Scalise to Refile Video Legislation, Potentially Affect 2019 STELA Debate
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., is on the cusp of refiling his Next Generation Television Marketplace Act, expected to help shape Capitol Hill’s upcoming debate on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. The recertification process is unlikely to start in earnest until the 116th Congress convenes in 2019, but media industries affected by STELA in recent months began discussing factors that could shape debate (see 1804030061). The 2014 STELA recertification extended the statute through 2019 (see 1411200036 and 1412040067).
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Scalise told us formal introduction of his plan is “coming up soon” after circulating on the Hill and among stakeholders. He's expected to file before the House leaves at week's end for the five-week August recess, communications sector lobbyists said. “We’re working through” stakeholder feedback and “making sure that the final pieces are put together,” Scalise said. He led sponsoring the House version of the bill in the 112th and 113th Congresses. Scalise also had planned to refile last Congress (see 1207240073, 1312130065 and 1508100034).
The circulating Scalise draft is largely identical to the version he filed in previous Congresses, lobbyists said. The legislation would repeal compulsory copyright licenses and retransmission provisions of the 1992 Cable Act, said a copy of the draft. It would end Communications Act mandates on carriage and purchase of certain broadcast signals by MVPDs. The draft would delay the bill’s implementation until two years after enactment and would allow the Copyright Office to continue collecting royalties for secondary transmissions until the register of copyrights “certifies that all such royalties have been distributed.”
“Ultimately, I’d like to see us have a hearing on this and start talking about how we update” U.S. video laws amid market changes, Scalise said: “We need to start having an honest conversation.” Most "who know the video marketplace would have to admit that it’s changed dramatically” since 1992, when “you literally had monopoly cable companies negotiating against local broadcast networks,” he said. “Today, you can get your video from multiple sources -- from cable, satellite, fiber, off the internet, using your cellphone. It’s long past time to update these laws.”
The House Communications Subcommittee is likely to hold the hearing in middle or late September, communications lobbyists said. House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., noted Scalise’s “enduring interest” in what Scalise views as “the anticompetitive nature of the TV marketplace.” The committee hasn’t “resolved just what [the coming video marketplace hearing] would look like” but it's something Scalise wants “to delve into more as we go into the fall,” Walden said. Discussions could veer off into Sinclair’s endangered proposal to buy Tribune (see 1807200055), FCC handling of media ownership rules or net neutrality, some lobbyists said. Walden also cited House Communications’ Wednesday FCC oversight hearing as "an opportunity to have a fulsome discussion" on video issues (see 1807180043).
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., wouldn't say whether she will counter Scalise’s bill with a reintroduction of her Video Consumers Have Options in Choosing Entertainment Act, but said Scalise is within his rights to file his own bill “as he sees fit.” Eshoo would “welcome” a video market hearing this year. The Video Choice Act, which Eshoo filed in the 113th Congress, also addressed retrans blackouts. “It’s important” for House Commerce members “to understand the landscape, who the stakeholders are, how [the video marketplace] is working, how competitive it is,” Eshoo said.
Walden and private sector stakeholders acknowledged the issues Scalise’s bill would address will likely affect the STELA debate. During the last reauthorization cycle, “there were for the first time really some pretty strong advocates saying [STELA renewal] was pretty unnecessary in today’s world and of course you also had others who said we still needed it,” Walden said. “Six, eight, 10 years ago the notion of an a la carte video marketplace was inconceivable. And in many ways, today what do we have? An a la carte video marketplace” that includes Netflix and Amazon.
Scalise’s long “leadership on these issues is significant” and his elevated role as GOP whip means he can “significantly shape” the STELA process next year, said one media lobbyist who supports renewing the statute. There’s “zero chance” the Scalise bill will make it into a final STELA package, but introduction and the coming House Communications hearing can provide an early “conversation on what issues” will dominate the renewal debate, said a broadcasting lobbyist.
The outcome of the November election will affect how much influence Scalise will have on House Commerce policymaking when work on STELA begins next year, a media official said. If the Democrats win control of the House, Scalise would be a member of the minority party and thus wouldn’t have a major role in shaping House Commerce’s agenda. House Democrats have been hostile to past iterations of Scalise’s bill and there’s “no reason to believe” that won’t be the case again, the official said.