17 U.S.C. § 111
Limitations on exclusive rights: Secondary transmissions of broadcast programming by cable
United States · Title 17 — COPYRIGHTS · Status: effective
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- Citation
- 17 U.S.C. § 111, Limitations on exclusive rights: Secondary transmissions of broadcast programming by cable, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/448470
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Full text
The secondary transmission of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission is not an infringement of copyright if—
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (c), the secondary transmission to the public of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506, if the primary transmission is not made for reception by the public at large but is controlled and limited to reception by particular members of the public: Provided, however, That such secondary transmission is not actionable as an act of infringement if—
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection, the willful or repeated secondary transmission to the public by a cable system of a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico and embodying a performance or display of a work is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506, in the following cases:
Subject to paragraph (5), a cable system whose secondary transmissions have been subject to statutory licensing under subsection (c) shall, on a semiannual basis, deposit with the Register of Copyrights, in accordance with requirements that the Register shall prescribe by regulation the following:
Except in the case of a cable system whose royalty fee is specified in subparagraph (E) or (F), a total royalty fee payable to copyright owners pursuant to paragraph (3) for the period covered by the statement, computed on the basis of specified percentages of the gross receipts from subscribers to the cable service during such period for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters, as follows:
In computing amounts under clauses (ii) through (iv) of subparagraph (B)—
if a cable system provides a secondary transmission of a primary transmitter to some but not all communities served by that cable system—
If the actual gross receipts paid by subscribers to a cable system for the period covered by the statement for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters are $263,800 or less—
If the actual gross receipts paid by subscribers to a cable system for the period covered by the statement for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters are more than $263,800 but less than $527,600, the royalty fee payable under this paragraph to copyright owners pursuant to paragraph (3) shall be—
The royalty fees thus deposited shall, in accordance with the procedures provided by paragraph (4), be distributed to those among the following copyright owners who claim that their works were the subject of secondary transmissions by cable systems during the relevant semiannual period:
The royalty fees thus deposited shall be distributed in accordance with the following procedures:
The Register of Copyrights shall issue regulations to provide for the confidential verification by copyright owners whose works were embodied in the secondary transmissions of primary transmissions pursuant to this section of the information reported on the semiannual statements of account filed under this subsection for accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2010, in order that the auditor designated under subparagraph (A) is able to confirm the correctness of the calculations and royalty payments reported therein. The regulations shall—
establish procedures for the designation of a qualified independent auditor—
Notwithstanding those provisions of the 11 So in original. The word “the” probably should not appear. subsection (f)(2) relating to nonsimultaneous secondary transmissions by a cable system, any such transmissions are actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and are fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and section 510, unless—
If a cable system transfers to any person a videotape of a program nonsimultaneously transmitted by it, such transfer is actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506, except that, pursuant to a written, nonprofit contract providing for the equitable sharing of the costs of such videotape and its transfer, a videotape nonsimultaneously transmitted by it, in accordance with paragraph (1), may be transferred by one cable system in Alaska to another system in Alaska, by one cable system in Hawaii permitted to make such nonsimultaneous transmissions to another such cable system in Hawaii, or by one cable system in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, or the Republic of the Marshall Islands, to another cable system in any of those five entities, if—
As used in this section, the following terms mean the following:
Except as provided under subparagraph (B), a “distant signal equivalent”—
The values for independent, network, and noncommercial educational stations specified in subparagraph (A) are subject to the following:
The term “network station” shall be applied to a multicast stream on which a television broadcast station transmits all or substantially all of the programming of an interconnected program service that—
A “primary stream” is—
Legislative history
The public laws that enacted or amended this section. Tallies are for the whole bill as it passed each chamber — often an omnibus covering far more than this provision — not a vote on this section alone.
- An Act for the general revision of the Copyright Law, title 17 of the United States Code, and for other purposes.House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- A bill to amend title 17, United States Code, to clarify the definition of the local service area of a primary transmitter in the case of a low power television station.House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Copyright Fees and Technical Amendments Act of 1989House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Copyright Royalty Tribunal Reform Act of 1993House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000
- Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004House: 406–0Senate: no recorded tally
- Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005
- Copyright Royalty Judges Program Technical Corrections ActHouse: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008
- Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008House: 381–41Senate: no recorded tally
- Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally
- STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014House: no recorded tallySenate: no recorded tally