The House Energy & Commerce Committee's
Communications Subcommittee will hold a hearing in September in its ongoing
series on reauthorization of the upcoming Satellite Television Extension and
Localism Act (STELA).
The hearing is
described as a look into the various legal regimes that regulate delivery of
video content.
"Whether over the
air from local broadcasters, through a paid subscription to a satellite, cable,
or fiber provider, or streaming over the Internet, consumers have unprecedented
access to view quality video content," said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden
(R-Ore.). "Each of these technologies faces a different regime of laws and
regulations that have been developed over the last four decades. The
subcommittee will examine whether these laws are still serving the needs of
consumers, content creators, broadcasters, and video distributors in the modern
communications marketplace."
STELA, which expires
at the end of 2014 unless it is renewed, provides, among other things, for a
blanket license to import distant network TV station signals into markets that
don't have one of their own.
