DirecTV Out of Must-Carry Case
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 3/7/2002 12:19:00 PM
DirecTV Inc. has dropped out of the court case challenging the federal law that requires direct-broadcast satellite carriers to provide every local TV station in a served market.
'DirecTV is focused on expanding and growing its business in the near term, and it has decided not to dilute that focus by continuing with this legal challenge,' DirecTV spokesman Bob Marsocci said in a prepared statement.
Nevertheless, EchoStar Communications Corp. and the Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association filed an appeal Thursday with the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the DBS 'carry one, carry all' carriage scheme in December.
'As we have said from the outset, consumers in the marketplace should decide what programming satellite companies carry, not a federal mandate. We remain firmly confident that we will ultimately win this case on the merits of our constitutional arguments,' SBCA president Andrew Wright said in a prepared statement.
On Wednesday, EchoStar chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen announced his plans to appeal, but DirecTV chairman and CEO Eddy Hartenstein declined to make the same commitment.
Last week, EchoStar and DirecTV said that if the merger is approved, they would carry eligible stations in all 210 TV markets within two years in compliance with carriage requirements mandated by law. The two DBS companies combined currently serve 42 local TV markets.
Although DirecTV dropped out of the case, it would be covered if a Supreme Court ruling strikes down the DBS must-carry law.
If the Supreme Court takes the case, it would likely hear oral arguments in the fall and issue a decision no later than July 2003.
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