CABLE COMPETITION, DTV ISSUES HIGHLIGHT HOUSE SHVIA DEBATE
Members of the House Telecom Subcommittee raised many questions but offered fewer answers Wed. about renewal of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA). Cable competition, the DTV transition and the “second dish” issue for EchoStar (which uses a 2nd dish to deliver some local channels) were popular topics for many members. Also, many with constituents near state borders, who wanted access to local broadcast signals from different markets, said it was important to give consumers a variety of options.
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House Commerce Committee ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.) said the Committee should pursue 3 policy goals when considering SHVIA reauthorization: (1) Strengthen the ability of DBS to compete with cable. (2) Empower consumers to receive programming of their choice. (3) Local broadcasters and their revenue streams shouldn’t be “unduly” weakened.
In a statement, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton (R- Tex.) only summarized the issues -- from both sides -- and said “formidable questions” must be answered before SHVIA is renewed. House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) said he believes the presence of an overbuilder is still the best way to instill competition for cable, since DBS providers don’t appear to be acting as a price competitor with cable.
David Moskowitz, EchoStar senior vp-gen. counsel, said it should be easy to determine what the reach of broadcast DTV signals are because the signal doesn’t degrade like that of an analog broadcast. Congress should allow DBS to offer distant signals for any viewer that doesn’t have a broadcast signal. But Robert Lee, WDBJ-TV Roanoke, Va. pres.-gen. mgr. (on behalf of NAB), said broadcasters were making progress on the DTV rollout and should be given more time before expanding DBS’s right to transmit digital signals into broadcast markets.
Lee said DBS should be working harder to offer local-to- local service as opposed to broadcasting distance signals. Lee said the digital white space was a “Trojan horse” for DBS that helped the industry raise funds to sue the broadcast industry. “This proposal is a recipe for mischief,” he said. Moskowitz also said DBS shouldn’t be forbidden from providing distant signals until the broadcasters relinquished its possession of the analog spectrum. Lee said that SHVIA reauthorization should prohibit DBS from offering distance signals in areas where they could offer a local signal.
There were some questions raised about EchoStar’s 2-dish policy, where a 2nd dish is needed to provide local channels. Rep. Boucher (D-Va.) and Rep. Engel (D-N.Y.) asked about the practice, with Engel saying it appeared that in N.Y. Hispanic and PBS stations were predominately placed on the 2nd dish. Moskowitz argued that EchoStar didn’t charge consumers for the 2nd dish or its installation. Boucher said he believed EchoStar’s approach to the 2-dish issue was reasonable. Lee said Congress should outlaw the 2-dish practice.
Matthew Polka, American Cable Assn. pres., said it would support a basic reauthorization of SHVIA, though he said it did give DBS regulatory advantages. He said DBS had significant competitive advantages over small, local cable systems. If changes are made to SHVIA, Polka recommended: (1) Giving local cable systems access to DBS local-to-local signals. (2) Requiring DBS to provide a “broadcast basic level” of service to all customers where DBS provides local broadcast signals. (3) Granting cable operators standing to file complaints against DBS for violations of SHVIA’s broadcast carriage requirements.
Consumers Union’s Gene Kimmelman said the best way to create more consumer choice for cable was to: (1) Impose limits on media ownership. He specifically cited News Corp’s purchase of DirecTV, which he said reduced incentives for price competition since the company distributes both content and the signal. (2) Require content providers to sell each channel to cable distributors on an individual basis. (3) Require cable companies to sell its channels to consumers on an “a la carte” basis.