Satellite Bill Extension Said To Be On Table In House

According to several sources, Congress may punt on reauthorizing the satellite distant signal license before Dec 31, instead passing a 60-day (some say 90) stop-gap extension. The problem is in the Senate, where a provision allowing DISH network back into the distant signal business in exchange for delivering local signals to all 210 markets is said to have caused at least one senator to put a hold on the Senate version of the bill. Both a 60-day extension and the full bill including DISH provision are ready to be teed up for a House vote tomorrow, but legislators there are said not to want to pass the full version if it is going to be controversial, which it would be, given the hold on the Senate bill.