Source: Reuters and CNET News.com
Lawmakers Wary Of Internet TV Broadcasting
Internet companies are eager to carry broadcast TV programming over the Net, but lawmakers appear unwilling to quickly grant online firms a license to do so for fear of harming local television stations. Given the unbounded nature of the Internet and the potential to easily pirate programming, Internet companies seeking congressional action have ""a very high threshold to clear,"" said Representative Billy Tauzin, (R-Louisiana), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee's Communications Subcommittee. He urged lawmakers to proceed ""cautiously and deliberately."" The Internet question first arose last year when Congress extended the local TV license to satellite firms. Over the years, Congress has given cable- and satellite-TV services permission to retransmit broadcast TV channels under a compulsory license. But those rights limit retransmissions to a specific geographic area to prevent broadcasts from one city from eating into the audience of programs in another. Last year, when Congress was deliberating over broadcasting rights of satellite-TV services, TV programming creators tried to insert a provision explicitly denying Internet companies permission to carry TV signals. That, in turn, created an intense lobbying battle resolved - only temporarily - when both sides backed down, and the issue was put off until this year. Congress would have made a ""big mistake"" if it had sided with Internet companies and granted them licenses, California Democrat Anna Eshoo said. But the issue hardly faded away. A Canadian Web site called iCraveTV.com late in 1999 began retransmitting programs from numerous U.S. TV stations, arguing that the practice was allowed under Canadian law. The company sought to block non-Canadians by simply asking Web surfers for their telephone area codes. A preliminary ruling by a U.S. federal court in Pittsburgh, however, found the security was trivial to evade and ordered the Web site shut down. At least one lawmaker did side with the Internet industry. California Republican Christopher Cox argued that broadcasters and other TV program producers would ultimately profit from Internet TV broadcasts. ""The lesson of the 20th century is that new technologies create new markets,"" Cox said.