Third STELA Draft Clears Committee, With No Word on Retrans
The third of four Capitol Hill committees of jurisdiction cleared legislation Thursday to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act for five years. All eyes are now on the Senate Commerce Committee to release legislation, with lingering concerns and curiosity among lobbyists about what will emerge. With STELA expiring at the end of 2014, Hill staffers and industry lobbyists have increasingly told us narrower STELA legislation is the likely outcome.
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The House Judiciary Committee approved its two-page clean STELA bill, HR-5036, Thursday by voice vote. The lawmakers did not include any provisions that would revamp video marketplace rules, as some have argued for over the past year. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., offered and withdrew an amendment that would have addressed orphan counties. His three-page amendment would have introduced a section on “facilitating satellite delivery of in-state, out-of-market network station programming to orphan counties,” which Collins has long backed, he said.
"I'm really frustrated that I have to be here with this amendment,” Collins told his Judiciary colleagues. “But this issue deserves our attention today because it is not isolated to the 9th District of Georgia.” The amendment is “not a carve-out just for my district” but addresses a nationwide problem, Collins said, saying the issue affects consumers and that, despite his attempts, he could not identify a non-legislative solution. He called the inaction “appalling.”
Despite withdrawing this amendment to STELA, Collins still plans a legislative response to orphan counties, potentially with standalone legislation, his spokeswoman told us after the markup. Exact details are still under discussion, she said.
The House Judiciary bill, known as the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act, mirrors the measure of the same name introduced and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. The House Commerce Committee was the first to clear STELA legislation, HR-4572, which would make changes to video law. It includes provisions that would end the set-top box integration ban and affect sharing agreements. Top Senate Commerce Committee lawmakers have said they will release a similarly unclean STELA bill, with possible markup later this month. Senate Commerce plans a July 16 hearing on video marketplace issues, as expected, it confirmed Wednesday. It will be at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell and encompass “the impact of the growth of online video and consolidation among pay TV and broadband providers,” according to a committee notice.
"Although numerous stakeholders interested in video issues have contacted the committee on a variety of issues, they all agree that this license should not expire at the end of this year,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in his opening statement. IP Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C., is the measure’s chief sponsor and emphasized the needs of rural consumers. Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., and subcommittee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., also voiced support. Conyers did say other marketplace issues require attention, citing such issues as “the impact of disputes during retransmission consent negotiations” on consumers.
Broadcasters, who have long lobbied for a clean STELA reauthorization that doesn’t touch retransmission consent, trumpeted the House Judiciary bill. It’s “sensible, non-controversial” legislation, NAB CEO Gordon Smith said, pledging strong backing. The National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations and TVFreedom, a coalition including NAB and other broadcast interests, also praised the bill. A TVFreedom spokesman praised House Judiciary for “standing up for consumers by passing this bill absent one-sided legislative add-ons advocated for by the unified pay-TV lobby.”
Conservatives want either a clean STELA reauthorization or its expiration, suggested Center for Boundless Innovation in Technology Executive Director Fred Campbell. In a Thursday blog post (http://bit.ly/1nibqM6), he tallied recent entreaties from Americans for Limited Government, the American Consumer Institute and Frontiers of Freedom that Senate Commerce advance a clean STELA bill. “Conservatives are offering the right counsel,” Campbell said. CEA President Gary Shapiro, meanwhile, sent a letter (http://bit.ly/1mOwmv6) to Commerce and Judiciary leaders in both chambers Wednesday requesting it overhaul retrans rules in its STELA draft. “A few common-sense reforms to the retransmission consent regime would go a long way toward promoting competition and innovation and protecting consumers,” Shapiro said.