Dish Wants FCC OK For Importing Signals

Dish Network asked the Federal Communications Commission to move "without delay" to certify that it should be allowed back into the business of delivering distant signals, contending its lone critic among TV stations is off base.

As part of Congress' reauthorization of the law that provides a blanket license for satellite carriers to deliver distant signals, Dish agreed to deliver local TV-station signals to the remaining handful of markets (a little over two dozen) where it has been economically unfeasible to deliver them in order to be able to again import distant signals. Dish, the No. 2 U.S. direct-broadcast satellite firm, had to stop delivering out-of-market versions of affiliated network TV stations to subscribers who could not receive a viewable over-the-air signal from their local affiliate. A court ruled Dish was not accurately identifying who qualified for the signals and enjoined it from delivering them. In reply comments filed with the FCC, Dish said only one out of`1,782 U.S. TV stations objected to certifying Dish as a qualified carrier.