§76.64. Retransmission consent. — Inbound Citations

(1) Any signal that was permitted (or, in the case of cable systems commencing operations after June 24, 1981, that would have been permitted) under the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on June 24, 1981 (former 47 CFR 76.1 through 76.617 (1980)); or

(15) Statements of a commercial television or Class A television station's election with respect to either must-carry or re-transmission consent, as defined in §§ 76.64 and 76.1608 of this chapter. These records shall be retained for the duration of the three year election period to which the statement applies. Commercial television stations shall, no later than July 31, 2020, provide an up-to-date email address and phone number for carriage-related questions and respond as soon as is reasonably possible to messages or calls from multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Each commercial television station is responsible for the continuing accuracy and completeness of the information furnished.

(l) Section 76.64 shall apply to open video systems in accordance with the provisions contained in this paragraph.

(1) Any provision of § 76.64 that refers to a “cable system” shall apply to an open video system. Any provision of § 76.64 that refers to a “cable operator” shall apply to an open video system operator.

(2) Must-carry/retransmission consent election notifications shall be sent to the open video system operator. An open video system operator shall make all must-carry/retransmission consent election notifications received available to the appropriate programming providers on its system.

(3) Television broadcast stations are required to make the same election for open video systems and cable systems serving the same geographic area, unless the overlapping open video system is unable to deliver appropriate signals in conformance with the broadcast station's elections for all cable systems serving the same geographic area.

(4) An open video system commencing new operations shall notify all local commercial and noncommercial broadcast stations as required under paragraph (l) of this section on or before the date on which it files with the Commission its Notice of Intent to establish an open video system.

(7) A local commercial television station carried to fulfill the requirements of this paragraph, which subsequently elects retransmission consent pursuant to § 76.64, shall continue to be carried by the cable system until the effective date of such retransmission consent election.

(e) At the time a local commercial station elects must-carry status pursuant to § 76.64, such station shall notify the cable system of its choice of channel position as specified in paragraphs (a), (b), and (d) of this section. A qualified NCE station shall notify the cable system of its choice of channel position when it requests carriage.

(a) Cable operators shall carry the entirety of the program schedule of any television station (including low power television stations) carried by the system unless carriage of specific programming is prohibited, and other programming authorized to be substituted, under § 76.67 or subpart F of part 76, or unless carriage is pursuant to a valid retransmission consent agreement for the entire signal or any portion thereof as provided in § 76.64.

(3) For purposes of this section and section 76.64 of this subpart, the following definitions apply:

(i) “Local market” has the meaning given such term in 17 U.S.C. 122(j); and

(ii) “Multichannel video programming distributor” has the meaning given such term in 47 U.S.C. 522.

(a) Initial or modified authorizations for BRS stations may not be granted to a cable operator if a portion of the BRS station's protected services area is within the portion of the franchise area actually served by the cable operator's cable system and the cable operator will be using the BRS station as a multichannel video programming distributor (as defined in § 76.64(d) of this chapter). No cable operator may acquire such authorization either directly, or indirectly through an affiliate owned, operated, or controlled by or under common control with a cable operator if the cable operator will use the BRS station as a multichannel video programming distributor.

(i) The applicable DMA list for the 2023 election pursuant to § 76.64(f) will be the DMA assignments specified in the Nielsen October 2021 Local TV Station Information Report, and so forth using the publications for the October two years prior to each triennial election pursuant to § 76.64(f).

(f) Pursuant to § 76.64(f)(3), a local commercial broadcast television station that fails to make an election is deemed a must-carry station. A cable operator shall carry such a television station on the cable system channel number on which the local commercial television station is broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on July 19, 1985, or on the channel on which it was carried on January 1, 1992. In the event that none of these specified channel positions is available due to a channel positioning request from a commercial television station affirmatively asserting its must-carry rights or such a request from a qualified local noncommercial educational station, the cable operator shall place the signal of such a television station on a channel of the cable system's choice, so long as that channel is included on the basic service tier.

In accordance with § 76.1600 of this title, beginning July 31, 2020, each licensee of a low power television station or noncommercial educational translator station that is entitled to notices under § 76.64(k), § 76.1601, § 76.1607, or § 76.1617 of this title shall receive such notices via email to the licensee's email address (not a contact representative's email address, if different from the licensee's email address) as displayed publicly in the Commission's Licensing and Management System (LMS), or the primary station's carriage-related email address if the noncommercial educational translator station does not have its own email address listed in LMS. Licensees are responsible for the continuing accuracy and completeness of this information.

(e) After July 31, 2020, written information provided by cable operators to broadcast stations pursuant to §§ 76.64(k), 76.1601, 76.1607, 76.1608, 76.1609, and 76.1617 must be delivered electronically to full-power and Class A television stations via email to the email address for carriage-related questions that the station lists in its public file in accordance with §§ 73.3526 and 73.3527 of this title, or in the case of low power television stations and noncommercial educational translator stations that are entitled to such notices, to the licensee's email address (not a contact representative's email address, if different from the licensee's email address) as displayed publicly in the Licensing and Management System (LMS) or the primary station's carriage-related email address if the noncommercial educational translator station does not have its own email address listed in LMS.

(c) Any television broadcast station or multichannel video programming distributor aggrieved by conduct that it believes constitutes a violation of the regulations set forth in this section or § 76.64(l) may commence an adjudicatory proceeding at the Commission to obtain enforcement of the rules through the filing of a complaint. The complaint shall be filed and responded to in accordance with the procedures specified in § 76.7.