TV Market Switch for Satellite Customers in Limbo, Says FR County Manager

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR

Satellite TV customers in three counties will have to wait a little longer to be switched to the Atlanta metro TV market, if at all.

That’s because according to Franklin County Manager Beth Thomas the switchover is in limbo.

In May, the Federal Communications Commission approved the market transfer of satellite TV customers from Greenville TV stations to stations in metro Atlanta.

Thomas, who has spearheaded the market switch process over the past five years for Franklin, Hart and Stephens county satellite customers, told the Board of Commissioners this week that once the FCC approved the market switch for satellite customers, it then was up to the satellite companies to negotiate the terms of TV market carriage with the broadcasters.

However, the 2014 Stellar Act, which allowed local governments to get involved in the TV market modifications, is set to expire, and Thomas said that puts the switch over in limbo.

That Act has to be reviewed every five years,” she explained. “So while everything is going on in 2019, the regulations that govern satellite coverage do not necessarily get removed and I have yet to figure out what that means.  We’ve already received our market modification, but the rule that tells the satellite companies and the broadcasters how to interact with each other has changed. It has been shifted into the favor of broadcasters versus the satellite companies.”

Thomas said she has tried to talk to both the satellite companies and the broadcasters in metro Atlanta but didn’t get anywhere.

“I’ve sent letters to both the satellite companies and the four broadcast companies and received no response,” Thomas said. “I even sent a letter to the reporter for at least one of the networks who was recently in our area. I even expressed to him, ‘Hey loved your report but I could only see it online because while you were only 20 minutes away, we couldn’t see the coverage there.’ The only response I got back that they would be sent my letter to the General Manager and I have heard nothing.”

Thomas said she doesn’t know what else she can do except write to the Governor.

“I know our citizens are frustrated. We said, ‘Hey we one’ but nobody has been able to get their coverage switched yet. And I don’t know where to turn to. I thought the next turn would be to write a letter to the Governor. Not that he can impose himself in these negotiations but we could ask. Maybe we could ask him to intercede on our behalf. If you’re agreeable I could move forward with that letter,” she said.

Commissioner Ryan Swails suggested citizens affected by the stall get up a petition to send to the satellite companies and broadcasters.

In 2019, the FCC approved the market switchover for Franklin, Hart, and Stephens counties but that was appealed by the Greenville and Asheville, NC broadcasters.

In May, the FCC denied their appeal and approved the switchover.

Thomas said that after five years of hard work to get the FCC approval, she now does not know if or when the switchover will take place.