DALLAS—AT&T has shared with TVT’s sister publication B+C that it has reached deals with all of the major broadcast networks, except for ABC, so that DirecTV can continue to deliver distant network affiliated TV signals to truckers, RVs and markets without a viewable signal.

The news comes after AT&T had previously announced a deal with Fox and as the blanket license for DirecTV to deliver those signals without individual carriage deals expired on June 1. This stemmed from Congress’ decision to not renew STELAR.

AT&T told B+C that it was still in negotiations with ABC, as it has a goal of “providing network content to as many homes as possible.”

There was an option for AT&T to retain the license and not have to individually negotiate with broadcasters. To do so they would have had to put TV station signals in about a dozen of the smallest DirecTV markets that did not previously carry them.

DALLAS—AT&T has announced a new multi-year carriage agreement with Fox that will continue to provide the network’s content to DirecTV subscribers after the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) ends on June 1.

STELAR allowed providers like AT&T to deliver signals of out-of-market broadcast network stations to specific groups of customers, including truckers, RVs and others at a blanket license rate. That ability will stop as of June 1, requiring individual deals with each network. AT&T has been pushing for an extension of the deadline to Jan. 1, 2021, so signals are not lost during the coronavirus pandemic. 

AT&T said in a press release that it is currently in discussions with each major national broadcast network to continue to provide their signals. Fox is the only deal at this time.

“It is critical for our customers to be able to access network TV programming, especially during this global pandemic,” said Tim McKone, AT&T executive vice president of Federal Relations. “With this agreement, essential workers, like those on oil rigs and long-haul truckers, can stay connected with news and information. We appreciate Fox for putting the interests of consumers first and we hope the other networks follow suit.”

AT&T could have preserved its blanket license from STELAR by agreeing to deliver local signals to a dozen small markets, something that competitor Dish did. 

DALLAS—AT&T is pushing for the STELAR rules to get some extra time before they lapse because of the current coronavirus pandemic, citing that people could lose access to critical information when STELAR licenses expire on June 1. It requests that deadline be extended until Jan. 1, 2021.

AT&T shared this in a letter to Congress, a copy of which was obtained by TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News. 

STELAR (Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization) allowed satellite operators to import distant network TV signals to viewers that did not have them. Those signals were available at a blanket license rate that did not have to be negotiated on with TV stations. Congress did not renew STELAR last year, bringing an end to this practice and requiring satellite operators to negotiate with stations.

AT&T said that it has been negotiating on carriage license with networks, but have not reached agreements that would preserve all the current programming that some of its subscribers receive.

DirecTV subscribers will start being notified this week that they will lose access to network channels on June 1, AT&T said in its letter. The company says that it will impact tens of thousands of subscribers who live either in rural markets that are missing a local network channel or commercial truckers and RVs. “These unique subscribers presently have no other way to obtain this network programming except through distant signals.”

“Unfortunately, this means disrupting these customers’ service and access to important news and entertainment during this time of emergency,” AT&T said.

AT&T also said it would accept a temporary extension from networks to continue to provide key programming to subscribers, but that has not yet occurred.

Congress did create a way for a permanent license that covers these markets, but DirecTV would have to deliver local TV signals to the 12 unserved rural markets.

The copy of the full letter is available on Multichannel News. 

WASHINGTON—The final days of STELAR are upon us, as Congress has included provisions into its Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations legislation that will allow for the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization to expire.

The House on approved the bill on Tuesday. The Senate passed the bill on Thursday night, which means that STELAR will sunset when the new year begins.

The appropriations bill, includes what is labeled as Title X (Television Viewer Protection) and Title XI (Eligibility to Receive Signals Under a Distant-Signal Satellite License). These detail a pair of bills approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate that will allow for the sunsetting of STELAR at the end of December, while also creating permanent distant-signal satellite license provisions for specific markets. It also would make permanent “good faith” negotiations requirements during retransmission negotiations.

The part of the bill that would create permanent distant-signal licenses covers RVs, truckers, tailgaters and “short markets” that do not have a full complement of local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox-affiliated TV stations. However, for satellite operators to qualify for the permanent license, the bill requires that they must deliver local TV signals when possible. Dish has already accomplished this, but DirecTV would have to meet the bill’s May 31, 2020 deadline for 12 “unserved” rural TV markets.

NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith commented on the inclusion of these provisions into the appropriations bill:

“NAB strongly supports key pro-consumer provisions in the appropriations bill released today that address the expiring STELAR bill. Under this legislation, AT&T-DirecTV will be encouraged to finally serve all satellite TV subscribers with their local TV stations. The bill also ends the five-year renewal cycle of satellite TV legislation that has incentivized pay-TV companies to deny carriage of broadcast TV stations during retransmission consent negotiations.”

AT&T is one of the opponents of letting STELAR sunset, and made its stance clear in a recent blog post.

It is expected that President Trump will approve the appropriations bill. 

DALLAS—The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization—better known as STELAR—is poised to expire at the end of the year and Congress is readying its final approval of the bill that will permanently let it expire, save in a few instances. AT&T’s Senior Executive Vice President of External & Legal Affairs Jim Cicconi expressed why he felt this was a mistake on AT&T’s blog.

Cicconi writes that the removal of STELAR will also remove access to broadcast channels for hundreds of thousands of consumers. “Make no mistake, when the screens of those consumers go dark, the sole reason will be that Congress did not act to protect them,” he wrote.

STELAR is the primary compulsory license that allows satellite operators to import distant network TV station signals to markets. Broadcasters have argued that the license is no longer relevant and have been pushing for it to expire at the end of its most recent five-year renewal cycle this year. Congress seems to have agreed. The House officially passed the appropriations bill that includes the sunsetting of STELAR, and the Senate is expected to do the same by Friday, Dec. 20.

In addition to the sunset of STELAR, the appropriations bill also makes permanent the requirement that retransmission disputes are conducted in “good faith” and it will maintain compulsory licenses for RVs, truckers and “short” markets, which are markets without one or more local network affiliates available.

However, Cicconi does not think these measures will prevent the loss of access to some channels for consumers, but instead there is a need for reform regarding the issue of retransmission fees.

Cicconi presents that retransmission fees for local broadcast stations have grown from $200 million in 2006 to $11.7 billion in 2019—an increase of 5,000%. He says that these increase in fees have trickled down to higher bills for consumers. Rather than address this, Cicconi writes that Congress has “bowed to further demands from broadcasters.”

“If the broadcasters truly want to debate, and to justify such predation based on the principle of free market economics, we are prepared,” writes Cicconi. “But all issues should be on the table. That includes the grant of free spectrum from the public given to local broadcasters for one purpose and now used for another. It should also include the grant of monopoly rights for local broadcasters in specific geographic areas—hardly consistent with any concept of a free market.”

Read the full version of Cicconi’s blog on AT&T’s website.

UPDATE: The NAB responded to Cicconi's blog post with a statement from Dennis Wharton, NAB executive vice president of communications:

“AT&T is being remarkably disingenuous in suggesting that broadcasters are responsible for rising pay-TV prices. Pay-TV prices have increased independent of programming costs for decades. Further, as the attached chart from S&P Global notes, cable network fees are the primary driver of high programming costs. AT&T's own CNN, TBS and TNT networks are among the cable networks charging the highest fees, despite rating that are paltry in comparison to eyeballs delivered by local TV stations.

“There is no reason for 'screens to g dark' as a result of the STELAR bill, as claimed by AT&T. Instead, AT&T's DirecTV has the opportunity as a result of STELAR to fulfill its decade-long pledge to deliver local TV to tens of thousands of viewers in 12 'unserved rural markets. We are hopeful that AT&T delivers on that promise and supports the wishes of Congress in delivering local television signals to rural viewers.”

WASHINGTON—Following a year where a record number of TV blackouts occurred due to retransmission disputes, the U.S. House of Representatives have passed the Television Viewer Protection Act, HR 5035, that aims to ensure cable and satellite TV customers have access to broadcast network programming, in part with a mandate for good faith negotiations between broadcasters and MVPDs.

The bill, which was co-sponsored by House Communications Subcommittee Chair Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) in a bipartisan effort, passed on suspension, a procedure that is typically reserved for noncontroversial items.

