Cable Industry Lobbies to tax Satellite TV

Cable is out to strike a blow against satellite TV. They are pushing for a bill in Massachusetts that would tax Satellite Television 5% under the terms of a proposed House bill, a move the cable TV industry is pushing because satellite providers such as DirecTV are competing with them for subscribers.

The proposal bill would officially levy the tax on both cable and satellite TV users. But there is a catch, but wording in the bill, which is written by the cable industry, would then nullify the charge for cable subscribers because they already pay up to 5 percent in so-called franchise fees.

Cities and towns have traditionally charged cable companies the fees to compensate a community for stringing wires and digging up roads to provide their service. And therefore the tax on cable television is justified. Massachusetts regulators have directed that the money be used for public access programming such as televised city council and selectmen meetings.

Satellite companies have been spared the fees both because they came into existence after the fees were created and because their service does not rely on public infrastructure such as roads and utility rights of way. Since they are not using the community infrastructure, why should they pay the same tax as cable?

``These guys can't compete fairly in the marketplace so, in our view, they have attempted to impose these taxes to gain a competitive advantage,'' said Robert Mercer, a spokesman for DirecTV satellite television.

``We don't tear up the city infrastructure,'' Mercer added. ``Our infrastructure is 22,300 miles in space.'' In fact, satellite TV must pay for their own infrastructure of satellite communication.

A cable industry spokesman acknowledged the aim of the bill is to raise the price of satellite TV bills, since satellite television has increasing taken away market share from the cable industry.

If you are a subscriber to satellite television in Massachusetts contact your local representative and voice your disagreement over this bill.