SHVERA Dust Up Over Broadcast

[tomcat01]

Broadcast signals – who carries them, which ones count and how much it will all cost – held center stage yesterday at a Senate hearing on the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act. On one side of the issue, broadcasters, cable ops and, by all indications, Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, want DISH and DIRECTV to carry broadcast signals in every market across the nation. Since Rockefeller (D-WV) is chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation his opinion carries a lot of weight. Said Rockefeller in yesterday’s opening statement: “In reauthorizing SHVERA, I firmly believe we must examine how all consumers in even the most rural regions can gain access to local news, sports, and community programming.”

DIRECTV and DISH counter this notion with lots and lots of dollar signs. DISH (which currently offers locals in all but 29 markets) says it would cost $100 million to bring local TV via satellite to everyone. DISH EVP Stanton Dodge argues that would mean less programming for everyone else. Said he, “The decision to provide a local NBC affiliate to a few thousand (rural) subscribers precludes DISH from providing a new national service, a high definition channel, or an international Spanish-language offering to 13 million subscribers.”

DIRECTV (in the person of SVP Robert Gabrielli) says it would cost roughly $2 million per market to serve the 58 markets now without locals from the DBS no. 1. That (for the calculator-less among you) adds up to $116 million.

The NAB, to no one’s great surprise, says “Na unh!” (or something like it) and points out that Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) has estimated that it would cost roughly $30 million to extend satellite service to unserved markets.

And, as a special sidelight, ACA pres Matthew Polka has waded into the argument saying that if DBS ops are allowed to provide “local” stations as defined by an area’s residents rather than Nielsen markets, then the small cable guys should get the same rights.

So it goes in D.C. We’ll keep you posted .... •

[Victor Hugo]

Thanks for all the Information Tomcat.