House STELA Outlook Murky Before House Commerce Markup, Nadler's Bill Circulation

House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., were negotiating Monday with Walden over HR-5035 amid hopes of reaching an agreement on a compromise manager's amendment aimed at smoothing advancement of the measure, communications sector lobbyists told us. HR-5035 would extend until the end of 2024 STELA's good-faith requirement and would continue to allow import of distant signals under the compulsory license. The measure incorporates language from the Truth-in-Billing, Remedies and User Empowerment over Fees (True Fees) Act (HR-1220) and would let MVPDs collectively negotiate for retransmission consent using a qualified buying group (see 1911130055).

House Commerce staff appeared confident Monday afternoon that Walden and committee Democrats were close to an agreement on a manager's amendment, lobbyists said. That language would narrow the scope of the HR-1220 language included in a final version of HR-5035 and would make STELA’s good-faith retransmission consent negotiations requirement permanent instead of requiring a new renewal of the provision in 2024, a media lobbyist said. If Walden agrees to a manager's amendment, that would likely mean HR-5035 would sail through House Commerce, lobbyists said. Officials weren't aware of pending amendments from any other committee members.

The Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act, led by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., would make permanent the distant-signal license but limit its scope to cover only trucks, RVs and households in short markets. The measure defines short markets as those “in which programming of one or more of the four most widely viewed television networks nationwide is not offered on either the primary stream or multicast stream transmitted by any network station in that market.”

Nadler's legislation would provide a limited extension of the distant-signal license for 120 days for all other currently covered subscribers. A section-by-section summary of the measure describes the extension as a “transition period” and says affected communities “have local network stations, where it does not make sense to import distant network stations that do not carry local news, weather, or emergency alerts. There is already another statutory license allowing for 'local-into-local' retransmission by satellite carriers, so there is a readily available legal means for satellite carriers to move to providing local broadcast signals where they are not currently doing so.”

The bill would require satellite providers using the distant-signal license to serve all 210 designated market areas, an apparent bid to address lawmakers' concerns about the 12 markets where AT&T's DirecTV provides limited or no access to locally broadcasted networks' stations. AT&T says the 12 markets have access to local stations' terrestrial signals. The language mirrors an amendment that Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., attempted to attach last week to the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) before the Senate Commerce Committee postponed consideration of the bill.

House Judiciary quietly announced Monday it plans to mark up Nadler's bill Wednesday. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. Lobbyists opposed to Nadler's bill said they believe Nadler may yet decide to postpone consideration of the measure. A House Judiciary spokesperson clarified Monday afternoon Nadler hadn't yet formally filed the legislation.

NAB “continues to believe” STELA renewal “is unnecessary,” but supports Nadler's “thoughtful narrowly-tailored approach that benefits viewers by better ensuring satellite carriage of their local broadcast stations,” CEO Gordon Smith said in a statement. “We’re particularly pleased [the bill] rights a wrong inflicted upon tens of thousands of DirecTV viewers in 12 rural markets who have been denied access to local TV programming for years.”

Walden as recently as Friday was unconvinced it was appropriate to renew STELA as envisioned in HR-5035. STELA is the “locomotive that pulls” through other media policy measures like HR-1220, which would let customers end contracts with providers without early termination fees if the provider increases prices, he said. “There hasn’t been a hearing ... at all” that addresses attempts to pass that language via STELA renewal, which “points to the problematic nature of” perpetuating the law.

House Commerce Republicans “had no staff involved” in writing HR-5035 as it advanced out of House Communications, “but I want to see what [Walden and the Democrats] come up with in negotiations,” said subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “We've known was coming since the beginning of the year and here we are” weeks away from the deadline “and this bill was dropped on us” from out of nowhere.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., told us she's “aiming high and wants to optimize the opportunity at hand” to make HR-5035 a vehicle for advancing her Modern Television Act (HR-3994). That bill, which Eshoo filed with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., would repeal some parts of the 1992 Cable Act, including retransmission consent (see 1907290053). “Of course that depends” on Pallone and Doyle and how much “they want to take on” via HR-5035, Eshoo said. “You've got two factions -- those that want to kill STELA and those that want” to extend it. “I don't believe that STELA will be killed,” she said. “The next question is what will be included and I think we have an opportunity” to address broader issues via the HR-3994 language.

Scalise is “disappointed” House Commerce leaders missed “a real opportunity to modernize the video marketplace in a meaningful way” by attaching HR-3994's language to HR-5035, he said in a statement.

The House Commerce Tuesday markup will include nine other tech and telecom measures, including the Secure 5G and Beyond Act (HR-2881) and the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Broadband Data) Act broadband mapping legislative package (HR-4229). Also on the docket: H. Res. 575, the Mapping Accuracy Promotes Services Act (HR-4227), the Network Security Information Sharing Act (HR-4461), the Promoting United States Wireless Leadership Act (HR-4500), legislation to renew the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act (HR-4779), the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (HR-4998) and the Studying How to Harness Airwave Resources Efficiently (Share) Act (HR-5000).