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WHEREAS, the Federal Communications Commission, as directed by Congress in Section 207 of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, adopted the Over-the-Air Reception Devices
(OTARD) Rule to prohibit governmental and nongovernmental restrictions on a
viewers' ability to receive video programming signals from direct broadcast
satellites (DBS), broadband radio service providers (formerly multichannel
multi-point distribution service or MMDS), and television broadcast stations
(TVBS); and WHEREAS, The OTARD Rule (47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) applies
to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one
meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and
wireless cable antennas and prohibits most governmental and nongovernmental
restrictions that: (1) unreasonably delay or prevent installation, maintenance
or use; (2) unreasonably increase the cost of installation, maintenance or use;
or (3) preclude reception of an acceptable quality signal; and WHEREAS, in 1999, the
Commission amended the rule to extend its protections to rental property so
long as the renter had an exclusive use area, such as a balcony or patio, in
which to deploy an OTARD; and WHEREAS, The Satellite
Broadcasting & Communications Association (SBCA) has filed a Petition for
Rulemaking seeking to amend the exclusive use provision of the OTARD Rule to
empower only property owners or homeowners’ associations to restrict reception
devices to areas under user’s exclusive control and bar any such restrictions
imposed by state or local governments. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED,
that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on the FCC to reject the
SBCA’s petition to amend the OTARD Rule.
The FCC’s direction from Congress was to bar enforcement only when a
restriction violates the OTARD Rule, not dependent on whether the source of the
restriction is a homeowners’ association or a municipal zoning regulation. Prohibition on municipal regulation would
force every homeowners’ association and every apartment owner in the country to
enact its own satellite dish placement rules.
This would likely lead to greater confusion regarding the deployment of
over the air devices, not less. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Commission should find that the
OTARD Rule does not preempt local zoning ordinances that require OTARDs not be
deployed on the front façade of a building when an alternative location can be
employed that does not delay installation, unreasonably burden the user, nor
materially degrade the quality of a signal. |
RESOLUTION ADOPTED JUNE 2012