A bill to allow satellite-TV providers like AT&T Inc.'s DirecTV and Dish Network Corp. to keep sending broadcast TV signals to rural households may lead to broadcast retransmission fee rule changes.
The STELA Reauthorization Act is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2019. Lawmakers and industry lobbyists are eyeing a prospective reauthorization measure as a vehicle to alter regulations governing the fees that cable and satellite television providers pay broadcasters to retransmit their programming. The broadcast and cable industries have fought over the negotiated fees for years.
The fees have become a lucrative revenue source for broadcasters that have ...