CASPER
New member
Bill Takes Aim At Sat Radio Local Services
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The early weeks of the new congressional session has seen the introduction of old legislation aimed at the satellite radio business.
Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) has again unveiled a measure that takes aim at satellite radio - specifically the merged Sirius XM - and any efforts by that platform to offer localized service. The bill from Green, known for his past efforts targeting the satellite radio business, is known as the Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2009.
Specifically, the bill would direct regulators to determine that satellite radio is a national service. Also under the measure, regulators would be compelled to rule that satellite radio cannot provide services that are locally differentiated or offer content aimed to consumers in a particular market that is different from programming delivered in another market.
In addition, the bill would restrict repeaters utilized by satellite radio to simultaneously retransmitting programming sent by satellite.
The legislation also would ask the Federal Communications Commission to complete a rulemaking proceeding to determine whether satellite radio should be permitted to provide locally oriented services on nationally distributed channels, taking into account, among other things, the ability of DARS to provide listeners the same emergency and other information that’s delivered by local broadcast stations.
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The early weeks of the new congressional session has seen the introduction of old legislation aimed at the satellite radio business.
Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) has again unveiled a measure that takes aim at satellite radio - specifically the merged Sirius XM - and any efforts by that platform to offer localized service. The bill from Green, known for his past efforts targeting the satellite radio business, is known as the Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2009.
Specifically, the bill would direct regulators to determine that satellite radio is a national service. Also under the measure, regulators would be compelled to rule that satellite radio cannot provide services that are locally differentiated or offer content aimed to consumers in a particular market that is different from programming delivered in another market.
In addition, the bill would restrict repeaters utilized by satellite radio to simultaneously retransmitting programming sent by satellite.
The legislation also would ask the Federal Communications Commission to complete a rulemaking proceeding to determine whether satellite radio should be permitted to provide locally oriented services on nationally distributed channels, taking into account, among other things, the ability of DARS to provide listeners the same emergency and other information that’s delivered by local broadcast stations.
