NAB Statement on Circulation of House Judiciary STELAR Legislation WASHINGTON, D.C. - In response to STELAR legislation ( Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019 ) circulated today by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the following statement can be attributed to NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith:
While NAB continues to believe STELAR's reauthorization is unnecessary, we support Chairman Nadler's thoughtful narrowly-tailored approach that benefits viewers by better ensuring satellite carriage of their local broadcast stations. We're particularly pleased that Chairman Nadler's bill rights a wrong inflicted upon tens of thousands of DirecTV viewers in 12 rural markets who have been denied access to local TV programming for years. We're optimistic that under the Nadler bill, DirecTV will finally fulfill its decade-old pledge to carry local television stations to those viewers, rather than piping in programming from New York City or Los Angeles. NAB looks forward to working with Chairman Nadler, ranking member Doug Collins (R-GA), and other House Judiciary Committee members as this bill is considered this week. The key provision of the Nadler bill:
Permanently extends carriage of distant signal broadcast network TV programming to recreation vehicles (RVs), truckers and local television short markets' (TV markets without a full complement of ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC programming), conditioned on a guarantee from AT&T's DirecTV that within 120 days it will begin providing local TV signals in 12 neglected TV markets:
Alpena, Michigan
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Casper-Riverton, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming/Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Grand Junction, Colorado
Helena, Montana
North Platte, Nebraska
Ottumwa, Iowa/Kirksville, Missouri
Presque Isle, Maine
San Angelo, Texas
Victoria, Texas
Glendive, Montana
A full section-by-section of the bill can be found here.
For background, the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act contains a key component that allows satellite TV providers to pipe in distant broadcast TV network programming from an ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX affiliate from New York or Los Angeles into a local TV market rather than the local TV stations serving that community. The provision was originally intended 30 years ago to allow the nascent satellite TV industry to better compete with cable companies and overcome technological limitations but has been reauthorized every five years. Currently, STELAR is scheduled to expire at the end of 2019.
Today, DISH carries all the local TV stations in all 210 TV markets in America after a 2006 court case found the company was illegally importing distant network programming into households that should have been receiving their local broadcast stations. DirecTV promised in 2003 to carry all local TV stations in every DMA, but currently has 12 markets where it refuses to carry local TV stations.
The U.S. Copyright Office previously submitted a letter to the leadership of the House Judiciary Committee recommending that the license allowing AT&T/DIRECTV and DISH to import distant broadcast TV network programming into neglected markets be allowed to expire. Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple has testified before the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property recommending the licenses expiration.
Members of Congress who have previously submitting letters supporting the expiration of STELAR include:
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) - House Energy & Commerce Committee, House Judiciary Committee
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME-2)
Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA-2)
Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Jon Tester (D-MT)
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Angus King (I-ME)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
In addition, in response to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the four major broadcast networks committed to providing a short-term carriage license as satellite providers transition to offering local broadcast signals in every market upon STELARs expiration.
About NAB
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for Americas broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
At just 20 years old, Sean Melia from Summerhill Co. Meath has been revealed as the winner of Super Garden 2026. Sean is the youngest ever contestant and winner...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
28/05/2026
Thomsons Climate Crisis Toolkit is already being put to work, helping journalist...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
NAB Statement on Circulation of House Judiciary STELAR Legislation WASHINGTON, D.C. - In response to STELAR legislation ( Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019 ) circulated today by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the following statement can be attributed to NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith: 
