DBS Providers Spending More on Lobbying, Records Show
The two DBS providers spent far more money on lobbying in the third quarter than a year earlier, analysis of public records shows. Dish Network’s and DirecTV’s combined outlays increased 67 percent.
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DirecTV spent $1.2 million on lobbying in the quarter, significantly more than the $755,000 it spent in Q3 last year and the $865,000 it spent in Q1 this year, but slightly less than the $1.3 million it spent in Q2 of 2009. The company hired seven lobbying firms, in addition to its in-house lobbyists. The firms included Bockorny Group, Bluewater Strategies, and Greenberg Traurig, each was paid $50,000. DirecTV paid the most to Wiltshire & Grannis, $90,000.
According to Susan Eid, DirecTV vice president of government relations, the lobbying expenses grew as a result of “an enormous increase in activity in states across the country. … Cable tries to use its lobbying muscle to have discriminatory taxes imposed on satellite. Apparently, trying to raise the cost of its competitors is big cable’s idea of innovation.”
Dish spent $467,500 total on outside and in-house lobbying, up from the $455,000 it spent in Q2 this year and almost double the $252,500 it spent in Q3 last year. The company spent $480,000 in Q1 this year. Dish hired three outside lobbying firms: Emmer Consulting and Russell and Barron, were paid $60,000 each, and Dunkel Government Relations, was paid $17,500. Dish’s increase in lobbying expenses over last year is largely due to its work on the satellite reauthorization legislation, a source said.
While the lobbying forms don’t say which issues received the most attention, both companies have spent a significant amount of time working with lawmakers on must-pass legislation that reauthorizes copyright and retransmission licenses for the DBS providers every five years (CD Oct 16 p2). Dish, in particular, is watching the legislation closely because it has the potential to allow the company to use distant-signal programming again, which it has been unable to do since a 2006 court injunction.
The vast majority of lobbying money was spent on the companies’ in-house shops. DirecTV spent $840,000 for its three lobbyists to work on several issues, including the satellite reauthorization bills now in the House and Senate, the State Video Tax Fairness Act, the Local TV Freedom Act and the Satellite Consumers’ Rights to Local Channels Act. Only two issues, the satellite reauthorization bills and the State Video Fairness Act, overlap from the company’s Q3 lobbying filing last year. DirecTV spent $530,000 in Q1 and $970,000 in Q2 this year.
Dish paid $330,000 for its two lobbyists to lobby on the satellite reauthorization bills and the State Video Tax Fairness Act, the records show. The company spent the same amount during the first quarter and $320,000 in the second quarter this year.