Page:H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476 (1976) Page 101.djvu

 hours of such station carried by the cable system to the total broadcast hours of the station.


 * Network station

A “network station” is defined as a television broadcast station that is owned or operated by, or affiliated with, one or more of the U.S. television networks providing and that transmits a substantial part of the programming supplied by such networks for a substantial part of that station’s typical broadcast day. To qualify as a network station, all the conditions of the definition must be met. Thus, the retransmission of a Canadian station affiliated with a Canadian network would not qualify under the definition. Further, a station affiliated with a regional network would not qualify, since a regional network would not provide nationwide transmissions. However, a station affiliated with a network providing nationwide transmissions that also occasionally carries regional programs would qualify as a “network station,” if the station transmits a substantial part of the programming supplied by the network for a substantial part of the station’s typical broadcast day.


 * Independent station

An “independent station” is defined as a commercial television broadcast station other than a network station. Any commercial station that does not fall within the definition of “network station” is classified as an “independent station.”


 * Noncommercial educational station

A “noncommercial educational station” is defined as a television station that is a noncommercial educational broadcast station within the meaning of section 397 of title 47.

Section 112 of the bill concerns itself with a special problem that is not dealt with in the present statutes but is the subject of provisions in a number of foreign statutes and in the revisions of the Berne Convention since 1948. This is the problem of what are commonly called “ephemeral recordings”: copies or phonorecords of a work made for purposes of later transmission by a broadcasting organization legally entitled to transmit the work. In other words, where a broadcaster has the privilege of performing or displaying a work either because he is licensed or because the performance or display is exempted under the statute, the question is whether he should be given the additional privilege of recording the performance or display to facilitate its transmission. The need for a limited exemption in these cases because of the practical exigencies of broadcasting has been generally recognized, but the scope of the exemption has been a controversial issue.

Recordings for licensed transmissions

Under subsection (a) of section 112, an organization that has acquired the right to transmit any work (other than a motion picture or other audiovisual work), or that is free to transmit a sound recording under section 114, may make a single copy or phonorecord of a particular program embodying the work, if the copy or phonorecord is used solely for the organizations own transmissions within its own