Compromise STELAR Passes In House

The House unanimously passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act of 2014 (HR 5728), the compromise satellite reauthorization bill. The bill reauthorizes (for another five years) the satellite compulsory license allowing the importation of distant network TV signals into markets without those affiliates and affects about 1.5 million satellite subscribers.

The bill must pass the Senate and be signed by the President before December 31 or the license expires, as does the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce good faith retransmission consent negotiations. The House unanimously passed its own version of the bill earlier in 2014, but that has been merged with a Senate version that passed out of committee on that side of the Congress. But the compromise version does a lot more than that, including instituting various "consumer protections in retransmission consent" that had been sought by cable operators. During House consideration of the bill, Republicans and Democrats called them targeted, pro-consumer reforms that will help the video marketplace.