In addition to making good faith negotiations required—something required in the STELAR Act—TVPA provides consumers with transparency regarding their fees on cable and satellite bills, as well as gives MVPD buying groups the same good faith negotiation requirements.

One thing that this bill is not is a renewal of the STELAR Act, which is currently still set to expire at the end of the year and deals with compulsory digital signal-licenses.

“The Television Viewer Protection Act will benefit millions of Americans who subscribe to cable or satellite TV service,” said Doyle.

TVPA will now make its way to the Senate, where reports are that it will pass, with Doyle reportedly hoping to have the bill in front of President Donald Trump’s before the end of the year.

WASHINGTON—The House Judiciary Committee says it is time for STELAR to expire in all but a few cases. That would be the result of a bill that received the vote of approval from the committee on Thursday, Nov. 21, sunsetting most distant signal licenses save for those in “short markets” and for truckers and RVs on the move.

The Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019, which was introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) earlier this week, also sets a mandate for DirecTV to deliver local signals to the 12 small markets that it currently does not.

Now the bill moves on to the rest of the House. If approved there, it will move on to the Senate, which has a bill of its own and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who believes that STELAR should be reauthorized.

For more information, read TVT’s sister publication B&C’s full story.

WASHINGTON—As the clock ticks down to the end of the year when the current STELAR Act would expire, Congress has drafted another proposal related to the license, this time including making permanent the good faith requirement for retransmission negotiations.

The bill, The Television Viewer Protection Act, comes from House Energy & Commerce Communications Subcommittee chairman Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and ranking member Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). The bill does not reauthorize the compulsory distant signal license—something that Doyle says the House Judiciary Committee will handle.

The Judiciary did come up with its own proposal for a bill that would permanently extend the STELAR license but narrow its reach.

More information on Doyle and Walden’s bill is available on TVT’s sister publication B&C.

As the bill is now being submitted to the full House Energy & Commerce committee, the NAB has come out and given its approval to the provision regarding good faith negotiations.

“NAB applauds a key provision in the House Commerce Committee-passed STELAR bill today that makes permanent legislation requiring broadcasters and pay TV companies to conduct carriage negotiations in ‘good faith,’” said Gordon Smith, NAB president and CEO. “While we continue to question the need for STELAR legislation, a ‘permanent good faith’ requirement is far preferable to the current five-year STELAR renewal cycle that has incentivized pay-TV companies to force broadcast TV programming disruptions that harm consumers.”

WASHINGTON—Congress continues to search for a solution to the STELAR debate, with a new bill now circulating in the House that would narrow which viewers would be impacted by STELAR.

The Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019 was crafted and is being circulated by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would essentially allow for the permanent extension of STELAR—which allows satellite TV providers to retransmit distant TV networks to communities—but only to “short market” communities that are missing one or more of the four network broadcasters (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC), and those not fixed locations, like RVs and commercial trucks.

Another part of the bill states that the STELAR license will expire after 120 days for communities that have local network stations and does not make sense to import distant network stations.

However, the bill brings up a condition that directly identifies AT&T’s DirecTV. The bill says that DirecTV needs to guarantee that within 120 days it will begin providing local TV signals in the 12 TV markets for Alpena, Mich.; Bowling Green, Ky.; Casper-Riverton, Wyo.; Cheyenne, Wyo./Scottsbluff, Neb.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Helena, Mont.; North Platte, Neb.; Ottumwa, Iowa/Kirksville, Mo.; Presque Isle, Maine; San Angelo, Texas; Victoria, Texas; and Glendive, Mont.

The STELAR license in its current form is set to expire at the end of 2019.

Most broadcasters want to see STELAR expire, including the National Association of Broadcasters. But the association applauded the bill’s requirement that viewers in the 12 markets listed above will be protected.

“While NAB continues to believe STELAR’s reauthorization is unnecessary, we support Chairman Nadler’s thoughtful narrowly-tailored approach that benefits viewers by better ensuring satellite carriage of their local broadcast stations,” said NAB CEO and President Gordon Smith. “We’re particularly pleased that Chairman Nadler’s 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.

