On the recordMarch 26, 2010
as the Senate prepares to break for Easter recess, I am pleased that it has acted to pass two pieces of legislation that will allow for the extension and reauthorization of the Satellite Home Viewer Act. Yesterday, the Senate passed a bill that will extend key provisions of the Act through the end of April. Passing this short-term extension is necessary to ensure that consumers across the country retain access to network television content. Without it, these consumers would have no way to receive these signals. I understand that the House of Representatives also acted on this short-term extension last night. Today, the Senate passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010--STELA--which is a full, 10-year reauthorization. Since the inception of the distant signal license, the license has been reauthorized for 5-year periods, giving all stakeholders an opportunity to revisit it and Congress the opportunity to improve it. Reauthorizing the law for 10 years is not my preferred course of action. In fact, the Senate previously passed a 5-year version of STELA that makes significant improvements to current law, as part of H.R. 4213, which is currently pending in the House of Representatives. The version of STELA passed by unanimous consent in the Senate today contains all of the improvements from the 5-year version.
