McCain Seeks to Ease Satellite TV Rule

U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain will push legislation that would allow satellite TV companies to air some local TV signals and not others.

McCain (R-Ariz.) said that direct-broadcast satellite companies should not be required to air every station and every program in a market “because that obviously is not technologically feasible.”

“Right now there is little or no competition to cable” and the best way to fix that is to let direct-broadcast satellite companies air local TV signals and to reduce the fees they are required to pay for the right to air broadcast programming, McCain said in an interview at the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Assn. of Broadcasters, said his group believes that “full-must-carry should apply not only for cable operators, but also DBS providers. Consumers should not be denied local TV stations as part of their satellite package.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced legislation that would let broadcasters air local TV signals only if they carry every station in a market.