December 10, 2019

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to reject any attempt to modify H.R. 5035, the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019, with provisions contained in or similar to H.R. 5140, the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019, which was authored by Rep. Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.).

As currently reported, H.R. 5035 would protect the more than 870,000 satellite TV subscribers who are at risk of losing access to broadcast content vital to their communities from major broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox through distant signal licenses.

H.R. 5140 allows distant signal licenses to expire after just six short months in certain markets for certain customers, based solely on the company providing them services. Given the current offerings of only two satellite providers in some markets, consumers in these markets will either have to go without certain broadcast network television, or seek programing from DISH, the only provider that H.R. 5140 would currently permit to serve satellite customers using distant signals. Creating a virtual monopoly for one company does nothing to protect consumers, and we urge you to prevent language from this legislation from being added to any reauthorization legislation.

We strongly urge you to pass H.R. 5035 without any amendments that would include provisions like those contained in H.R. 5140.  

All votes relating to H.R. 5035 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2019 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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