Satellite : Dish CEO says satellite viewers need access to more stations

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BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE • February 24,2009


Congress should make it easier for direct-broadcast satellite companies to offer viewers programming from neighboring areas, Dish Network Corp. Chief Executive Officer Charlie Ergen said.

Ergen spoke in an interview as he prepared to testify today before Congress, which is readying legislation to reauthorize the copyright law under which Dish and its rival DirecTV Group Inc. operate.

Current law restricts satellite companies from giving viewers out-of-market broadcast network programming. For example, Dish must beam New Mexico stations to some viewers in southwestern Colorado, because the Albuquerque market extends across the state line, Ergen said.

“The consumer in Colorado should get what he wants, which is Colorado news, Colorado weather, Colorado politics,” Ergen said.

Broadcasters believe allowing out-of-market signals could destabilize their industry, K. James Yager, chief executive of Barrington Broadcasting, said in testimony prepared for today’s hearing. Barrington owns and operates 21 television stations in 15 small-to-mid-sized markets, Yager said.

“One can easily imagine the adverse financial consequences on local stations in small markets in Pennsylvania if duplicating programming from Philadelphia stations were to be imported,” Yager said in his testimony, submitted on behalf of the National Association of Broadcasters, a Washington-based trade group.


Yager said Dish and DirecTV should be required to provide local channels in all 210 TV markets to increase viewer choice and to strengthen local programming.

DirecTV offers local service by satellite in 150 markets serving 95 percent of U.S. households, Bob Gabrielli, a senior vice president, said in testimony submitted for today’s hearing. Gabrielli said proposals to expand that number to all markets were among suggestions that are “hugely expensive and unfair to satellite subscribers.”

Dish Network provides local service by satellite in 178 markets reaching 97 percent of households, Ergen said in testimony prepared for the hearing before a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In the interview, Ergen said it would cost more to serve small markets than satellite companies could recoup through subscription fees.

Dish and DirecTV subscribers who don’t get local channels by satellite may rely on an old-fashioned antenna to receive broadcast network affiliates. Some viewers beyond the reach of broadcast towers may get network programming by satellite from big cities such as New York or Los Angeles.

Englewood, Colo.-based Dish listed 13.8 million subscribers in its most recent report in November, and El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV on Feb. 10 said it had 17.6 million subscribers.

Dish gained 24 cents to $11.18 in midmorning Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. DirecTV rose 69 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $21.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.