[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 72 (Thursday, May 13, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E849-E850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SATELLITE TELEVISION EXTENSION AND LOCALISM ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 2010

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3333, the 
Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010. I'm pleased 
that the Senate finally passed its version of a

[[Page E850]]

bill that the House passed last December, and I look forward to 
enactment and implementation of much-needed improvements to the laws 
governing the transmission of satellite signals to American consumers.
  Among this bill's many consumer-oriented regulations is Section 207, 
which ensures that satellite providers do not discriminate against 
noncommercial high definition signals. I drafted this language to 
protect the rights of consumers to receive federally funded programming 
broadcast by America's Public Broadcasting Service, PBS.
  Without this provision, PBS stations cannot compete for viewers with 
commercial stations favored by satellite contracts. This problem is 
particularly troubling in the case of DISH Network, which covers 93 
percent of U.S. households but only carries local PBS HD broadcasts in 
Alaska and Hawaii--where they are legally obligated to do so. The 
behavior of DISH contrasts with Direct TV, which voluntarily offers 106 
PBS HD channels in its regions of operation.
  With the enactment of this bill, 14 million satellite viewers will 
have a date certain when they will receive PBS HD signals, and PBS 
stations will have an even playing field when their signals are 
distributed via satellite providers.
  My language is a simple and direct solution to a problem that 
undermines consumer rights and shortchanges PBS carriage:
  Carriers will give their customers local non-commercial HDTV 
transmissions when carrying other locally broadcast HD signals.
  It provides for carriage compliance for 50 percent of the stations by 
the end of 2010, with an extra year for the remainder, thus 
accelerating the FCC 2013 date.
  When new service is initiated, noncommercial stations will get equal 
treatment.
  Carriers will have one last opportunity to sign a contract prior to 
the date of enactment to receive a safe harbor from the hard deadlines 
in the bill.
  I look forward to final passage of the Satellite bill, and especially 
the anti-discriminatory section which is so essential to America's 
consumers.

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