U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

Leahy Bill Once Again Boosts Local TV Service In Vermont;
Expansion For Windham and Bennington Counties Clears Congress
Vermont General Assembly Had Endorsed Legislation

(MONDAY, Nov. 22) –  Residents in Windham and Bennington Counties will finally be able to get their local Vermont news through their satellite television service under a provision sponsored and negotiated by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that Congress approved over the weekend.

The bipartisan measure, included as part of an overall budget bill approved over the weekend, reauthorizes several provisions of the 1999 Satellite Home Viewer Act that Leahy, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, coauthored with Sen. Orrin Hatch, (R-Utah), the panel’s chairman.   The new Windham- and Bennington-related provisions were also coauthored by Leahy and Hatch.  The expanded law will enhance competition with cable TV, giving consumers more options, because satellite TV companies will be able to offer the same broad range of programming as cable now offers.  Adelphia Cable has been able to offer what are called “significantly viewed” out-of-state stations in some areas of Vermont.  Satellite carriers will now be able to offer those stations in addition to Vermont stations, thus promoting head-to-head competition that will benefit Vermont consumers.

Several key provisions of the 1999 law were set to expire at the end of the year without reauthorization from Congress.  The new provision not only will prevent termination of satellite TV service but will expand satellite television service to millions of households across the country, including thousands more in Vermont.  Once implemented by the national satellite carriers, dish owners in Bennington and Windham Counties will, for the first time, be able to receive their local Vermont television stations containing local news, emergency alerts, community events as well as the full range of movie, sports, entertainment, history and other channels. 

With our earlier law and now with this bill, we have taken sizable steps in just a few years to widen Vermonters’ options, to help unify our state by expanding the availability of Vermont programs, and to strengthen competition,” said Leahy.  “If you live in Vermont, hearing about a school fire, a traffic jam, or a flood in Keene, New Hampshire, is not the same as hearing about a school fire, a traffic jam or a flood in Brattleboro.  The residents of Windham and Bennington Counties deserve to have television news about what is happening in their backyards.  We have worked hard to solve that problem, and I’m delighted that we have gotten this bill across the finish line.”

Once the President signs the bill, satellite carriers serving Vermont will be able to offer all local TV stations in all Vermont counties.  The Dish Network (also known as EchoStar) has been offering Vermont TV stations over satellite for more than two years, except in those two counties, and DirecTV announced this month that it would also begin offering local TV service in Vermont.

With around 90,00 subscribers, Vermont has the highest percentage in the nation of television owners who receive programming using satellite dishes -- in part because of the state’s mountainous terrain, which makes it more difficult to receive television signals using regular antennas, Leahy said.   

As a result of the earlier Hatch-Leahy law, Vermont Public Television (VPT), and other local networks began offering services to satellite dish owners across Vermont in 2002.  The service at that time was offered in all regions but Windham and Bennington Counties in the southern part of the state.  Earlier this year, while the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee was considering the measure, VPT President and CEO John King testified in support of the bill.  Leahy’s legislation was also overwhelmingly endorsed by the Vermont General Assembly in a resolution passed in February.

The Hatch-Leahy “Satellite Home Viewer Extension Act of 2004” had been unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in June.  

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