“We’re optimistic that under the Nadler bill, DirecTV will finally fulfill its decade-old pledge to carry local television stations to those viewers, rather than piping in programming from New York City or Los Angeles,” Smith added. “NAB looks forward to working with Chairman Nadler, ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and other House Judiciary Committee members as the bill is considered this week.”

NAB has also released a breakdown of the bill, section by section.

WASHINGTON—ABC, CBS, Fox, with NBC soon expected to join them, have all responded and agreed with the proposed plan by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that would see the expiration of the STELAR Act.

Sen. Graham’s plan was detailed in letters that he sent to the D.C. executives of the four major networks, in which he asked for their responses. The plan would see STELAR sunset at the end of this year, as it is currently slated to do, but asks that there be a one-year transition period where the networks guarantee that no viewers would lose signals and that satellite providers be given one-year license rates comparable to the compulsory license rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board.

TVT’s sister publication B&C has learned that ABC, CBS and Fox all sent letters back agreeing to the terms, with NBC expected to do so as well.

It is still not finalized that STELAR will sunset at the end of the year. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has introduced the STAR Act, that would essentially extend the rules of STELAR until 2024.

B&C has more information.

WASHINGTON—Choosing to go with a slight rebranding, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has introduced a new bill that would serve as a renewal of the STELAR Act called the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act, or STAR Act.

The new bill is essentially the same as STELAR, providing a compulsory license that allows satellite operators to import distant network affiliated TV station signals to markets that lack them, with supporters of the act saying it will provide increased access to key content like news, sports and more at fair and competitive pricing. The STAR Act would extend the law from its current expiration date of 2019 to 2024, and continue the requirement that TV stations and MVPDs negotiate in good faith.

The STELAR reauthorization has been a contentious debate in recent months, with most broadcasters wanting the bill to expire while cable and satellite operators sought its renewal.

“We are glad that Sen. Wicker has introduced legislation that will prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from watching the ball drop on New Year’s Eve—and then suddenly losing access to the broadcast stations they rely upon for news, sports and entertainment once the clock strikes midnight,” said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge.

“While we had advocated for a permanent reauthorization, Sen. Wicker’s proposed five-year reauthorization will protect consumers in the short term and ensure that this issue is revisited again. At that time, if not before, Congress should consider more fundamental changes to video marketplace rules to better align the interests of creators, distributors and viewers.”

The American Television Alliance echoed Public Knowledge’s support for the bill, with Trent Duffy, spokesman for ATVA, adding: “We urge the committee to not only renew the current law but to fix this broken system that has brought record blackouts and allowed broadcasters to raise fees paid by cable and satellite customers by more than 5,000%. Enough is enough.”

The bill is expected to be marked up next week.

WASHINGTON—As the debate on whether to allow STELAR to expire at the end of the year or be in line for another extension continues, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which shares jurisdiction over STELAR with the Commerce Committee, has issued a series of questions for the major broadcasters to help them detail why it is time for STELAR to expire.

STELAR is a license that allows satellite providers to import distant network-affiliated TV signals into markets that are not able to get them without having to individually negotiate with broadcasters. It is set to expire on Dec. 31. Broadcasters are primarily on the side of letting it expire, while MVPDs are hoping for another extension.

The Senate held a hearing last week on the subject. Commerce Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said at the hearing that he thought STELAR was critical for providing video services to rural residents, and has designs on beginning an extension plan by Nov. 13.

Sen. Graham on Friday, Nov. 1, sent individual letters to ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in which he inquires about each’s plan to transition from STELAR to a free market, providing specific questions that he is seeking to have back by Nov. 12.

“My constituents, and those of other Members of Congress, need assurances that during this transition to a free market their favorite network news and prime time shows will continue to be available to them on their current satellite provider,” Graham wrote in the letters. “More clarity is needed from all the major networks and satellite providers on how network shows will continue to be available to satellite customers for the next calendar year during which a transition to a free market can occur.”

Here are the questions that Sen. Graham is seeking answers to:

1. Will their respective networks provide a one-year license to satellite providers for network-owned shows in exchange for a "market-by-market" usage fee from each provider, including for use by long-distance truckers and RV owners, who also rely on the license?
2. Will the network agree, for that transition period, to charge a rate comparable to the compulsory license rate charged by the Copyright Royalty Board for 2018?
3. Will the network work with their affiliates to negotiate during this transition year, on a carriage agreement for "full local-into-local on both Dish and DirecTV for deals beginning in Jan. 1, 2021?
4. For areas without local affiliates, will the network commit to negotiating with Dish and DirecTV on a carriage agreement beginning no later than Jan. 1, 2021?
5. Will the network keep the committee informed on its progress toward such agreements?

