NAB Takes Aim at DISH Local TV Content Idea

[Gregg Lengling]

The National Association of Broadcasters responded to a proposal floated by EchoStar that would deny TV stations their rights for must-carry carriage via satellite TV if they do not satisfy standards that would gauge the amount of local content delivered by a station.

The NAB told the Federal Communications Commission this week that EchoStar's proposal concerning TV stations and local content "lacks the authority to strip stations of these statutory rights by administrative fiat." And NAB said the idea misinterprets remedial provisions that are part of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), which governs must-carry of local TV stations via satellite TV.

The satellite TV company's idea was floated in comments the FCC was gathering on broadcast localism. NAB described the EchoStar proposal as denying TV stations their rights under the "carry one, carry all" provision of SHVIA if the stations do not satisfy some sort of numerical standard regarding local content.

"EchoStar's suggestion also would defeat the underlying purpose of the 'carry one, carry all' provision by diminishing the ability of tens of millions of Americans to rely solely on reception of free, over-the-air broadcast stations as their source of television programming," the broadcast organization said in its comments.