Scalise sponsors bipartisan bill to increase TV marketplace competition

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) on March 11 unveiled a bipartisan bill that would modernize laws in the television marketplace in an effort to improve competition and protect consumers.

“Congress needs to finally modernize the outdated 1992 video laws that no longer fit today’s technology,” Rep. Scalise said. “Our bill brings back basic copyright protection laws, so that everyone gets paid for their products, and consumers get to choose whatever they want to buy, wherever they want to buy it, and watch whatever they want on any device they choose.” 

Rep. Scalise sponsored the Modern Television Act of 2021, H.R. 1856, with original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) to repeal certain regulations of the 1992 Cable Act, including retransmission consent and compulsory copyright license, toward increasing competition in the TV marketplace and to better address perennial broadcast TV blackouts, his office said.

The bill also would preempt federal, state and local authority to regulate rates of cable services and would retain the ability of a local TV broadcast station to require carriage on cable and satellite providers in their local market, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Scalise’s office.

Additionally, H.R. 1856 would require multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), such as cable and satellite carriers, to carry a broadcast signal while they continue contract negotiations with broadcasters, the summary says, noting that the Federal Communications Commission could compel parties to seek binding arbitration through a neutral third-party arbitrator, following an extended impasse of more than 60 days or a finding of bad faith. 

Among other provisions, H.R. 1856 would require the U.S. Government Accountability Office to report specific metrics about the bill’s impact on consumers and the marketplace every two years, and if needed to recommend specific policies for Congress to improve the marketplace, the summary says.

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Public Knowledge, the National Taxpayers Union, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, among others, endorsed the bill last week.