Seasons Greetings All,

I have observed the discussion here regarding the availability of or lack of network television coverage to the owners of the various DBS TV systems used in rv's.

In the January, 1999 issue of Highways ( The Official Publication Of the Good Sam Club ) in the View Points Editorial by Ron Epstein, editor of Highways, the current status of this issue is addressed.

Briefly, according to Epstein, three bills were introduced late in the 1998 session of the Congress dealing with this subject, to resolve the conflict with the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988. They were S. 2494, S. 1720, and H.R. 3210. None of these bills were acted on in the past session, so they will have to be reintroduced again.

The purpose of the bills was to allow access to network television not only by rv'ers but rural subscribers as well and the whole matter is being watched by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) who has also filed an emergency request for rule making with the FCC.

Epstein is suggesting that rv'ers petition their representatives for relief from the current act and goes on to state that it is unknown when new bills will be introduced.

Jerry