On November 23, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released Orders implementing new requirements imposed by the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA). The FCC was required as part of STELA’s passage to examine its rules on how to measure whether a particular household was eligible to receive a “distant signal” from a satellite TV provider. The FCC was also required to reassess its requirements for when a satellite TV provider can offer a “significantly viewed” station from another market.

The major holdings in these Orders were:

Antennas: The FCC agreed with broadcasters that it should continue to use prediction and signal strength measurements based on the use of outdoor rooftop antennas, not indoor antennas, despite intense lobbing by the satellite carriers. Use of indoor antennas would have vastly increased the number of households eligible to receive distant network signals. Click here to view the Order adopting the model for predicting the strength of a digital broadcast television signal at an individual household. Click here to view the Order adopting measurement procedures for determining the strength of a digital broadcast television signal at an individual household. The rules adopted in these Orders are used to determine whether a household is eligible to receive, by satellite, distant DTV network signals.

Significantly viewed (SV) stations: The FCC disagreed with broadcasters and changed its requirements for when a satellite carrier can provide “significantly viewed” signals to subscribers. Specifically, the FCC eliminated the requirement that satellite subscribers must receive the local station affiliated with a particular network in order to receive an out-of market SV station affiliated with the same network. This may give the satellite carrier additional leverage in a retransmission consent dispute.

The new rules also replaced the requirement that carriers devote “equivalent bandwidth” to the carriage of the local in-market station as compared to the out-of-market SV station. The new requirement permits carriers to retransmit an SV station in high definition (HD) format as long as the carrier also retransmits the local station affiliated with the same network in HD if the local station makes the HD format available to the satellite carrier. NAB did not oppose this requirement. Click here to view the FCC's significantly viewed order.