Scripps Howard told the FCC it should dismiss EchoStar’s oppositi...
Scripps Howard told the FCC it should dismiss EchoStar’s opposition to broadcaster requests for federal exemption from DTV signal testing requirements. EchoStar didn’t serve a copy of its opposition to the 30-plus stations whose waivers it opposed (CD Jan…
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11 p6) or their lawyers, Scripps Howard told the FCC. EchoStar fired back with a letter for the DTV strength testing docket last week saying it followed the Commission’s filing instructions, but that it will now send copies of its opposition to all of the stations it challenged, just in case. EchoStar and DirecTV opposed a majority of the 70 stations that asked the FCC for testing exemptions because their signals may not be strong enough to pass the test. EchoStar opposed stations seeking waivers because of difficulties with international coordination, transmission tower construction permits and side-mounted antennas. EchoStar and broadcasters are now tangling on whose burden it is to prove the need for a waiver. Scripps Howard told the FCC EchoStar’s opposition is off the mark. “Congress simply could not have intended, as EchoStar insists, that a waiver seeker has the burden to prove that there is no other means possible -- irrespective of cost -- to deliver maximized DTV service,” Scripps Howard argued. EchoStar disagreed and said, citing the Jan. 11 Communications Daily report, it’s “concerned that the FCC might be misreading the statute and inappropriately shifting the burden from the broadcast licensee to the waiver opponent.” The statute says the burden is on the network station to establish, on “clear and convincing evidence,” that its digital signal coverage is limited due to the “unremediable presence” of one or more statutory grounds for a waiver, EchoStar argued. The FCC must complete its review of the waivers by April 30 for stations in the top U.S. TV markets to grant DBS customer requests for DTV testing (CD Jan 11 p6). EchoStar has squared off repeatedly with broadcasters on DTV signal testing methods, which decide, in part, satellite TV subscribers’ eligibility for distant network signals. EchoStar pushed for the FCC to adopt a different testing model, fighting the NAB on the issue (CD Aug 29 p2). The Commission told Congress in a Dec. report that no major overhaul of signal testing procedures is necessary for the DTV transition (CD Dec 12 p9), but that rulemaking should set methods for measuring DTV signal strength. Changes will be needed to address variances between analog and DTV signals, the FCC said, but testing procedures should be generally similar to procedures now used to measure analog TV station signals.