House Judiciary Approves STELAR Expiration for Most Licenses

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.