Senator Kerry had an interesting hearing in his Commerce subcommittee yesterday (re: Sat. TV)

The Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act—or SHVERA—is not the best known piece of communications legislation. Nor is it the most appreciated piece of communications law. But in living rooms across the country, consumers reap the benefits of this law every time they turn on the television set.

To understand why, it is useful to look back more than a decade and a half ago. At that time, a consumer seeking premium pay television service had only one place to go: the cable company.

Today, that same consumer has options. That’s because SHVERA and its legal predecessors ushered in a world where consumers could choose between the cable company and satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish Network.

Choice means competition. It means lower prices. It means more programming innovation. It means more viewing packages to choose from. And it means greater incentives for companies to develop new digital technology for program viewing.

I might add an important personal note here – all that competition, pricing, innovation and viewing packages are also very important to Red Sox Nation now that the playoffs are here.

Today, there are more than twenty Nielsen markets across the country where satellite service does not provide local broadcast channels. Instead of hearing information about local news, weather, and sports, consumers get information from places far from home and far from relevant to the lives they lead.

This is a situation that demands our attention. Although in the past Congress has not required satellite services to offer local channels to every market in the country, it’s time to consider how to remedy this situation.