SkyFILES: Dressed Up Like a Christmas Tree

[Gregg Lengling]

by Michael Hopkins mhopkins@mediabiz.com

The talk on a la carte has only just begun.

Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Georgia Republican Nathan Deal, have asked the Federal Communications Commission to scrutinize program choice. The FCC has until Nov. 18 to deliver a report on a la carte to the committee, but one can expect a lot of debate about the issue between now and that date. (Also, note, now the deadline is conveniently placed after the election cycle.)

Possibly the best thing to come out of this week's a la carte talk - at least for satellite TV interests - is the fact that no a la carte language is attached to legislation reauthorizing the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA).

The industry hasn't yet formed a unified opinion on a la carte. But satellite TV interests were concerned that a straight-forward SHVIA bill that's very critical to the small dish business was going to be bogged down by extras, such as language addressing program choice. As SBCA President Richard DalBello put, no one in the industry wants to see SHVIA renewal legislation "becoming a Christmas tree for other amendments."

With a la carte out of the way, the satellite TV industry can battle hikes in the royalty rate for superstations and distant networks and work for the delivery of significantly viewed TV stations to outside markets. These are things that can help put satellite TV on a level playing field with the cable competition.

Nonetheless, the sides are beginning to form around program choice for TV viewers. Consumer interests want it, and cable and programmers don't want it. The fact that it's now at the FCC will give all those interested in a la carte a lot of opportunities to voice their opinions on the topic. (You can expect satellite TV companies and others tied to the business to comment on a la carte as well.)

So much for some of us in the reporting business who thought we were going to have a quiet summer. The industries involved will now have their hands full with the new big issue in the cable and satellite TV business.

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