STAVRA Bill Passes Senate Commerce

The Senate Commerce Committee swiftly and without drama approved a relatively clean version of the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (STAVRA) reauthorization bill.

At base it renews the compulsory license that allows satellite operators to deliver distant network signals and the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce good-faith negotiations. It puts Congress' stamp on an FCC effort to prevent coordinated retransmission consent negotiations among non-commonly owned stations in the same market — which broadcasters have signaled they can live with — and eliminated the ban on integrated set-tops, both of which cable operators were pushing for. Cable operators were pleased that the bill had not been loaded with those amendments.