The National Association of Broadcasters released a response from CEO and President Gordon Smith in support of Graham’s efforts.

“Broadcasters across the nation thank Sen. Graham for his leadership and recognition that STELAR’s expiring distant signal license is outdated and that the U.S. Copyright Office has recommended that it not be renewed,” said Smith. “Long having outlived its usefulness, STELAR’s distant signal license now serves as incentive for dominant pay-TV platform AT&T DirecTV to serve its satellite subscribers with out-of-market rather than local broadcast channels.

“The practical impact of this outdated law means that from Maine to Montana and from Kentucky to Texas, DirecTV pipes in broadcast network programming from New York and Los Angeles while denying viewers access to their hometown TV stations. This is a business decision that AT&T is making to underserve these viewers through continued use of STELAR’s subsidy, and we thank Sen. Graham for offering a better path for local viewers and local communities.”

No official decision on STELAR has been made.

WASHINGTON—STELAR went to Washington on Wednesday, and both sides of the debate regarding whether the STELAR should be reauthorized or allowed to sunset made their cases, as well as some introducing new proposals that would better serve customers.

STELAR, which was first introduced in 1988 to establish the compulsory license that allows satellite operators to import distant network TV station signals into local markets where viewers lack access, is approaching the end of its latest five-year renewal in 2019. Most cable operators want the law renewed, while broadcasters believe it is time for it to go away.

According coverage from TVT’s sister publication, Multichannel News, Committee Chairman Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) made it clear that he sees STELAR as a critical law for preserving access to video services for rural residents, and even said that “the committee is preparing to reauthorize STELAR.” However, there were some on the committee, like ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who side with broadcasters and the amount of competition in the industry today makes STELAR unnecessary.

Another area that was discussed was about how STELAR could be used as a vehicle for reforms and just what some of those reforms could be. Things brought up by witnesses included having the current set-aside for noncommercial channels on satellite in the Telecommunications Act also include independent commercial channels; a True Fees Act that would offer transparency to all the fees customers are subject to from MVPDs; and the issue of stations on state borders not receiving signals from stations actually located in their state.

One piece of legislation not on the table, however, is the Local Choice Act that Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) previously introduced during the last renewal five years ago. The act would have required broadcasters to sell their signals directly to consumers, who could choose not to take them.

For more information on the STELAR hearing proceedings, read the full report on Multichannel News.

WASHINGTON—Speaking on behalf of a number of organizations representing the interests of thousands of rural residents, the Rural & Agriculture Council of America has issued a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) opposing the the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR), which the committee will hold a hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

RACA, along with nine other organizations, cosigned a letter this past summer that said how STELAR negatively affects people in rural communities.

“There is a notable lack of reliable broadband and wireless connections in rural areas along with abysmal internet speeds, and this legislative loophole creates a broadcast television divide,” Jack Alexander, president of RACA, wrote in this new letter. “Rural Americans rely on local broadcasting for critical news and information about our communities and, especially when we are out in the field, up-to-the-minute weather and emergency information. Broadcasters work hand-in-hand as first informers with first responders in our neighborhoods, yet for residents of rural America in the communities affected by STELAR, we receive none of this sometimes lifesaving programming during times of crisis.

“For these reasons rural leaders remain steadfast our position and ask that Congress to allow STELAR to expire and end this broadcast television divide in rural America.”

For more information on the hearing, or to watch a live webcast, click here.

WASHINGTON—The Senate has officially set a time to examine whether or not STELAR should be reauthorized before it expires at the end of this year.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has set a hearing date for “The Reauthorization of STELAR” of Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. The hearing will be convened by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the committee.

The hearing will look into the policy considerations for reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELAR) and how to ensure Americans living beyond the reach of a broadcast signal maintain access to local programming. Witnesses are also expected to discuss the effectiveness of STELAR’s good faith requirement and other targeted video marketplace reforms Congress should consider in the next STELAR reauthorization.

