Approval of Northpoint’s terrestrial wireless licenses should pre...
Approval of Northpoint’s terrestrial wireless licenses should precede Commission’s review of proposed EchoStar- DirecTV merger, group of members of Congress told FCC Chmn. Powell. House Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chmn. Stearns (R-Fla.), House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat…
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Markey (Mass.) and Reps. Green (D-Tex.) and Radanovich (R-Cal.) said that “in order for this merger to satisfy the public interest, consumers must have choices beyond the satellite-cable duopoly.” Northpoint’s pending licenses have languished for 3 years because of DBS industry position that Northpoint spectrum-sharing technology would cause harmful interference to DBS signals. Recently announced merger proposal (CD Oct 30 p1) has drawn mixed reviews from Hill. While some, including Rep. Boucher (D- Va.), see merger creating viable competitor to cable, others lament diminished consumer choices. Green said separately that without swift approval of Northpoint licenses, merger would leave only 2 choices for multichannel video programming: (1) Cable and (2) New DirecTV-EchoStar DBS entity. “Northpoint would give consumers a third choice using a new wireless distribution technology,” Green said.