Congress wrote the law, Echostar broke the law. What makes you think the law was written and implemented improperly?
I contend that the enforcement of the law through the courts took way too long. I don't see that the FCC had anything to do with that.
I think we have a miss-understanding. I'm not sticking up for Dish. In fact some here will tell you how sick they get of hearing me drag Dish through the mud.
I'm not disputing that Dish broke the law, nor am I saying the courts implemented it improperly. Dish makes themselves look like idiots much of the time and this court case was no exception. Their legal team must be paid less than their CSRs.
What I am trying to say is that the SHVA, SHVIA and SHVERA along with the subsequent FCC rules and clarifications have left a lot to be desired. Like everything legal, the devil's in the details and what looked like it might help satellite customers has in reality been a bust for some - especially when it comes to digital.
For example, SHVERA gave the FCC until Dec '05 to complete a study to see what was needed for predicting digital signals. The FCC basically sat on their butts and just before the deadline they released a "report to congress" saying the existing LR model currently being used for analog was plenty adequate.
That may be credible in areas where the terrain is flat and towers are within 60 miles but much of the country isn't like that and any idiot knows the LR method favors the stations - not the consumer. That's why there was a "safeguard clause" for allowing signal testing where the station had to pay for the test if the person really couldn't get the signal.
Why was that testing option removed?
A similar
digital signal testing option was supposed to be available for the top 100 DMAs last April (with the rest to follow next July). Where is it? I know it sure isn't available up here in Vt. Could it be that in areas where viewers might actually benefit from it, the stations were given exemptions.
It's almost 2007 - past the original deadline date for the analog shutoff and there are still millions of people in this country that are being deprived of being able to see prime time network programming in high defination.
Now I realize this whole court matter goes back 9 years and has nothing to do with SHVERA. However, in reality, if the powers that be had done their job in 2004, I don't think the distants issue would be as relevant as it is today.
The whole mess would go away if congress made it mandatory for all tv signal carriers (cable, satellite, Fios or whatever), station owners and broadcasters to share the expense and resources necessary to provide and maintain a common set of local digital feeds of the major networks.
If the affiliate can't or won't get a decent digital feed to the carrier, the carrier is then allowed (obligated) to provide a digital feed of a distant network station (that are also commonly shared by all carriers).
This guarantees the nets in HD to everyone that wants them; cuts down on cost and bandwidth by sharing expense of just one set of signals; frees up carriers to compete in all other non-network programming, PPV, VOD, sports specialty feeds, etc. and most of all, speeds up the digital transition.