Senate Bill S247 Gives DBS Providers Right To Retransmit Local Signals

Echostar Communications Corporationís Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen yesterday offered thanks and appreciation to U.S. Senators and their constituents who supported local-into-local efforts and for approval of legislation in the Senate that would reform the Satellite Home View Act.Thursday (May 20, 1999), the Senate voted to approve S247, a bill co-authored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and John McCain (R-Arizona) which is a giant step toward leveling the playing field for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers as they seek to compete with the dominant cable programming carriers.""We greatly appreciate those in the U.S. Senate and their staffs who were determined to pass this legislation as quickly as they did,"" said Ergen. ""We realize there is still work to be done in the conference when considering that placing satellite television on a level playing field with cable TV is not an easy task. The conferees in the House and Senate will now have to work through a number of competing interests to keep the most important interest - that of their constituents - in full view. We look forward to working with the conference committee as the legislation makes its way toward law.""The legislation in S247 would offer DBS providers the right to retransmit local signals back into the local markets from which they originated and give DBS providers a chance to make the case to the FCC that homes receiving distant network signals are not harming the local broadcaster.EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen urged conferees to adopt a provision that appears in the legislation passed by the House that would require broadcasters to deal fairly with DBS providers in bargaining for the right to retransmit local signals. ""Itís necessary that any final legislation require broadcasters to negotiate in a non-discriminatory manner with DBS providers like EchoStar,"" Ergen continued. ""DBS and other program distributors should be given fair and non-discriminatory terms, which are currently offered only to cable companies. We know lawmakers will recognize how important that provision is to fledging alternative video programming distributors who are seeking to compete in the marketplace against the rising prices and poor customer service of cable monopolies.""This legislation is about consumers and their rights to choose among their television providers, especially given the disappointing results since the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act,"" Ergen added.Ergen urges consumers to continue to write their elected officials and push for fair competition.