Time Running Out for Satellite TV Reauthorization
With less than a week to go until satellite TV licenses expire, Senate leaders haven’t decided how they would put off a satellite TV shutoff for millions of Americans. A reauthorization or extension of the satellite licenses must pass by Feb. 28 or satellite-TV companies will lose their ability to import distant-content signals legally. A jobs bill that received a cloture vote after our deadline didn’t include satellite TV provisions. A solution may be a separate package to deal with satellite TV and other legislation expiring at month’s end, Senate staffers said.
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“We hope to pass an extension of expiring provisions, including satellite TV, this week,” said a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “With Republican cooperation [we] should be able to do so.” It’s unclear whether such an extension would get floor votes or be hotlined for passage by unanimous consent, she said. Hill and industry sources said they had heard that the possible extension may come from the House, and it probably would put off expiration by 15 days.
The jobs bill had been viewed as a likely vehicle for moving satellite TV, and the legislation included reauthorization language from a previous draft. But Reid pulled the satellite part and other extraneous provisions from the bill when he introduced it just before the Presidents’ Day recess (CD Feb 16 p1). If Reid wasn’t able to get his jobs bill through after our deadline late Monday, satellite language could be added to a revised bill, industry sources said. But if the jobs bill passes without satellite provisions, a package of extenders could be enacted in a separate piece of legislation, a Senate source said.
A 15-day extension of the satellite TV licenses probably will be used as a safety measure, an industry executive said. If a full satellite reauthorization is attached to a jobs bill but not signed into law by the deadline, the extension would prevent a service blackout. And if no satellite reauthorization passes by the deadline, the extension would allow the legislation to be attached to another bill or another reprieve to be passed. Still, it’s possible that nothing will be passed and satellite TV providers will lose their distant signal licenses, a prospect that the industry executive said they're “concerned” about.
DirecTV has the most to lose if the legislation or an extension doesn’t pass. Dish lost its distant signal license to an inunction in 2006 and has worked around the loss. DirecTV uses its license to provide programming to more than 1 million viewers. A large-scale stoppage of distant signals could escalate the issue into something that officials would hear from their constituents about, said another industry executive. Andrew Reinsdorf, DirecTV’s senior vice president for government affairs, said the company is “working with leaders in House and Senate so that comprehensive legislation gets completed.”