The House Judiciary Committee will mark up a...
The House Judiciary Committee will mark up a clean bill (http://1.usa.gov/1r67pL0) to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) Thursday, it said. The markup session is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. The bill is two pages…
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and narrow, as lobbyists have widely expected, and is similar to the STELA legislation cleared by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. Both of the Judiciary bills are called the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act of 2014. The only committee with STELA jurisdiction that has yet to release legislation is now the Senate Commerce Committee. Two groups fired off letters to Senate Commerce ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., urging a clean STELA bill. “We recognize the opportunity to update our nation’s video marketplace policies, but STELA should not be used as a vehicle for regulatory riders or special-interest ‘reforms,'” Americans for Limited Government said (http://bit.ly/VG90fM), defending the rights of broadcasters and attacking any revamps of retransmission consent rules. The American Consumer Institute backs “comprehensive” overhaul of the video marketplace but said “moving ahead with a STELA reauthorization that includes any anemic attempts at deregulation that apply to only one of the many players in the dynamically competitive marketplace could inadvertently jeopardize much needed comprehensive reforms,” according to its letter (http://bit.ly/1oF3B2t). “In other words, adding new regulations and provisions now to STELA will only complicate holistic reforms in the future.”