McCAIN BLASTS SHVA LEGISLATION

Television Digest with Consumer Electronics, Nov 29, 1999

Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) continued his harsh criticism of Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA) rewrite, which passed Senate 74-24 Nov. 19 as part of catchall FY 2000 appropriations package that, among other agencies, provides budgets for FCC, as well as for Commerce, State and Justice Depts. McCain voted against bill, as did other senators critical of SHVA -- Sens. Baucus (D-Mont.) and Dorgan (D-N.D.). Broadcasters large and small generally supported measure.

President Clinton reportedly is planning to sign omnibus budget bill, (TVD Nov 22 p2), today (Nov. 29), clearing way for launch of local-into-local DBS service. EchoStar's DISH Network said it plans to begin local-into-local at noon Nov. 29, assuming bill is signed. Service would reach 13 large markets immediately, with 7 more to be added by end of year, and 13 more in first quarter. DISH said that would reach about 60% of U.S. households. Price is to be $4.99 per month. First markets are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, L.A., Miami, N.Y.C., Pittsburgh, Phoenix, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Washington. DirecTV, meanwhile, said it plans to begin similar service to N.Y.C. and L.A. within hours of signing, reaching all top-25 markets by end of Jan. Next DirecTV markets will be Denver, Detroit, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, it said. EchoStar already has rebroadcast agreement with Fox.

In addition to SHVA, satellite package grants new permanent Class A status to low-power TV broadcasters, and bans donor list swapping by public broadcasters. Legislation puts LPTV stations on same license terms and renewal standards as full-power stations as long as station meets list of requirements that includes broadcasting at least 18 hours daily with 3 hours per week of locally produced programming and that stations don't interfere with other stations in Grade B contour. Bill also gives FCC 6 months to complete biennial review of all regulations as required under Telecom Act.

McCain issued scathing 5-page statement following bill's passage, saying it would have been good for satellite consumers if special interest provisions hadn't been added. In backhanded compliment to opponents' lobbying, he said he would use statement to demonstrate "how insidiously, and how adeptly, the special interests sandbagged" bill. McCain objected to lack of statutory safeguards to assure satellite carriers are dealt with fairly by broadcasters, noting that only definition relevant to negotiations on retransmission consent defines what "good-faith" negotiations aren't but doesn't provide any positive guidance for what constitutes good faith. Then, McCain said, "this mess is punted to the FCC to figure out." He said he will send letter to FCC asking Chmn. Kennard to establish quickly minimum requirement for "good-faith" bargaining.

Also objecting to 6-month period for retransmission consent agreements to be worked out, McCain said if that time period expires without agreements "it's the satellite TV company that suffers -- even though it's the network that had the upper hand in bargaining, and even if it was the network's fault that a fair agreement wasn't reached." Only broadcasters can file complaints against DBS providers, not other way around, he said.

McCain also objected to how measure treated local signal standards, important indicator to determine which households can receive distant signal satellite service. He said it only tells FCC to study issue and report to Congress, but not to fix problem: "And if you think Congress has any intention of jumping at the chance to change the standard once it gets the FCC's report, why are we knuckling under to the broadcast industry's demands by including this no-action provision to begin with?" McCain asked FCC to move quickly on that issue, too, and said he will introduce bill containing Commission's recommendations.

In "personal valentine to that neediest of interests -- the NFL," McCain said some sports programming can be blacked out on distant networks even though satellite subscribers have been watching games "for some time now without forcing any professional football team owners to hock their private planes to make ends meet."

One issue left out of package at last min. was loan guarantee program for rural areas, blocked by Sen. Gramm (R-Tex.). Congressional leaders pledged to have bill covering that issue passed by April 1, and groups backing provision took that as victory. To get process started, 13 Democratic senators from rural states, led by Baucus, introduced bill (S-1980) setting out their own version of loan program. While Gramm promised to process bill through Banking Committee he chairs, Baucus and others want it assigned to Agriculture Committee because loan guarantee would be administered by Rural Utility Service. Bill provides for same $1.25 billion as did provision stricken from SHVA legislation.