The National Association of Broadcasters Dec. 8 asked the FCC to reject an effort by EchoStar and DIRECTV to change how Section 210 of the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004 will be implemented to relieve them from an obligation to carry the HD, multicast SD and analog channels of local broadcasters in Hawaii and Alaska.
In the filing, the NAB asked the commission to reject the assertion the pair have made that carrying all free, over-the-air DTV broadcasts of local stations in the two states would create a capacity burden. The filing called the claims “exaggerated and factually unsupported.” According to the NAB filing, an analysis of DIRECTV’s capacity shows that diverting satellite resources used to carry other programming would not be required to carry the local broadcasts of Alaskan and Hawaiian TV broadcasters.
The NAB also told the commission EchoStar and DIRECTV assertions that the SHVERA implementation would not violate the pair’s First Amendment rights and called the pair’s claims to that effect “unmeritorious.” Nor does the implementation violate the direct satellite service providers’ Fifth Amendment rights because carriage of Alaska and Hawaii TV broadcast signals “constitutes neither a permanent physical occupation of real property nor a regulatory taking.”
To read the filing, visit www.nab.org/newsroom/PressRel/Filings/SHVERAOpposition12805.pdf.
