RS20425 -- Satellite Television: Historical Information on SHVIA and LOCAL
Updated December 15, 2004

	The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA)

The 1999 Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (1) (SHVIA) expands on and extends some provisions of the 1988Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA), as amended, regarding consumer reception of television signals via satellitedishes. The 1999 law, SHVIA, provides consumers greater access to broadcast network television programming via theirsatellite dishes. The 1999 law continues to permit that activity, but also allows satellite companies to rebroadcast local network signals back into the same localmarket area. This does not mean that DBScompanies must carrylocal broadcast programming throughout the country . The 108th Congress isconsidering whetherto extend it further, and whether to change how the prices are set (see CRS Report RS21768 ). 1554 would have created a loan guarantee program to help ensure that subscribers in small and rural markets benefit from the local-into-local provisions even though EchoStarand DirecTV do not plan to offer such service in all areas. Congress subsequently passedthe"Launching Our Communities Access to Local Television Act" (LOCAL) as Title X of the FY2001Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Act as enacted by the FY2001 District of Columbia Appropriations Act( P.L.106-553 ).
Congress has passed several laws to provide consumers greater access tolocal network television stations, particularly via satellite. The 1988 Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA), amendedin1994, was expanded in 1999 with the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA). SHVIA allows (notrequires) satellite companies to retransmit a local broadcast network signal back into the same localmarket area fromwhich it originates ("local-into-local"). Concerned that satellite TV companies do not plan to offer local-into-localinall parts of the country, Congress then passed the Launching Our Communities Access to Local Television Act(LOCAL). That act creates a loan guarantee program to help ensure that consumers in small and rural marketsreceivelocal network TV stations via satellite or other technologies. This historical report summarizes SHVIA andLOCAL,and the debate over whether a company called Northpoint should be able to use the same frequencies as satellitestotransmit data and television using terrestrial systems. It does not address the 2004 Satellite Home Viewer Extensionand Reauthorization Act (SHVERA). See CRS Report RS21768 instead. This report will not be updated.