Few Clear Forecasts of House Democrats' Influence on 2019 STELA Debate

Outgoing House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us he has his eye on the coming STELA debate, even before his expected selection as the subcommittee's chairman, but he isn't willing to say what direction he wants to take. “Come January, we're going to lay out our agenda,” Doyle told us before the Christmas recess. Until then “we're not giving any sneak previews.” Incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman and current ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., also wouldn't talk about his vision for coming recertification work.

Outgoing House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us he still believes further hearings should happen early in the year to decide whether STELA reauthorization is even necessary. Walden voiced skepticism in September about the need to keep the statute in its current form after a House Communications hearing on the state of the media marketplace (see 1809270062). “I think so much has changed” since Congress last reauthorized the law in 2014, he said before the Christmas recess. House Judiciary Committee Republicans “also have issues” on the statute that they will want to address, so “it's not just us” raising questions. Walden said he believes House Commerce will seek a bipartisan solution on STELA in the same vein as other telecom policy matters, but “it'll be up to” Pallone to decide how to prioritize it in the committee's 2019 agenda.

Outgoing House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told us he will remain actively involved in work on STELA and media market policy in 2019, noting he plans to refile his Next Generation Television Marketplace Act (HR-6465). The bill would repeal compulsory copyright licenses and retransmission provisions included in the 1992 Cable Act and end Communications Act mandates on carriage and purchase of certain broadcast signals by MVPDs (see 1807230044). He filed versions of the bill in the 112th and 113th Congresses (see 1207240073 and 1312130065). “I'm going to keep fighting to get these reforms made” in the next Congress, Scalise said, noting his “good working relationship” on media issues with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. “We at least agree that reforms need to be made,” even though “we've had different approaches,” he said.

Eshoo told us she's very interested in the pending STELA debate and may introduce an updated version of her Video Consumers Have Options in Choosing Entertainment (Video Choice) Act. The bill, which Eshoo filed in the 113th Congress, addresses retransmission blackouts (see 1312130065). “I think reauthorization is an opportunity” to address retrans issues and a range of other media policy topics, Eshoo said. “I hope we will leverage that opportunity to not only recertify” the statute “but to think ahead and readjust” related policies, including on media ownership matters that Democrats have repeatedly highlighted during this Congress. “I think democracy is under siege and the idea that media consolidation excites people is dangerous,” she said. “Media consolidation is not healthy. In a democracy, you need many voices.”

Predictions 'Difficult'

There's no clear sense about what path Democratic leaders will seek, whether they favor reauthorizing the current statute, adopting an updated version or letting it expire completely, lobbyists and officials said. STELA “is not necessarily one of the first things out of Democrats' mouths” when they're asked about their telecom policy priorities for 2019, said one broadcasting lobbyist. The role of a majority-Democratic House must also be viewed in the context of Republicans increasing their majority in the Senate, which can allow the Senate GOP to “slow down” any House-initiated reauthorization they don't support.

Free Press expects the 2019 STELA process to proceed “largely like it did” in 2014, said Policy Director Matt Wood. “I know there are arguments that can be made this time” about changes in the media market “and those arguments may be received differently now than they were a few years ago, but I don't think there's anything particularly new under the sun there.”

“I don't expect that House Democrats will be particularly hostile” to any one side in the STELA debate, said R Street Institute Technology Policy Manager Tom Struble. "They are big on consumer protection issues” for the video market but how that manifests in legislation will depend on what Pallone and others envision as a final bill's scope. Video competition is “potentially ripe for policy reform because we're seeing breaking points in the market,” Struble said. “The rise” of over-the-top video services and “what it means for the existing retrans negotiations process” is going to be “an issue we see Congress dealing with" in 2019 via the STELA debate. “We think there are some changes that should be made,” but R Street is still evaluating what would best accomplish that goal, Struble said.

Democrats “are going to be approaching this from the perspective of consumers rather than industry stakeholders,” said a communications sector lobbyist who focuses on Democratic lawmakers. “There's not going to be instant buy-in on the perspectives” of broadcasters, satellite or cable companies, even though all camps tried “very hard” to influence the early contours of the debate by debuting their policy messages on STELA in 2018. “At a minimum [Democrats] are going to want to hold hearings” to set the stage for the recertification debate, after which media ownership and other “ancillary issues” will probably come into the mix, the lobbyist said. “This is a difficult process to predict.”

The shift to Democratic control of the House could be a “net positive” for STELA because the party's caucus members “traditionally lead on these issues,” a media lobbyist said. “They will probably seek robust hearings” during the first half of 2019 on reauthorization with an eye to casting a wide net on related media policy issues that they can address in unified legislation. A future bill is likely to be “something beyond” a straight recertification of the law that could encompass other “anti-competitive issues,” the lobbyist said. “It's unclear” whether Congress' Commerce or Judiciary committees will “be in the driver's seat” on reauthorization, but “they have to work together.”