Does Rupert Murdoch's DIRECTV Own Sen. Ted Stevens?

Swann follows up on an earlier report by Multichannel News noting that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is pushing legislation that could give the Rupert Murdoch owned-DIRECTV a huge advantage over the cable TV industry. In the broad telecom reform bill just passed by the Senate Commerce Committee are provisions that would require cable TV operators to carry all the digital TV signals from local stations. Stevens' aides blocked an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) that would permit both cable and satellite TV operators to carry just the "primary video" feed rather than "any digital video signal." Consequently, as Stevens' bill now stands, cable TV operators would be required to carry all local digital TV signals while DIRECTV and EchoStar would not. If the language becomes law, this would give the satellite TV operators more flexibility in what channels and services they want to offer. It also could save DIRECTV and EchoStar considerable money because they wouldn't have to create space for the extra channels. Sen Stevens has not explained why he supports the legislation, but Swann reports that nearly 10 percent of the senator's 2005-2006 individual campaign contributions have come from employees of companies owned by Murdoch, such as News Corp., Fox and DIRECTV. Federal campaign law prohibits a company from contributing more than $5,000 to a single candidate per election. But the law permits each company employee to donate up to $2100 individually, with no limits on total company employee contributions. This loophole allows a company to significantly increase its total contributions to -- and influence with -- a single lawmaker.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/stevens070906.htm
* Part Two: Was Stevens Paid Off?
http://www.tvpredictions.com/stevensparttwo.htm
* See "An Indirect Path to Mandate"
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6350826.html
** And recall "Rush's Million Dollar Conflict?" http://www.benton.org/node/2128