Congress passes bill to let satellite companies import local TV signals in rural markets

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Satellite companies can import local TV signals

WASHINGTON — Congress has passed a bill giving satellite providers Dish Network Corp. and DirecTV Inc. authority to bring in broadcast TV signals from places such as New York and Los Angeles for rural customers who live beyond the reach of local stations.

The bill is a priority for Dish in particular because the company lost this authority in a 2006 court fight with a group of network affiliates.

The bill will let Dish deliver so-called “distant” network TV signals to replace missing local stations for customers in remote parts of the country who cannot receive all four networks over the air. In return, Dish pledged to bring local broadcast signals to its customers in all 210 U.S. television markets.

For DirecTV, the measure extends its existing authority to offer distant network TV signals in remote markets.

The House cleared the bill on Wednesday after the Senate unanimously approved it last week. President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law this week.

The legislation gives the satellite companies the copyright licenses they need to retransmit out-of-market signals in places where local stations are unavailable. Lawmakers must renew this authority every five years, and the current satellite television licenses are set to expire May 31 following several extensions by Congress.

A federal district court in Miami had stripped Dish of this right in 2006, however, after finding that the company had been importing distant signals even in markets where local signals were available.