Sen. Baldwin Reintroduces Bill to Change TV Regulations in Wis.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) has reintroduced legislation that would make major changes to laws regulating cable and satellite TV lineups in northwestern Wisconsin.

Baldwin’s “Go Pack Go” bill is described as a solution for Packers fans in Minnesota-based media markets who miss several games per season. As mentioned here previously, the Sept. 22, Dec. 8, and Dec. 29 Packers games won’t be seen on Duluth or Minneapolis TV stations because of conflicts with the Vikings.

“Every Packers fan across our state should be able to watch every Packers game,” said Senator Baldwin in a news release on Tuesday. “My Go Pack Go Act would give Packers fans in every Wisconsin county the opportunity to receive in-state broadcasts, so they can cheer on our beloved green and gold.”

The bill goes much further than the nine hours of missing Packers games per year: It would require cable and satellite providers to import Wisconsin network affiliates year-round. Providers would be required to offer customers the option of receiving stations from an adjacent Wisconsin market, unless they can show it is not technically feasible.

Baldwin first introduced the “Go Pack Go Act” in July 2018. It was referred to the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee but did not get a hearing and did not attract any co-sponsors.

Current federal regulations place heavy restrictions on cable and satellite providers’ ability to import out-of-market TV signals. Baldwin’s bill would carve out an exception for thirteen northern and western Wisconsin counties that are in the Minneapolis, Duluth-Superior, and Marquette TV markets.

Under the text of the legislation, this is how the offerings could shape up:

• Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, and Sawyer counties: ABC and FOX from La Crosse-Eau Claire or Wausau. (Out-of-market CBS and NBC stations could not be imported because CBS/NBC affiliate KBJR is licensed to Superior, Wisconsin.)
• Barron, Burnett, Dunn, Pierce, Polk, St. Croix, and Washburn counties: ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC from La Crosse-Eau Claire.
• Florence County: ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC from Green Bay or Wausau-Rhinelander. (Florence County residents are not currently missing the Packers games because Marquette stations carry all of the games.)

TV market assignments are made by Nielsen Media based on viewership. A county is generally assigned to the market which its residents watch the most, and regulations generally do not allow out-of-market signals to be carried on cable and satellite providers.

(For cable systems, the main exception is for “significantly viewed” out-of-market stations, which generally affects counties along the border of the market. However, the Eau Claire FOX affiliate carrying the missing Packers games does not appear on the significantly viewed list.)

Baldwin’s effort is separate from the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization Act of 2014, which created a process for local governments, satlelite providers, and TV stations to petition for satellite carriage of in-state stations in “orphan counties.” Wausau’s CBS/FOX affiliate successfully petitioned to be added in Ashland and Iron counties, and the Washburn County government is in the process of requesting La Crosse-Eau Claire stations.