DISH Network says it is now delivering in-state, out-of-market, affiliated TV station signals to viewers in
Bennington and Windham, Vt. They had been receiving out-of-state affiliates because the way their markets are
drawn up,
Bennington was in the Albany, N.Y., market and Windham was in the Boston
market. Now they can get them from Burlington, Vt.
That is per a provision in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), the law reauthorizing
the license to import distant TV station affiliate signals in markets that don't get ones of their own.
The location of the new signals is no accident. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D- Vt.) is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the committees of jurisdiction over STELA, and a co-sponsor of
STELA. He made sure that a provision allowing import of the in-state stations was part of the bill, a point he made in a quote included in DISH's
announcement of the new service.
"I am pleased that DISH Network has announced that it will begin providing Vermont broadcast stations to its
customers in southern Vermont," he said. "I worked hard to ensure that DISH Network was granted this
authority when Congress passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act earlier this year."
