EL SEGUNDO, Calif. & ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DIRECTV and DISH issued the following statement regarding the passage today of the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (STAVRA) out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation:

"We thank Chairman Rockefeller, Ranking Member Thune and the rest of the Senate Commerce Committee for passing bipartisan legislation that makes important reforms to the outdated laws governing today’s video market, while ensuring continuity of service to more than 1.5 million distant signal subscribers who would, otherwise, lose service at the end of this year. We look forward to working with Congressional leadership to see this reauthorization swiftly passed into law, and also look forward to continuing the important discussion regarding retransmission consent reform, and in particular protecting consumers from local channel blackouts.”

About DIRECTV: DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) is one of the world's leading providers of digital television entertainment services. Through its subsidiaries and affiliated companies in the United States, Brazil, Mexico and other countries in Latin America, DIRECTV provides digital television service to more than 20 million customers in the United States and more than 18 million customers in Latin America. For more information on DIRECTV, please visit http://www.directv.com.

About DISH: DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., provides approximately 14.053 million satellite TV customers, as of June 30, 2014, with the highest quality programming and technology with the most choices at the best value. Subscribers enjoy a high definition line-up with more than 200 national HD channels, the most international channels, and award-winning HD and DVR technology. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 250 company. Visit www.dish.com.