Markey Killed Last-Ditch Senate Effort to Pass STELA Reauthorization Before Long Recess

Markey “really walked back from his commitment in committee yesterday, which is sad,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told us Thursday night at the Capitol, moments before the Senate proceeded to final votes before a recess lasting until mid-November. “That'll affect his standing in the committee. He never had the votes for it in committee and he knew that, and he won’t have the votes for it in conference, which he won’t be on.”

Senate Commerce unanimously approved a bipartisan STELA reauthorization bill, known as the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (S-2799), the day before. Markey objected to STAVRA’s repeal of the set-top box integration ban. NCTA has strongly lobbied for the provision repealing the integration ban and declined comment on the Markey hold. Rockefeller and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., wrote STAVRA, which also includes language limiting broadcaster sharing agreements.

Markey had proposed an amendment changing the integration ban provision and calling for a successor solution before any such repeal. The House approved a STELA reauthorization bill in July that included similar repeal language. Markey withdrew his amendment at the Wednesday markup session but said he wanted to revisit the issue, and a Democratic aide had told us that evening that Markey planned to object to any unanimous consent push. During markup, Rockefeller promised to work with Markey while citing his need to get STELA reauthorization passed, prompting Markey’s withdrawal of the amendment and assent in passing STAVRA.

Senate Democrats and Republicans both had filed for what’s known as hotline consideration of STELA reauthorization Thursday night around 5 p.m., Republican Senate staffers told us. That reauthorization bill encompassed STAVRA, the two amendments included from the Wednesday markup and the clean Senate Judiciary STELA reauthorization bill (S-2454) passed in the summer, they said. Markey seems to have informed Rockefeller and his staff of his intentions beforehand, a Republican staffer said, saying the hold was ultimately no surprise internally. He described broad, bipartisan consensus around the STAVRA proposal and gave no indication that the set-top box integration provision would or should change -- it can get through the Senate, he said. Thune “doesn’t believe we should hold up must-pass legislation that benefits consumers nationwide over a ‘fix’ that doesn’t enjoy the support of a majority of the committee,” another Republican aide said.

Markey “wants to address this provision in the bill to make sure consumers still have a way to use their own set-top boxes to access pay TV programming,” his spokeswoman told us Monday. “He is open to amending the language in the bill or striking it out altogether.” Markey expects “continuing discussions on the matter,” she said.

TiVo backs Markey in his objections, General Counsel Matt Zinn said. “These are all things he’s been promoting for 18 years,” Zinn remarked, describing disappointment with the STAVRA language that he says would leave consumers with no choice of where to get cable-connected devices. TiVo has “pretty strongly” urged senators to reject the language, he said. “We want a successor solution.”

"We wholeheartedly support his hold,” said Public Knowledge Vice President-Government Affairs Chris Lewis. Consumers Union, Free Press and Public Knowledge sent a joint letter last week blasting STAVRA’s integration provision and calling for changes. “The Markey amendment fix is very simple,” Lewis said. “I'm not sure what’s controversial about that.” No one is against reauthorizing the satellite provisions of STELA, but the integration ban repeal is “harmful to consumers” and creates a cable monopoly on set-top boxes, Lewis said, arguing that Markey’s objections are “not obstructive” because Markey is offering an amendment. Lewis expects more lawmakers may side with Markey in the weeks ahead, showing “if they stand with consumers or stand with cable monopoly.” He expects much of this will be on hold in the short term, the “state of play” until Congress resumes in November.

Senate passage of STELA reauthorization Thursday would have allowed for more procedural options later in the year, such as the possibility of formal conferencing on Senate and House STELA bills, one Republican staffer said. But there doesn’t need to be a Senate-passed version of the bill before negotiations with the House begin, he added. STELA expires Dec. 31, and Congress has few legislative days of the lame duck session between resuming in mid-November and the end of the year.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., reiterated the need for the Senate to reauthorize STELA by the year’s end. “Congress should act responsibly and prevent serious disruption to these consumers” who receive distant TV signals via satellite dishes, Leahy said in a statement (http://1.usa.gov/XXM6RS), citing the particular importance in rural regions such as those in Vermont.

"One and a half million Americans will lose access to broadcast television programming on their satellite pay TV service if we fail to process this legislation at the end of this year,” Rockefeller told us in a statement Monday of the foiled hotline attempt. It’s “always hard to find unanimity in the legislative process,” but the current proposal “represents a strong bipartisan consensus from the Commerce Committee,” he said. “I am going to strongly push all my colleagues to do our jobs and make sure that these million-plus Americans do not lose their broadcast programs. We have a strong bipartisan product that rightfully should move through the floor. We are going to need to find a way to get this bill passed.” (jhendel@warren-news.com)