Dish doesn’t offer PBS in HD “for the simple reason...

on Dish v. FCC. It responded to a Department of Justice filing in opposition to a preliminary injunction request from Dish that would block a federal statute requiring the Dish to carry more public TV programming in HD (CD May 13 p2). While the government and Dish agree on the facts, the two have different opinions on how the First Amendment should apply to the facts, said Dish. DOJ claims that the First Amendment doesn’t protect the company’s discretion in choosing which stations to air in HD are false and the amendment applies anytime a programmer “exercises editorial discretion” in what to show its viewers, the company said. Arguments that programmers deserve only basic First Amendment protection based on the Supreme Court’s Red Lion decision to adopt standards “for over-the-air broadcasts in the interests of ensuring proliferation of diverse viewpoints,” since only a few channels were available, have been found to be inapplicable to cable companies and similarly shouldn’t apply to satellite-TV providers, said Dish. The PBS HD mandate is far from content neutral since the government would require Dish to give “special treatment to specific stations -- PBS member stations -- because the government believes those stations broadcast content that is more worthy of viewer attention,” Dish said. A preliminary injunction is necessary to protect the company from constitutional infringement, it said. A judge will decide Thursday whether to grant the injunction.