Contact:
Tania Panczyk-Collins
202 654-4222
tpanczyk@apts.org

APTS Praises Congresswoman Eshoo’s Reintroduction of Satellite Carriage Bill
WASHINGTON—February 27—The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) applauded Representative Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) for reintroducing the Satellite Consumers’ Access to Public Television Digital Programming Act of 2009, which would mandate Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) carriage of public television stations’ complete digital signals where no carriage agreement between the DBS provider and the local station has previously been reached. 

In December 2007, APTS, PBS and DIRECTV reached a landmark agreement that allows DIRECTV’s nearly 17 million subscribers to access a broad array of public television’s digital services.  The agreement provides that in each market in which it provides high-definition (HD) local channels, DIRECTV will carry either an HD signal or two standard-definition (SD) streams from each station, at the station’s option.  In addition, DIRECTV will carry two national SD feeds featuring educational programming with local stations’ identification in the Electronic Programming Guide.  In the future, DIRECTV will permit public television stations to offer additional localized programming through dedicated on-demand services.  Public television stations ratified the agreement in November 2008, and it is currently being implemented.

However, Dish Network, which serves nearly 14 million subscribers, has been unwilling to consider any meaningful agreement to carry local public television stations’ multicast content. 

“We applaud Congresswoman Eshoo for recognizing that every American deserves access to the diverse, education-rich content broadcast by their local public television stations in the digital age,” said APTS President and CEO Larry Sidman.

Eshoo’s bill would ensure satellite television subscribers’ access to public television multicast programming by requiring satellite carriers to retransmit the full digital signals of local public television stations, without material degradation, to all subscribers in each station’s local market.  The bill would not alter existing carriage agreements between DBS carriers and public television stations.

Eshoo, who previewed the bill earlier this week at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, said the bill could be avoided if Dish Network reaches a carriage agreement with public television.