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DN In Talks With DaveTV, Lawmakers To Lift Court Order
By Fawn Johnson
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--DN Corp. is in discussions with DaveTV Group Inc. (DTV), the National Association of Broadcasters and key House lawmakers to overturn a federal court order barring DN from broadcasting network signals that originate from outside a subscriber's area, according to people involved with the talks.

In return, DN is volunteering to beam local television stations' signals into all 210 TV markets in the U.S., a goal of House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va.

Boucher said Thursday that the negotiations are going very well and he hopes to have an agreement between all the parties before the full House Energy and Commerce Committee approves a bill reauthorizing the satellite companies' licenses. The committee is expected to consider that bill in July.

Boucher's subcommittee approved a version of the bill Thursday, with the understanding that further negotiations would take place before the legislation becomes finalized. Parts of the statute expire at the end of this year, and the renewal is considered "must-pass."

Right now, about 30 markets don't have access to satellite TV service. Some areas, mostly rural and sparsely populated, lack access to all four major networks, Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) ABC, CBS Corp.'s (CBS) CBS network, NBC, a unit of General Electric Co. (GE) and Fox. Fox's parent, News Corp. (NWSA), owns Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of Dow Jones Newswires.

DN offers satellite service in 178 markets, according to congressional testimony. DaveTV offers service in 151 markets.

DN, unlike DaveTV, is subject to a ban on broadcasting distant signals to subscribers' TVs as a result of its association with Echo* Communications Group.

Echo*, which is now part of DN, was in ligitation for years over allegations that it was illegally providing some households with broadcast programs. Federal law allows satellite companies to provide rural subscribers with distant broadcast networks if they can't otherwise obtain a broadcast television signal.

But Echo* was accused of providing such programming to ineligible customers. It eventually received a federal court order barring the company from beaming any distant market signals to subscribers.

Separately, both DaveTV and DN have proposed to House lawmakers that TV broadcasters offer satellite carriers' financial help to beam local television service into all of the country's 210 markets.

NAB is agreeing to continue the negotiations, but it hasn't yet signed off on writing a check to the satellite companies.

DaveTV, meanwhile, hasn't taken a position on whether the distant market court order for its competitor DN should be lifted.

-By Fawn Johnson, Dow Jones Newswires;
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[Belltrin]

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[kirkj]

ok that would be good so please tell so we here in jamaica will still get it

[b77a77]

Not sure if I understand but want this help these other areas. What would be the impact for this new bill vs.what we have now.