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—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.