Witnesses expected to appear at the hearing, though subject to change, include Emily Barr, president and CEO of The Graham Media Group and chairwoman for NAB’s Television Board; Denny Law, CEO and general manager at Golden West Telecommunications; Robert Thun, senior vice president of content and programming at AT&T; and J.C. Watts, chairman and co-founder of The Black News Channel.

A live video stream of the hearing will be available on www.commerce.senate.gov.

Viewers who are fed up with ongoing TV blackouts caused by battles between broadcasters and pay-TV operators could confront a “permanent” blackout of their local TV channels if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELAR) before it expires at the end of 2019, according to advocates for the elderly.

Passed in 1992, STELA ensures that satellite TV subscribers in rural areas are able to receive their local TV channels. Without such legislation, they could instead end up receiving TV stations from locales outside their viewing area.

In an op-ed published in The Hill today, Debra Berlyn, president of Consumer Policy Solutions and the executive director of Project GOAL, a project to raise awareness of both the benefits and challenges of innovative new technologies for the aging community, called recent sporadic blackouts “unjust” and called on legislators to include provisions that would curtail rising retransmission costs that are the source of most local TV station blackouts.

“While these unjust and sporadic blackouts are a concern for all of us nationwide, 870,000 consumers [sic] will confront a permanent blackout of their TV service in just a few short months,” Berlyn wrote. “This can be avoided if members of Congress act quickly and reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELAR) before it expires at the end of the year.

“The current situation has created space for retransmission fees to continue to skyrocket and, unfortunately, those growing fees are passed down to consumers,” Berlyn added. “A stronger good faith measure is needed as part of STELAR so that broadcasters cannot threaten station blackouts unless their request for increased fees is met. Consumers have a stake in this as they are the ones bearing the costs. This provision would limit this unfair negotiating tactic and prevent the TV blackouts that consumers do not deserve and don’t understand. They just want their TV service.”

Berlyn added that the elderly in particular are among the most vulnerable if STELAR isn’t reauthorized.

“While all consumers should be concerned, older adults have a special interest too because they watch a significant amount of TV and depend on access to local programming,” Berlyn wrote. “The TV is often their go-to source for important content including local news, weather, traffic and community information that is, at times, critically important.”

WASHINGTON—As Congress still debates what to do with the expiring STELAR bill, NAB President Gordon Smith sent a letter earlier this week to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in which he criticizes a DirecTV campaign about STELAR’s renewal.

The campaign, according to the letter, warns viewers that they could be at risk of losing TV channels in the event that the STELAR legislation is not renewed by Congress.

“These ‘auto-tuned’ scare tactic messages appearing on TV screens of DirecTV customers are disingenuous at best, and deceptive at worst,” Smith wrote.

The STELAR Act was introduced in 1988 and allows satellite operators to deliver distant network affiliate signals to markets where they don’t deliver a local version of those stations. It was most recently renewed in 2014.

Smith points out in his letter that STELAR represented a temporary fix to copyright laws and delivering local coverage to underserved areas when it was passed and was never intended to be permanent.

“Today, because Congress’s wise decision to establish a compulsory copyright license which better enables DirecTV to carry local TV affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, rather than distant signals, the number of locally unserved households for these networks has dropped to less than 500,000 (or less than 0.5% of total U.S. households),” wrote Smith. “With this fraction of households that STELAR actually impacts plummeting—precisely why the U.S. Copyright Office (the expert federal agency on copyright issues) supports expiration of STELAR this year—you are sadly misleading a significant majority of your subscribers, who face no impact whatsoever.”

Smith calls the campaign a series disservice to both DirecTV’s subscribers and Congress, and says that DirecTV can ensure no stations will be lost by fulfilling the company’s “decade-old promise” to carry local stations in all 210 U.S. TV markets.

WASHINGTON—The time has come for the STELAR Act to fade off into the sunset, according to NAB CEO and President Gordon Smith, who testified in front of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for the “STELAR Review: Protecting Consumers in an Evolving Media Marketplace” hearing.

