking "why didn't we have a hearing on this?"

In “spite of how important this issue is ... this committee dragged its feet and instead fixated” on its investigations into this administration, Collins said. He's supporting this bill only “because I want to ensure consumers’ screens do not go dark through no fault of their own. I want to land this plane, not steer it into a mountain.”

House Judiciary advanced an amendment from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., that expands beyond the originally proposed 120 days the length of the limited extension of the distant-signal license for categories of subscribers that would be removed from the license. The initial window would be six months, but a satellite company could then apply for a theoretically unlimited number of 90-day license extensions as long as it files a notice with the Copyright Office proving it acted “reasonably and in good faith” to provide coverage to all DMAs. The amendment also clarifies that “failure to reach an agreement” in a retrans dispute won't prevent satellite companies from using the distant-signal license.

Lofgren insisted the amendment will guarantee “actual accountability” in ensuring satellite companies don't misuse the license extension process while providing more of a cushion so that subscribers aren't unduly cut off from programming. “I don't feel we have a strong enough” record of evidence to justify the shorter extension, she said. Nadler and House IP Subcommittee Chairman Hank Johnson, D-Ga., supported the amendment. It “creates a good balance” and “should ensure a smooth transition,” Nadler said.

Collins opposed the amendment, saying there's “no way I can go along with” a process that could allow satellite companies to continue claiming the distant-signal license for a potentially unlimited amount of time. Lofgren's push shows “a lot of extra issues” House Judiciary never fully vetted, he said. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, supported the amendment, saying his constituents are “reluctantly” favoring it, given the limited time before STELA ends.

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., sought and withdrew an amendment that mirrored Blackburn's earlier amendment to S-2789 by requiring radio stations to “obtain the express authority of the copyright owner” of a sound recording to air it. “The time has come to stop subsidizing” radio stations, he said during markup. Creating a terrestrial performance right “is the unfinished business” left over after 2018's Music Modernization Act (see 1810110038). Lawmakers didn't include terrestrial performance right language in MMA amid a bid to reach a compromise on other music licensing and royalties issues.

Deutch hopes Nadler “commit[s] to moving a performance rights bill through this committee this Congress.” Nadler and Collins said there's a solution to be had. Nadler intends to reintroduce a performance rights bill "in the near future," ahead of his filing of the House version of the AM-FM Act. He previously filed the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, which would require most terrestrial radio stations begin paying performance royalties (see 1703300064). Collins wants “an update” on terrestrial performance right talks.