Commerce Committees' STELA Hearings Next Week Seen as First Foray Into Debate

The House Communications Subcommittee plans its STELA-focused media marketplace hearing June 4, House Commerce said Tuesday. The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. “Too often the conversation in Washington surrounding [STELA] reauthorization has focused on what is good for companies,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in a news release. “As Congress revisits this issue, we will look at how consumers are affected and what can be done to improve their choices and viewing experience.”

Wicker told us he anticipates the Senate Commerce hearing, which the committee is currently aiming to hold June 5, will almost certainly be “more STELA focused” rather than tackling a wider range of media market issues. Senate Commerce had been aiming for a broader media market issues hearing when it originally eyed dates in late March (see 1903080061). Wicker didn't say why a narrower STELA-focused hearing is now the goal, but lobbyists had predicted such a shift would likely happen if an initial examination of the renewal debate was delayed past Memorial Day, given the tightening timeline for action (see 1904230069).

Doyle said last week he sees a definite need for House Communications to begin focusing on STELA recertification during its hearing but doesn’t plan to specifically limit the panel’s scope. “We need to start talking about it” now, given the limited amount of time before the statute’s sunset, though there's still time for lawmakers to sort through a range of issues, Doyle said. “We’ll have to wait and see” whether there’s an appetite to mix in other media policy issues into reauthorization legislation.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said she’s still talking with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., in a bid to agree on a legislative compromise to revamp the current retransmission consent rules but plans to file her own bill before the June hearing. Lobbyists told us Eshoo’s coming legislation will strongly resemble her earlier Video Consumers Have Options in Choosing Entertainment (Video Choice) Act, as expected (see 1812280025). The bill, filed in the 113th Congress, addressed retransmission blackouts (see 1312130065). Scalise is also expected to refile his Next Generation TV Marketplace Act, which would repeal compulsory copyright licenses and retransmission provisions included in the 1992 Cable Act and end Communications Act mandates on carriage and purchase of certain broadcast signals by MVPDs (see 1903200009).

STELA is the “launching point for larger discussions” any time a congressional committee holds a media market hearing, but those discussions “tend to veer off” into broader media policy issues, said Public Knowledge Senior Counsel John Bergmayer. That likely will happen again during both the House and Senate Commerce panels because it’s “still too early” in the renewal process for lawmakers to want to delve into the details of a final bill: “When it gets closer” to the end-of-year deadline the legislative contours will become clearer.

R Street Institute Technology Policy Manager Tom Struble said he also expects both hearings to be “broader” discussions that won’t solely focus on STELA. Existing laws “didn’t account” for changes in the marketplace like over-the-top video services, which “suggests to me that broader changes are needed,” he said. “I think you’ll see” some lawmakers focus on the need for wider statutory updates like those Scalise envisions. There could be interest in debating the status of the” whole franchising framework,” though there will be pushback from some incumbents, Struble said.

Some lobbyists expect the Commerce hearings to diverge in their STELA focus. Discussions with Senate Commerce panel aides indicate the session will probably have a more general video and media market focus, notwithstanding Wicker’s comments to us, lobbyists said. The House Communications hearing will likely be more STELA-centric because the subcommittee already held a general media market hearing in September 2018 (see 1809270062), even though that panel happened when the Republicans still held a majority in the chamber, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce hasn’t had a similar recent hearing.

Both hearings will give lawmakers an opportunity to clarify where they stand on STELA renewal at the beginning of the process, lobbyists said. Wicker made clear in February he favors recertification (see 1902270018), but Pallone and some others haven’t taken as specific a stance. Those lawmakers’ opening statements and the tenor of their questions “will tell us a lot about the direction they’re headed in,” one media lobbyist said.

Eshoo and Scalise could have significant influence on the STELA debate via their interest in a retrans revamp, though much will depend on whether the lawmakers are able to agree on a compromise, said several lobbyists for media industries. “It clears the way for other lawmakers” to also broach the issue, one lobbyist said.

Concerns voiced by several House and Senate lawmakers about STELA’s distant signal statutory license provision could come up in both hearings, though lobbyists we spoke with diverged in their view of how significant a role that issue will play in the coming debate. The lawmakers highlighted the issue in the context of the 12 media markets in which AT&T's DirecTV subsidiary provides limited or no access to locally broadcasted networks' stations (see 1903280070, 1905030056 and 1905130061). AT&T says the 12 markets have access to local stations via over the air signals. Only one of the lawmakers who raised concerns about the distant signals issue -- Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. -- sits on either House or Senate Commerce.