The STELAR Act, which was first introduced in 1988 and renewed most recently in 2014, is unnecessary due to media marketplace advances, said Smith in his testimony. Not only that, he described how “any reauthorization will further harm satellite viewers that are currently denied access to their local stations as a result of this law.”

Smith highlights that local broadcast TV remains one of the most important sources of news, emergency updates and entertainment for communities across the country. But there are many communities that are being served by out-of-market stations as a result of STELAR, per Smith, which he said helped provide a “crutch” to satellite companies.

“Those nascent satellite companies that Congress Subsidized are now multi-billion-dollar behemoths,” his statement reads. “And today’s competition for viewers comes not only from those giant pay-TV providers and their cable brethren, but also unregulated tech companies such as Facebook and Google, and online video providers like Netflix and Amazon.

“Most importantly, no technological impediment exists today to prevent AT&T-DirecTV and DISH from providing local broadcast channels to their subscribers across the country. Yet STELAR’s distant signal provisions incentivize those companies to serve a shrinking universe of eligible viewers with out-of-market stations because of its subsidy.”

Smith highlighted this fact with a story of DirecTV subscribers in a community in Iowa that saw a story on a garbage truck fire in Los Angeles rather than the rising prices of crop insurance for farmers in Iowa.

“To end this consumer harm and modernize the video marketplace law, Congress should allow STELAR to expire as it was originally intended” Smith concluded. “There is no policy justification or technological reason for this outdated law to be reauthorized. The time has come to stop subsidizing billion-dollar satellite companies and to instead provide viewers with the most accurate and timely source of community news, weather and emergency information—their local broadcast stations.”

WASHINGTON—Though not yet through the halfway point of the year, the American Television Alliance has reported that so far for 2019 there has been 62 station blackouts for the U.S. video marketplace. This has been a consistent trend in recent years, as ATVA says that there have been nearly 550 blackouts in the last three and a half years, with an average of more than 12 a month.

On May 30, seven small station groups owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group went dark on AT&T’s DirecTV, DirecTV Now and U-Verse in 14 cities. The stations are Deerfield Media, MPS Media, GoCom Media of Illinois, Howard Stirk Holdings, Roberts Media, Second Generation of Iowa and Waitt Broadcasting.

“The video marketplace keeps changing, but the TV blackout crisis and retrans racket that hurts consumers stays the same,” said Trent Duffy, ATVA spokesman. “In this case, one of America’s biggest broadcasters is making a mockery of station ownership restrictions by unduly controlling what ‘independent’ broadcasters are doing.”

Congress is currently considering the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act. ATVA supports the reauthorization of STELAR, saying that up to 870,000 satellite subscribers could lose access to broadcast channels if it is not renewed.

“Congress should not only re-authorize STELAR so rural America can continue receiving all their broadcast channels, but also modernize the retransmission consent rules, which currently favor broadcasters at the expense of consumers and competition,” said Duffy.

WASHINGTON—As the expiring provisions of the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 is up for reauthorization, broadcasters and satellite operators are on opposing ends over certain elements, specifically the distant signal license. In a letter to members of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce and House Committee on Judiciary, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) came down on the side of broadcasters, believing that it is time to let the expiring provisions sunset.

The digital signal license in STELAR allows satellite TV providers to pipe in distant TV network programming into a local TV market rather than the local TV stations. This license was first instituted 30 years ago with the goal of allowing the young satellite industry to compete with cable companies.

This has impacted Rep. Golden’s constituents, as he points out in his letter that AT&T/DirecTV subscribers in Presque Isle, Maine, do not have access to local broadcast channels despite no technological limitations that would prevent AT&T/DirecTV from delivering them. “Instead, these subscribers receive distant network signals, thereby denying communities in my district from accessing critically important local news, weather and emergency information,” Golden says.

Golden continues: “... [O]ver the past three decades, the satellite industry has grown into a viable competitor to cable television service.

“It is clear that the distant signal license has outlived its usefulness and now disincentivizes AT&T/DirecTV from offering local programming to viewers in Northern Maine.”

Golden joins fellow Maine representatives Sens. Susan Collins (R) and Angus King (I) addressing the license’s impact on local broadcasting, as well as Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), who also represents one of the 12 “neglected markets,” as Golden described them in his letter.