Satellitte dishes

Does anyone have FCC rulings concerning HOAs requiring unused dishes to be removed?

You should also check out the following earlier thread on the topic:

Subject: ASK THE EXPERT: Satellite dish placement in HOAs and condos a thread started by HOATalk.

We worked with our attorney when drafting a policy about satellite dishes. (Warning: we're condos, so any satellite dish will be installed on common elements and subject to association regulations. If you're in a single family home HOA where satellite dishes will be installed on private property, the HOA has less authority to regulate.)

As Tim said, federal regulations are silent on removal. Our community policy includes no installation on roofs or the sides of the buildings. Acceptable spots can include decks and mulched beds around the buildings. The association can and will make owners remove dishes that are installed in unacceptable places. If the owner fails to remove the dish after three notices, the association will remove the dish at the owner's expense.

The board has to keep up with this. An unused satellite dish can mean that the owner has moved, and the new owner may be completely unaware of the issue. It seems unfair to force a new owner to correct an issue that they were unaware of. Our attorney said that legally a new owner is responsible for being aware of such things and that the association is within its rights to pass on correction costs to the new owner. But that never sat right with me as a board member. I think that the negative consequences of taking a hard line on this can be worse than the benefits of passing costs to the new owner. Fortunately we never had to do anything like this while I was on the board.

In a different thread, Dean asked about an FCC ruling on Philadelphia, PA requiring the removal of satellite dishes.

That ruling dealt with a Philadelphia ordinance that was banning dishes within the city from being visable and was requiring the removal of any dish that was in violation of this city ordinance.

I do not think it would not be applicable to Dean's initial question in this thread.

See:

Federal Communications Commission DA 18-393

Satellite companies fighting Philadelphia law to move dishes off front of buildings

FCC Overrules Philadelphia’s Dish Blight Ordinance

The last link says, in part:

The FCC ruled that Philadelphia’s ordinance banning street-facing satellites infringes on individual rights. Other cities and states have or are considering dish blight ordinances.

Leta raises a good point in that it saves a house from having multiple holes drilled in it. I am on cable, but I still have a DishTV dish on my roof from some 6 years ago.

I agree that satellite dishes are ugly. Fortunately in many areas there are a number of other options for getting TV signals, and I believe that the Telecommunications Act is due for an update. In my area we have cable, fiops, and 5G home internet via the big mobile phone companies.

Condo communities have more ability to regulate dishes because all of the exterior is common elements. I vaguely remember a discussion in the last few years about regulating satellite dishes in historical districts. The federal law is still the law, but communities can regulate where the dishes can be placed as long as they don't prevent people from receiving a signal altogether. In other words, HOAs don't have to allow installation in an owner's preferred location, only in a location that can receive the signal.