Opening Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, Co-Author Of S. 247, “Satellite Home Viewer Improvements Act”

September 28, 1999

[Below is the opening statement of Sen. Patrick Leahy at the first meeting of a House-Senate conference committee to iron out differences between similar bills to overhaul the home satellite law.]

The opening line of George Orwell’s book “1984" reads: “It was a bright cold day in April and the clock was striking thirteen.”

Sometimes Congress gets the job done at the 11th hour and sometimes Congress waits until the 13th hour. Hundreds of thousands of satellite dish owners have had all or part of their satellite service shutdown -- and an even more massive shutdown of satellite television service will occur on December 31 if we do not act quickly.

Letters and postcards have poured into my office about satellite service shut downs. Some towns in Vermont -- where no one ever received over-the-air network signals -- entirely lost their network satellite signals. The irony in this case is that the solution has been right in front of us. Broadcasting local television network stations over satellite is an idea whose time came a couple years ago.

Without this feature, satellite television can not effectively compete with cable television, and for most communities cable television is delivered by a monopoly. Historians advise us that monopolies are not well known for their low prices and good service.

In some respects, the legislative process regarding this effort has been both very rewarding and very frustrating. In 1997 Chairman Hatch and I pledged to work together to try to prevent thousands of satellite dish owners from losing service. I joined with both Chairmen Hatch and McCain, and subcommittee Chairman DeWine and ranking member Kohl, and ranking member Hollings on legislation in this Congress -- as well as the Congress before last -- to protect dish owners and local network stations.

Both the House and the Senate have come up with some good approaches to solve these problems. But the clock is ticking and now the 14th hour is approaching.

I am also concerned that because of mergers the number of competitors offering satellite television is now dangerously low. Even worse, some are working to prevent healthy competition in the satellite industry by lobbying for delays in implementing full local-into-local television over satellite.

I know that some companies, such as Capitol Broadcasting, are embracing the challenge of offering local television over satellite whereas others seem to want to delay the future to gain some temporary advantage at the expense of consumers.

Satellite dish owners in Vermont are tired of waiting -- and I am tired of reading misleading ads placed in Vermont newspapers by companies that want to delay efforts to offer local TV service over satellite. Even these ads could have been written by George Orwell in that they say the opposite of the real story, similar to the slogans “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery” or “Ignorance is Strength.”

Years ago General Motors used to argue that mandating seat belts was a bad idea because they couldn’t possibly comply with the deadlines for installing them. When we finally imposed the deadlines, GM didn’t seem to have any problems getting its cars into showcases with seatbelts.

Congress has to impose tight deadlines and mandate must-carry requirements so that satellite can compete directly with cable, as soon as possible, and so that local television stations are available in rural, and urban, America. I know that a couple satellite companies have invested a lot of money into keeping the status quo, but lack of progress will mean that millions of rural Americans will not receive local televisions stations over satellite for many years. The status quo won’t cut it and the status quo will deprive millions of satellite dish owners of the local broadcasting service they have asked us to allow.

I am pleased that the Congress has so far has rejected the special pleadings of these companies, and their distributors, to try to prevent additional competition. Congress should not choose technologies and certainly should not favor outmoded technology over progress. I am convinced that, at least in the near future, spot-beaming satellites will provide the best solution for satellite dish owners. As science advances, even more creative solutions will be found to offering local television service as long as Congress does not stand in the way. So I look forward to working with my good friends in the House and the Senate to put together a great bill.