Both Dish Network and DirecTV praised enactment of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 after the bill was signed into law on Thursday by President Barack Obama. Dish immediately announced plans to add more local-to-local markets, while DirecTV only issued a statement welcoming the signing.
“On behalf of the millions of Americans who rely on satellite television, DirecTV applauds President Obama and Congress for enacting into law the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act. By maintaining a focus on the needs of satellite customers, the new law ensures uninterrupted network programming, particularly for those living in rural America,” said DirecTV.
“For far too long, consumers in many small or rural markets didn’t have access to their local news, weather and sports. One of the principal goals of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act was to encourage local television to be made available to all consumers via satellite,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI). “Implementation of the legislation will help make television markets more competitive, and serve the interests of consumers nationwide.”
“My major goal in reforming the Satellite Home Viewer Act has been to bring to all 210 local television markets across the nation what we call local-into-local television service through which local TV signals are transmitted by satellite to homes in the market where the TV stations are located,” said Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Chairman of the Communications Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In welcoming the new law, Dish said passage was made possible through the hard work and dedication of many members of Congress, including Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senate Committee on the Judiciary; Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Chairman Conyers, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), House Energy and Commerce Committee; and Chairman Boucher.
