WASHINGTON – October 15, 2009 – The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) commends the House Energy and Commerce Committee for voting to adopt legislation put forward by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo today to correct years of discrimination by DISH Network against local public television stations. The Committee approved Congresswoman Eshoo’s amendment to H.R. 2994, the Satellite Home Viewer Reauthorization Act (SHVERA), by a vote of 31 to 20.

“We applaud Congresswoman Eshoo for her extraordinarily bold, skillful and persistent leadership on this critical issue, and deeply thank the Committee for its action today,” said APTS President and CEO Larry Sidman. “APTS has been working to ensure that public television’s High Definition (HD) programming is available to all Americans. We have been successful in securing voluntary digital carriage agreements with every major multichannel video programming distributor, except DISH Network. Now, thanks to Congresswoman Eshoo’s leadership in ending this discriminatory behavior, DISH subscribers will be able to enjoy access to public television’s HD content as do other pay-tv subscribers.”

Currently, DISH Network is carrying the HD programming of some local commercial broadcasters in 152 markets covering 93 percent of U.S. households. However, DISH Network is only carrying local public television HD broadcasts in Alaska and Hawaii, where it is legally obligated to do so.

Sidman continued: “Public television has been negotiating with DISH Network in good faith for more than three years, but our efforts to reach a solution through voluntary negotiations have failed, as of today, to provide a solution. By a vote of 31 to 20, the Committee has approved providing local public television stations with accelerated HD carriage on DISH Network, making up in part for the years of DISH Network’s treatment of public television as the neglected child of their DBS service.”

The Eshoo amendment adopted by the Committee will end DISH Network’s discriminatory practice and require DISH Network to carry public television’s HD signals in all markets where it is offering HD service within two years after the date of enactment of SHVERA legislation. It would further require DISH Network to pick up the local public television station in HD when it begins offering HD service in a market on a prospective basis.

Sidman continued: “Public television stations are some of the last locally-owned and controlled media entities in the country. They serve their communities with high-quality, local programming that is tailored to meet the needs of their communities, including news and public affairs, coverage of the state legislature and local electoral coverage. At a time of declining newspapers and other local commercial media, the need for public television stations’ local programming in HD is greater than ever before.”

Sidman concluded: “We thank the Committee for taking action to correct this discriminatory behavior and ensure that local communities receive the high quality programming and services of their local public television stations. Notwithstanding today’s victory, APTS recognizes the Committee’s preference for a negotiated carriage agreement with DISH Network. APTS stands prepared to continue to negotiate with DISH Network on a reasonable private carriage agreement that serves the public interest in preserving localism and ensuring diversity. We hope that DISH Network is prepared to do so as well.”