DirecTV, Dish Network Team Up to Lobby FCC

Satellite-TV Operators Try to Stop Federal Communications Commission from Requiring Them to Carry All Broadcast HD Signals in Markets Where They Carry Any of Them Starting in February 2009

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/19/2008 4:07:00 PM

Fierce competitors DirecTV and Dish Network teamed up to try and stop the Federal Communications Commission from requiring satellite operators to carry all broadcast HD signals in markets where they carry any of them starting in February 2009.

Currently, satellite operators have to carry all TV stations in any market where they choose to carry at least one. The FCC is considering extending that to HDTV signals after the transition to digital.

While Dish Network and DirecTV said they are willing eventually to carry all, they argued that the FCC should phase in the requirement over four years.

In a letter to the commission Feb. 15, the companies said such a phased-in approach, with a hard deadline four years after the transition, would still be a burden, but it would be better than what they called a "premature deadline accompanied by a waiver process."

The satellite companies were also getting some help from Capitol Hill.

Colorado Democratic Rep. John Salazar (Dish Network is based in Englewood, Colo.) sent a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin asking him to "closely examine" the phased-in proposal, saying that an HD requirement would cause satellite operators to drop local programming, whole markets and niche channels like Spanish-language networks.

"We understand that it is a difficult balancing act to make sure broadcasters that invested in the digital transition get the carriage they need, but at the same time to ensure that capacity-constrained DBS [direct-broadcast satellite] providers are not forced to drop markets or programming in the short run due to an overly burdensome carriage requirement," Salazar wrote.

Martin has said that he understands the capacity constraints on satellite, but he is also looking to make sure that viewers get to see the beautiful HD pictures broadcasters are increasingly delivering.