Opinions -With satellites, the Big Sky is the limit

The business world marvels at the pending $47 billion cable mega merger between AT & T and Comcast Corporation. Cable customers are promised more channels and better internet service. The trouble is, most Montanans have no options when it comes to pay TV. The AT & T merger with Comcast won’t bring anything to rural Montana. That’s because cable companies don’t bother with us. We aren’t worth their investment.

By Jay Stovall – Public Service Commissioner from District 2.

The majority of people I represent on the Public Service Commission are rural Montanans. We’re used to having fewer options but we’d like to have at least one opportunity. Echostar and DirecTV are seeking merger approval from the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice. These two corporations have committed to bring every willing person in America their local television stations, as well as high-speed, broadband Internet. Furthermore, these companies have testified before Congress, committing to one price nationwide for all customers. That’s why I am strongly supportive of a merger between Echostar and DirecTV satellite corporations if the Federal Communications Commission makes its approval contingent upon these commitments being met.

Without these companies merging, rural customers will not receive local stations by satellite because there isn’t a satellite company in existence able to provide all television markets with local programming. Glendive, Montana has the dubious distinction of being the smallest television market in the country. That means Montana is virtually at the bottom of the pay TV barrel. If anyone is willing and able to give rural Montana full television and internet coverage, we should look for ways to support and help the merger succeed. The Echostar DirecTV merger promises just that. A successful merger of these companies will bring opportunity to rural Montana and rural America that we’ve never had before.

Rural cable companies are not getting the job done. Recently, Ashland Entertainment, a rural cable provider in southeast Montana, turned out the lights and turned off service to hundreds of homes. Ashland, Montana television viewers can no longer watch the local news, weather and sports. There isn’t another cable company interested in stepping in to serve these customers.

So there will no longer be local news for people in Ashland, no weather and no market reports. Many local residents are now in the process of subscribing to satellite service, but that still won’t solve their problem of getting local news, because right now satellite providers don’t provide local broadcast channels in Montana.

Even today, many Montanans have few options but television for learning about weather in their area. Unfortunately, our rural areas many times do not have effective radio service, and therefore miss out on severe weather warnings and other important local safety messages. More and more people are building homes in remote locations. We need to find ways to deliver affordable, reliable communications services everywhere. Local channels via satellite and enhanced Internet access would provide rural residents with the information they need to make keep themselves and their families safe.

Limited by distance, weather, and mountains, cable and phone providers have not been able to offer cutting-edge technologies to all Montanans. Usually reserved to those in urban and suburban areas, critical tools like high-speed internet access and specialized educational programming and entertainment offerings were but a far-off dream for most in rural areas. Even if they reached us, the subscription price would be over-the-top. If the merger is approved for the creation of a united satellite company, it would better serve our economic interests in Montana.

The new company’s services would provide valuable news, weather and market information to everyone, particularly people in rural areas whose income is traditionally more dependent on weather. The new company has committed to providing local coverage for all nine media markets serving Montana. They have also gone on record with a "one nation, one rate" pricing system proposal, upon which the FCC could condition its approval of the merger.

Montana has no competitive alternative to cable today. While AT&T is moving forward to merge with Comcast Corporation, a $47 billion deal, experts in Washington say the Echostar DirecTV merger is in trouble and may not receive permission from the FCC and Department of Justice. Our representatives in Congress need to hear from Montanans, letting them know the demand is there. If a $47 billion cable deal is permitted to proceed, then certainly, a $26 billion satellite merger should be allowed to proceed. There simply must be a way to bring at least one means of local news and highspeed internet service to rural areas. Anyone standing in the way of this single opportunity is basically saying the majority of Montanans should remain in the dark.

JAY STOVALL is state Public Service Commissioner from District 2.

(Thanks to Doug Mitchell [email protected] for passing this along- Russ)