B'casters, satcasters reopen signal talks
Parties try to avoid Congressional interference
Although terms of the latest proposal were still kept confidential on Friday, one source said broadcasters had been willing to give satcasters more time to phase out the delivery of Fox and CBS signals to approximately 2.2 million subscribers. U.S. federal Judge Lenore Nesbitt ordered the signals to be shut down after ruling last summer that it is illegal for satcasters to provide network signals via satellite to subscribers who can receive the same network fare from their local TV stations.
Nesbitt demanded that 700,000 subscribers be shut off on Feb. 28. and an additional 1.5 million subs on April 30.
Broadcasters felt the need to rekindle talks with satcasters last week after a bill authored by House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) began to pick up steam. The legislation would create a six-month moratorium on the judge's order and would resurrect signals that have already been cut off. It would protect, at least temporarily, the Fox and CBS feeds for those subs who have not yet lost their network feeds.
Tauzin's subcommittee approved the bill last week and it is scheduled for a full committee vote on Tuesday. Broadcasters would like to reach a resolution with satcasters before the committee members meet in an effort to head off the vote.
CBS and Fox may be willing to give more time to DirecTV to phase out the subscribers now slated to be cut off. But all the broadcast networks remain adamantly opposed to a proposal backed by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would allow some subscribers to perpetually receive network signals even though the same programming is available locally.
At the heart of the issue is broadcasters' concern about satcasters' ability to pick up the signal of a network affil in one market and use it as a national programming feed for their subscribers. General managers have grown increasingly concerned about local viewers watching, via satellite, network programming that originates on stations in outside markets. The stations are concerned about an erosion of local advertising revenue if the satcasters continue to grow at their current rate. Since 1995, satcasters have signed up more than 6 million subs.
Broadcasters estimate that 80% of satcasters' current subscriber base are receiving network signals from distant markets even though the same network programming is available from local stations. Nesbitt ruled that satcasters were exploiting the Satellite Home Viewers Act (SHVA), which was intended to limit the delivery of network signals via satellite to rural homes.
The SHVA legislation was written in 1988, just as the first 6-foot wide C-band antenna dishes began springing up around the country. But the legislation did not contemplate the explosive growth of DBS and its 18-inch-wide dish in urban and suburban markets. During the past six years, DBS has signed up more than 6 million subs, most of which live in suburban and urban homes that broadcasters maintain are well within reach of their local affils.
