Nadler to File Bill Limiting STELA Distant-Signal License to Trucks, RVs, Short Markets

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is expected to file this afternoon legislation that would make permanent a far more limited version of the distant-signal compulsory license currently authorized under the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. STELA is the subject of an intensifying reauthorization debate on Capitol Hill, with the House Commerce Committee set to mark up a renewal bill Tuesday.

Nadler's bill, the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act, would limit the distant-signal license to cover only trucks, RVs and households in short markets, according to bill text we obtained. The measure defines short markets as those “in which programming of one or more of the four most widely viewed television networks nationwide is not offered on either the primary stream or multicast stream transmitted by any network station in that market.”

The legislation would provide a limited extension of the distant-signal license for 120 days for all other currently covered subscribers.

The bill would require satellite providers that use the distant-signal license to provide "local-to-local service" in all 210 designated market areas. That's an apparent bid to address lawmakers' concerns about the 12 markets where AT&T's DirecTV provides limited or no access to locally broadcasted networks' stations. AT&T says the 12 markets have access to local stations' terrestrial signals.