DirecTV Hits Back at HITN

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DIRECTV HITS BACK AT HITN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Moss]
DirecTV plans to drop the Hispanic Information & Telecommunications Network, a Spanish-language public-interest channel, June 30, according to the direct-broadcast satellite provider. DirecTV disclosed its plans to replace HITN with another Spanish-language service in comments Monday to the Federal Communications Commission in a 23-page filing regarding Liberty Media’s proposed $11 billion acquisition of News Corp.’s 38.4% stake in the nation’s largest DBS provider. DirecTV has carried HITN as part of its public-interest obligation as a DBS provider, under federal law, to set aside part of its channel capacity, 4%, exclusively for noncommercial programming of an educational or informational nature. HITN is among a group of companies, including EchoStar Communications, which have filed separate comments with the FCC opposing the Liberty-DirecTV deal. According to DirecTV, it is in negotiations with V-me, a Spanish-language multicast channel that debuted in March and airs original programming, U.S. TV premieres and acquisitions. Educational Broadcasting -- which holds the license for public broadcaster WNET in New York -- is a minority investor in the network. The rest of the network partnership is made up of private investors, including The Baeza Group and Syncom Funds. V-me is getting a carriage boost in part via a 2005 agreement between the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the Association of Public Television Stations, which ensured that at least one local public TV analog signal, plus four digital channels, would be carried by each of the major cable operators.
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