Echostar Seeks Extension

Television Digest with Consumer Electronics, Dec 20, 1999

FCC denied EchoStar's request for extension to meet Commission's rule requiring DBS providers to dedicate 4% of their channels to public interest programming by Dec. 15. Commission said company has until Jan. 7 to comply with rule, or face penalties. Sources said penalties could include "substantial fines" or loss of license. FCC said EchoStar "failed to demonstrate good cause" sufficient to warrant waiver. One analyst said it would be "major mistake" for EchoStar to fail to meet new Jan. 7 deadline: "The Commission is trying to play ball with them. EchoStar needs to deliver."

EchoStar asked FCC for extension of Commission's Dec. 15 deadline for DBS operators to begin carrying public interest programming on 4% of their channels (TVD Dec 6 p7). EchoStar asked agency to give it until Jan. 28 to comply, citing company's focus on Y2K issues as chief reason for extension request. "We're in a total lock-down in ensuring our system is Y2K compliant, and [bringing on public interest programming] would be difficult and problematic," senior EchoStar official said.

DirecTV, meanwhile, said it has 6 new public interest channels in place: Clara Vision, Inspiration Life, InterNews WorldLink, NASA TV, PBS You, StarNet. Channels were on air Dec. 15, but it wasn't clear that way DirecTV was delivering signals complied with FCC regulations. DirecTV spokesman said public interest signals were being carried only on DirecTV's satellite at 119E W, so they're accessible only to customers with DirecTV-Plus subscriptions, which requires larger dish. That appeared to conflict with FCC's recent decision on petition by American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) in which Commission ruled that EchoStar couldn't put all its public interest programming on single satellite, but must reserve space at each of its other CONUS orbit locations.

"The FCC's primary assumption in adopting its [public interest programming] set-aside rules was that the DBS providers could be trusted to comply with the law," Media Access Project Deputy Dir. Cheryl Leanza said: "Unfortunately, EchoStar has made no effort to comply with the law." She said she hoped FCC would come away from experience "seeing that it shouldn't always trust industry to 'do what's right,' especially if compliance isn't in a company's financial interest."

EchoStar official conceded company is in difficult position: "We've focused our resources elsewhere and are now trying to catch up." However, company should have news soon: "We're talking to 17 different public interest programmers and we expect to have announcements soon."