Wisconsin carve-out lets cable skip fees to local TV stations—under a Packers-themed name.
H.R. 5165 — Go Pack Go Act of 2025 · Filed by Tony Wied (R-WI) · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill allows cable and satellite subscribers in 13 specific Wisconsin counties to choose to receive television broadcasts from an adjacent state's network affiliate instead of their local in-state station. The bill exempts these out-of-state signals from normal retransmission consent and copyright licensing rules, allowing carriers to provide them without negotiating fees with local broadcasters or paying copyright holders.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a narrow geographic exemption from copyright and retransmission rules benefiting subscribers in 13 Wisconsin counties—a single-state, multi-county carve-out. The 'Go Pack Go' title (referencing the Green Bay Packers) is a vanity frame that obscures the bill's technical broadcast-licensing function.
What the text implies
- Local broadcasters in the 13 covered counties lose retransmission consent leverage and copyright licensing fees, reducing revenue available for local news production and community programming.
- The bill's exemption from 'significantly viewed' determinations (§76.54 FCC rules) may allow carriers to avoid must-carry obligations for local stations, further eroding local broadcast economics.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
cable operators (reduced retransmission consent obligations); satellite carriers (exemption from distant-signal limits); subscribers in 13 Wisconsin counties (potential cost savings if carriers pass through fee reductions