NAB Fighting EchoStar in Congress

NAB FIGHTING ECHOSTAR IN CONGRESS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
The National Association of Broadcasters will oppose legislation that would allow EchoStar Communications to escape a federal injunction cutting off distant network feeds to 850,000 satellite homes Dec. 1. EchoStar is hoping that during next week’s post-election lame-duck session, Congress will pass a law that would largely void a permanent injunction and allow the company to continue beaming ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox stations from New York and Los Angeles to customers around the country who can't obtain the same programming locally with off-air antennas. Although NAB network affiliates settled with EchoStar, U.S. Judge William P. Dimitrouleas said the law required him to ignore the settlement and impose a nationwide injunction. NAB members had successfully sued EchoStar, claiming that the company sold distant signals to hundreds of thousands of ineligible subscribers and hurt stations’ local ad revenue in the process in violation of federal copyright law.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6389696.html?display=Breaking+News