The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) held a high-power roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., Thursday on the future of local TV in small and rural markets in America. NTIA Administrator Greg Rohde led the two-hour discussion featuring members of Congress and representatives from the broadcast, small-cable, wireless cable, streaming media, satellite and future technology industries. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) said that at any given time, "approximately 60 percent of people with cable TV service are watching local network programming." Therefore, getting local network signals to his constituents who are satellite TV subscribers is a priority, he said. Boucher also said he understands that DBS providers are going to provide local service where it makes practical and economic sense. Boucher said he hopes the rural loan guarantee bill he and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) recently introduced will improve the economics of providing local-into-local via satellite to all small and rural markets. Small cable operator James Carey expressed concern about a rural loan plan that would provide a government subsidy to his competition. Boucher responded by saying he disagrees with the "unfair competition" argument. "Just because people live outside of urban and cable-passed areas doesn't mean they shouldn't have access to the same services," Boucher said. Chuck Sherman of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) said he's, "delighted that everyone wants local signals." However, Sherman said that the NAB will insist that all regulatory and copyright laws will still apply, especially to new and emerging technologies. Sherman also said Northpoint's plan for terrestrial delivery of local signals creates more "black boxes" while consumers want a seamless viewing experience. A representative from Sen. Tom Dashcle's office expressed concern that the rural TV loan legislation proposed in the Senate Banking Committee by Sens. Conrad Burns and Phil Gramm will not actually enable rural viewers to receive local-into-local. He also expressed Daschle's concerns that the bill will create a new bureaucracy and that the bill will only guarantee 70 percent of a loan, not enough to make local service profitable. Chris McLean of the Rural Utilities Service said every cost and added expense such a loan project incurs makes the program riskier and sometimes even impossible. A skirmish almost broke out over the Northpoint proposal to operate in the DBS spectrum, with a few salvos exchanged between Pegasus Communications Chairman and CEO Marshall Pagon and Northpoint President Sophia Collier. The debate was stymied after Pagon queried Collier, "Why won't you let the DBS providers use your transmitters for conducting their tests?" Rohde brought the discussion back around to the rural loan programs. Rohde said the NTIA is accepting public comment on the proposed government loans to facilitate television and telecommunications in rural and small markets. The comment deadline is April 15, and replies are due May 15.

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Senate Panel Reschedules Rural Mark-Up

The Senate Banking Committee was scheduled to mark-up its rural loan guarantee bill today, but rescheduled the mark-up for next week. The committee will mark-up the "Launching Our Communities' Access to Local Television Act of 2000" (or LOCAL TV Act of 2000), at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 8, during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The bill is co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).

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SkyPerfecTV Gets DirecTV Japan

Hughes Electronics will take 400,000 subscribers with its DirecTV Japan unit and place them with rival SkyPerfecTV. SkyPefecTV, which has more than 1.7 million subscribers, launched its service before DirecTV Japan and has consistently added more subscribers. "Although subscriber growth of DirecTV Japan was improving, we do not believe it was sufficient to achieve our corporate objectives of being the market leader in each of our key businesses while maximizing shareholder value," said Michael T. Smith, Chairman and CEO at Hughes. "This move makes SkyPerfecTV a more powerful competitor to the terrestrial and satellite television broadcasters in Japan, and provides a means for Hughes to participate in its substantial growth potential." As a result of the subscriber migration, DirecTV Japan will discontinue operations. As part of the transaction, Hughes and other shareholders of DirecTV Japan will take an equity stake in SkyPerfecTV, which expects to have an initial public offering later this year.

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ABC Pushes the Dish in Houston Cable Flap

ABC, engaged in a bitter retransmission dispute with Time Warner over cable carriage of the network's TV station in Houston, is offering affected viewers a small dish as an alternative to the wire. Through an offer from ABC-owned KTRK, 1,500 Time Warner Cable customers would receive a $99 rebate on the purchase of a DirecTV system. Under a current national promotion, DirecTV will install dishes for free. Time Warner systems serve around 680,000 subscribers in the Houston area.

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Decisionmark-WaiverTV See Record Traffic

Decisionmark Corporation, a high-tech software and data provider, said its Internet-based WaiverTV product is receiving record user sessions. The WaiverTV application, used by local network-affiliated broadcasters, has consistently averaged 500 user sessions a day for the past week. Satellite subscribers who feel they can't receive an adequate local signal often request a waiver from broadcasters in hopes of receiving a satellite-delivered feed. Major satellite companies have contracted with Decisionmark to utilize the software company's electronic waiver system. To date, Pegasus Communications, DirecTV and EchoStar are delivering subscriber waiver requests via Decisionmark's system. Broadcasters receive the waiver requests in an electronic queue via WaiverTV.

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ON TV: DirecTV Adds St. Louis-Sacramento