Senator Wicker Introduces STELAR Renewal

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) has introduced a clean renewal of the STELAR Act with yet another name, the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization (STAR) Act. STELAR, and if it passes, STAR, provides for a compulsory license allowing satellite operators--Dish and DirecTV--to import distant network affiliated TV station signals to markets that lack them. The law expires at the end of the year. The bill would simply change the expiration date from 2019 to 2024, extending the law for another five years as well as the requirement that TV stations and pay-TV companies, when the do negotiate individually for signals (retransmission/must carry) do so in good faith. Generally, broadcasters want the license to expire and cable and satellite operators want it renewed.