DISH Network files suit in Las Vegas against FCC to block PBS law

Satellite TV company DISH Network sued the Federal Communications Commission on July 1 in a bid to block enforcement of a law requiring it to carry the high definition programming of public television stations around the country. DISH Network filed the suit in Las Vegas in U.S. District Court for Nevada, where the company is incorporated. Attorneys for DISH Network sought in the suit a restraining order and injunction blocking enforcement of the law, called the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010, which was signed into law on May 27. DISH Network claims the law violates its constitutional rights by putting the government in the position of deciding what channels it will offer subscribers. Kurt Mische, president of public station KNPB in Reno (NV), said the DISH Network lawsuit was typical of the company's bias against local programming. He said DISH has long favored "putting up a national feed from the East Coast, which doesn't work well for us on the West Coast." "It's very disappointing," Mische said of the lawsuit. In contrast, cable TV companies and satellite competitor DirecTV have embraced carrying high definition local PBS programming, Mische said.