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DAVID CONNELL
The Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association, DirecTV and EchoStar Communications can expect to face a two-pronged defense from the government and broadcasters in their case to overturn must-carry obligations, according to court documents.
A Federal Court in the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that broadcasters may join the case as co-defendants, based largely on the fact that they are likely to make different arguments than the government in defending must-carry as it is applied to the satellite TV industry.
"At oral arguments, Government counsel noted that the Government's interests overlap with - but also diverge from - the broadcaster's interest," Judge James Cacheris said in his opinion.
Cacheris ruled that the National Association of Broadcasters, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Association of Local Television Stations and Univision could all be added as defendants in the suit.
Cacheris went on to say that the broadcasters may tie the must-carry rules to provisions in the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act granting satellite TV providers a compulsory license, which gives them carte blanche to carry the copyrighted material that appears on the broadcast networks. If DirecTV and EchoStar turn down that compulsory license and negotiate terms with individual copyright holders, they can avoid the must-carry rules.
While negotiating without a compulsory license is practically impossible, the broadcasters could argue satellite TV must-carry is an "optional" provision, a claim they have made in the past.
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