DISH, DIRECTV Seek Broadcasters' Help Serving Rural Markets
17 June 2009 - 2:50AM
Dow Jones News
Two of the largest satellite TV services in the U.S., DIRECTV
Group Inc. (DTV) and DISH Network Corp. (DISH), asked lawmakers
Tuesday for financial help from TV broadcasters to beam local
television service into all of the country's 210 markets.
Right now, about 30 markets don't have access to satellite TV
service. Some areas, mostly rural and sparsely populated, lack
access to all four major networks, Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) ABC, CBS
Corp.'s (CBS) CBS network, NBC, a unit of General Electric Co. (GE)
and Fox. Fox's parent, News Corp. (NWSA), owns Dow Jones & Co.,
the publisher of Dow Jones Newswires.
House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee
Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said at a hearing that it would cost
roughly $30 million collectively to extend satellite service to
unserved markets.
The subcommittee is drafting legislation to reauthorize the law
giving satellite providers their national licenses. Parts of the
statute expire at the end of this year, and the renewal is
considered "must-pass."
Boucher, who represents several rural counties in southern
Virginia, is coaxing satellite providers to offer service in all TV
markets as his congressional panel writes the bill.
"Asking satellite carriers alone to expand further to every
market and every consumer is a substantial burden, a burden that is
not being asked of broadcasters or the cable industry," said DISH
Executive Vice President and General Counsel Stanton Dodge.
"There should be clear financial commitments from broadcasters
to share in the burden of getting local TV service to remote
areas," Dodge said.
DIRECTV agrees with the proposal. If Boucher's bill requires
satellite service in all 210 markets, it also should "require local
broadcasters to share in the costs," according to written testimony
from DIRECTV's Content Strategy Executive Vice President Derek
Chang.
Boucher asked National Association of Broadcasters Television
Board Chairman Paul Karpowicz whether TV stations would be willing
to pony up some cash to be carried by satellite TV in rural areas.
"The broadcasters have a tremendous interest in getting all 210
markets served," Boucher said.
Karpowicz said NAB has established a subcommittee to examine the
satellite companies' proposal and produce its own cost estimates.
Broadcasters are ready to work with lawmakers and the satellite
operators, he added.
-By Fawn Johnson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9263;
fawn.johnson@dowjones.com