The Enforcement Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission slapped a $11,000 fine against EchoStar for its failure to reserve channel capacity for non-commercial programming. Under FCC guidelines, DBS companies must set aside at least 7 percent of their capacity for educational or informational programming. EchoStar has added non-commercial programming from a number of sources, including C-SPAN, Northern Arizona University, University of California, PBS and NASA. EchoStar has been very vocal about its opposition to the FCC rules. And EchoStar blasted the fine since it was imposed for a single-day violation. "This technical, single-day violation occurred after EchoStar requested an extension of time to achieve compliance with the rules, which the commission denied," the company said in a statement. "EchoStar was prepared to comply in a timely manner with FCC rules. Unfortunately, material changes to the public interest programming requirements made by the FCC in late November 1999, required a radical restructuring of EchoStar's public interest programming and necessitated the requested extension."

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House Panel To Mark Up Rural TV Bill

The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection is expected to mark up H.R. 3615, the Local Broadcast Signal Act, while it meets today on Capitol Hill. Republican Bob Goodlatte and Democrat Rick Boucher, both House members from Virginia, are sponsoring the measure. The two lawmakers began working on a rural TV program in the fall. Once it passes the subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), the bill will move on to the Commerce Committee. That panel could vote on the bill Tuesday.

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Turner: The Big Are Getting Bigger

Remarking that "the big are getting bigger" in the media world, Time Warner's Ted Turner said the consolidation occurring among media titans today won't hurt the business or consumers in the future. "I don't think it's necessarily bad," Turner told reporters in Washington, D.C. "When this whole cable phenomenon occurred, there were only three voices - NBC, ABC and CBS. When it shakes down at the end of the day, there will be at least seven or eight major voices. "Overall, we've gained even with all the consolidation. We've got more diversity and opinion and programming concepts by far today than we had when we started." Turner's Time Warner is merging with America Online under a $135 billion deal. Whether Viacom should be allowed to own both CBS and the UPN television network, Turner said, "Sure, why not?" He added, "There's no limit on how many cable networks you own. And really, UPN and WB aren't really networks anyway, in my opinion. They don't have news, they don't have daytime programming, they don't have late night, and they don't have weekends. "It's kind of halfway a network and halfway a syndicated program service," Turner said.

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Healey to Moderate SkyFORUM Panel

San Jose Mercury News Multimedia Reporter Jon Healey will moderate the New Technologies Panel at the SkyFORUM financial symposium in New York City. Healey's beat focuses on one aspect of the convergence phenomenon: how entertainment and other information for the mass market adapts to the new digital delivery possibilities. Healey writes about streaming media, interactive and personal TV, MP3, data broadcasting and ATVEF, among other new forms of communication. Panelists for the Interactive Media are: Jackie Friedman, Director, Business Development, Satellite, WebTV Networks, Inc.; Stacy Jolna, Vice President, Programming and Network Relations, TiVo; Jan Steenkamp, CEO, OpenTV; Allan Thygesen, Senior Vice President, Programming and Advertising, Wink; and Charlie Tritschler, Vice President of Marketing, Liberate Technologies. The panel will take place at 10:05 a.m. during SkyFORUM on Tuesday, March 28, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. For more information on SkyFORUM, please contact Rachel Zink at (703) 549-6990, ext. 363, or by e-mail at rzink@sbca.org.

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INTERNATIONAL: IDC Wins Mexico Contract