The 22News I-Team exposes an eye sore

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The 22News I-Team is exposing an eye sore in your neighborhood.  

It's a growing issue. Satellite dishes lining the front of homes and apartment buildings.  Plus, unused dishes never being removed and left with dead wires hanging.

If you walk around your town or city, you'll likely see what the 22News I-Team found in Springfield.  Satellite dishes hanging from the front of homes and apartment buildings.  In city apartments you'll see dishes cluttering the sides of the building. Some not even functional anymore.  

In a section of Lexington Street in Springfield's North End there were 13 satellite dishes in eye shot and even more dead wires hanging from homes.  But when a tenant moves out, the satellite company doesn't haul away the dish. 

The I-Team went to the Springfield Municipal Operations Center to get some answers. 

"Who is responsible for the removal of these satellite dishes?", asks Ryan Walsh.

"Right now if there is responsibility it would be the landlord", says Steve Desilets, the Code Enforcement Commissioner in Springfield. 

Desilets told the 22News I-team the city has very little control over these dishes, other than in the historical district.  The city can only get involved when there is a safety hazard.

The I-Team then met with Springfield City councilor Melvin Edwards, who is also the President of Keep Springfield Beautiful to show him some of these eyesores.

"in this particular case it could be the satellite dishes themselves that subtracts from your property value", says Edwards.

The 22News I-Team contacted the Satellite, Broadcasting and Communications Association and they sent us a statement.  In part it says, FCC regulations prohibit cities from restricting dish placement (Full Statement Below).

Cities like Philadelphia and Boston are challenging that.  Boston's city council may vote on a similar ordinance about the placement and removal of satellite dishes on May 9th.  Philadelphia has already approved one and is waiting on a ruling from the FCC.

"I am an advocate for product stewardship. Manufacturers being responsible for their products after their life span", says Edwards.

Below is the complete statement from the Satellite, Broadcasting and Communications Association.

STATEMENT from SBCA:

A small but growing number of cities have recently singled out satellite dishes for regulation.  Arguing that satellite dishes are uniquely ugly, or uniquely threaten neighborhood aesthetics, these cities seek to severely restrict dish placement.

Federal law, however, prohibits such regulation.  FCC regulations that have become known as the “OTARD rules (for “over the air reception device”) prohibit cities from restricting dish placement.  They essentially prohibit restrictions that increase costs, delay installation, or preclude signal reception—unless the restrictions are both justified by real safety or historic preservation concerns and applied evenhandedly to all devices, not just satellite dishes. The recent city ordinances plainly cannot meet this standard.  So the satellite industry has filed appropriate legal proceedings at the FCC.

Even setting aside legalities, these ordinances are a terrible idea.  They single out satellite dishes for unfair treatment—it is hard to understand why a satellite dish is any more “aesthetically unpleasing” than the jumbled mess of coaxial cable TV wires that stream down the front of buildings and homes throughout cities, or the multitude of air conditioning boxes that stick out of windows.  They also encourage price increases in video services—both because they make dish installation more expensive and because they encourage subscribers to stay with their incumbent cable operator.