STELA Lobbyists Watching Renewal Time Frame Debate at Senate Commerce Hearing

Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us he still backs STELA reauthorization and is continuing to examine a shorter renewal than the standard five-year time period (see 1909250063), though he was tight-lipped about what other potential changes he's exploring. “I think there's a compromise out there” and a major factor lawmakers must consider is the many “Americans who won't have service if [the law] is allowed to expire," Wicker said.

Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she's interested in Wicker's proposal for a shorter-term STELA renewal because “the marketplace keeps changing so quickly, God knows what will happen in five years.” Lawmakers want “the consumer to have as many choices and options as possible,” so re-examining the law sooner could be a good way of ensuring the statutory language remains up to date, she said: “You already see new verticals emerging” via Disney and other media companies that 2014 recertification didn't anticipate. Cantwell is less hopeful reauthorization legislation will be a vehicle for enacting broader media law changes, as some hoped earlier (see 1804030061), because of limited time left in the legislative calendar. “I guess it depends on how much we're here” on Capitol Hill through this year, she said.

Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said he and other House Commerce leaders “are still talking with our Senate counterparts” on STELA, so an initial bill is “not ready yet.” Doyle said he and others are also considering the possibility of a shorter-term renewal period, but "we're still in talks."

House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., characterized the committee's STELA work as at staff level, but “it's sure not like any other past reauthorization” of the law he's experienced. “There doesn't seem to be the same sense of urgency” as during the 2014 process or previous debates, Walden said. “I don't sense there's a real plan here to get this done by the end of the year,” and if a bill comes together it's probably going to “be a short duration” recertification or an otherwise “skinny STELA.”

Stakeholders expect House and Senate Commerce leaders to release their initial STELA bills soon. House Communications could release its “baseline” measure as soon as next week, a communications sector lobbyist said. Some had anticipated Senate Commerce would circulate its draft renewal measure before the hearing (see 1910090063), but it now appears likely to wait until “right before they're ready to mark it up,” the lobbyist said. That could happen in early November.

House Commerce appears likely to pursue a full five-year recertification and is “not going to blow us away” with any substantial media policy revamp language, a communications sector lobbyist said. Committee Democrats are aiming to “give a nod” to language in the Modern Television Act (HR-3994) that House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., had aimed to attach to a STELA package, the lobbyist said. HR-3994 would repeal some parts of the 1992 Cable Act, including retransmission consent (see 1907290053).

A short-term STELA extension could be a way Congress can provide a “glide path” for 870,000 customers dependent on the law to ensure their access to network channels while Congress further examines a sunset of portions of law, Walden said. NAB and others pushed lawmakers to let STELA's distant signal statutory license provision expire, an issue that became a flashpoint in this year's debate (see 1906050083). “There's a question about how many” of the 870,000 customers who would be affected by a STELA sunset “are people who are on the road” and “how many can be served over the top without satellite, versus those who could actually lose coverage,” Walden said.

Wicker's interest in a shorter-term reauthorization is drawing attention among other stakeholders, with supporters and opponents of renewal examining its implications. “I don't have strong views” on either a full five-year renewal or a shorter-term extension of the law, said Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood. “We support reauthorization” and “don't really believe it's hurting localism to give people distant signals if you're giving them two choices instead of one.”

“I'm not optimistic that a broad-scale video reform bill” like HR-3994 “is going to pass Congress this year,” so short-term extension of STELA for two years appears the best outcome, said R Street Institute Tech Policy Manager Tom Struble. “It maintains the status quo until Congress actually has the time to do something” more substantial and ensures “all the interested stakeholders still have skin in the game.” Nobody is “going to be excited about” revisiting STELA again after just a few years but “everyone can probably live” with it, he said.

Wicker's staff has said a short-term extension is in part aimed at ensuring the 12 markets where AT&T's DirecTV provides limited or no access to locally broadcast network stations (see 1903150045) have a “soft landing," said a lobbyist opposed to reauthorization. The House and Senate Judiciary committees ultimately have jurisdiction over renewing the distant-signal provision, but neither panel has shown much interest in addressing the issue amid other policy priorities, the lobbyist said.

A lobbyist who supports recertification countered that's “a little bit of broadcaster spin,” noting other stakeholders support permanent passage. “I have heard there are some on the network side of the business who don't want a two-year or three-year reauthorization because they don't want to be in the same position of fighting and litigating” the issue in Congress again so soon, the pro-renewal lobbyist said. A “five-year reauth” is the most likely scenario.