TVFreedom began focusing its advertising on a “clean”...
TVFreedom began focusing its advertising on a “clean” satellite reauthorization this week, as groups sent letters to Congress asking for that. The TVFreedom coalition, formed earlier this year, represents various broadcast interests, including NAB. From its inception it advertised in…
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Capitol Hill publications, but it began explicitly calling for a clean reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act in various Capitol Hill publications this week, days after NAB and TVFreedom announced opposition to a rumored STELA draft being developed in the House Communications Subcommittee. Broadcasters are unhappy with the proposals removing broadcast channels from the basic tier, in particular, as well as others that they say amount to a gift to the cable industry. “Tell Congress: We need a clean STELA reauthorization,” said an ad on The Hill’s website. In a Politico newsletter, a TVFreedom ad said, “We need a clean STELA reauthorization, not another vehicle to hike consumers’ cable bills. Pay-TV is trying to gouge consumers by taking the channels they watch most out of their basic package. They are ripping people off to boost record profits.” A spokesman for TVFreedom confirmed the explicit mention of STELA in the advertising is a new move as of this week, saying STELA is an “increased priority for us” after last week’s revelations. STELA is to expire at the end of the year. Other lobbyists have questioned broadcasters’ interpretation and have suggested the rumored STELA draft is actually quite narrow in scope and what should have been expected. The Americans for Prosperity, the American Conservative Union and TVFreedom member the Hispanic Institute sent letters to the subcommittee this week backing what they would consider clean STELA reauthorization. “We urge you to oppose attaching ancillary provisions outside of the original scope and intent of this legislation,” said the letter from the Americans for Prosperity. “Our concern is that changing the way that broadcasters negotiate with cable and satellite television providers would stray from the original intention of the law, as well as favor one private party at the expense of another.” STELA is hardly the “proper legislative vehicle to carry any kind of substantial changes,” the American Conservative Union said in its letter, suggesting instead that the House Republican leaders address such proposals as part of a broader communications law overhaul. The Hispanic Institute is “disappointed to see the interests and profits of pay-TV providers coming before the Hispanic consumer,” it said in its letter to Congress.