
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 47USC534]

 
          TITLE 47--TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, AND RADIOTELEGRAPHS
 
                 CHAPTER 5--WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION
 
                  SUBCHAPTER V-A--CABLE COMMUNICATIONS
 
     Part II--Use of Cable Channels and Cable Ownership Restrictions
 
Sec. 534. Carriage of local commercial television signals


(a) Carriage obligations

    Each cable operator shall carry, on the cable system of that 
operator, the signals of local commercial television stations and 
qualified low power stations as provided by this section. Carriage of 
additional broadcast television signals on such system shall be at the 
discretion of such operator, subject to section 325(b) of this title.

(b) Signals required

                           (1) In general

        (A) A cable operator of a cable system with 12 or fewer usable 
    activated channels shall carry the signals of at least three local 
    commercial television stations, except that if such a system has 300 
    or fewer subscribers, it shall not be subject to any requirements 
    under this section so long as such system does not delete from 
    carriage by that system any signal of a broadcast television 
    station.
        (B) A cable operator of a cable system with more than 12 usable 
    activated channels shall carry the signals of local commercial 
    television stations, up to one-third of the aggregate number of 
    usable activated channels of such system.

                      (2) Selection of signals

        Whenever the number of local commercial television stations 
    exceeds the maximum number of signals a cable system is required to 
    carry under paragraph (1), the cable operator shall have discretion 
    in selecting which such stations shall be carried on its cable 
    system, except that--
            (A) under no circumstances shall a cable operator carry a 
        qualified low power station in lieu of a local commercial 
        television station; and
            (B) if the cable operator elects to carry an affiliate of a 
        broadcast network (as such term is defined by the Commission by 
        regulation), such cable operator shall carry the affiliate of 
        such broadcast network whose city of license reference point, as 
        defined in section 76.53 of title 47, Code of Federal 
        Regulations (in effect on January 1, 1991), or any successor 
        regulation thereto, is closest to the principal headend of the 
        cable system.

                      (3) Content to be carried

        (A) A cable operator shall carry in its entirety, on the cable 
    system of that operator, the primary video, accompanying audio, and 
    line 21 closed caption transmission of each of the local commercial 
    television stations carried on the cable system and, to the extent 
    technically feasible, program-related material carried in the 
    vertical blanking interval or on subcarriers. Retransmission of 
    other material in the vertical blanking internal or other 
    nonprogram-related material (including teletext and other 
    subscription and advertiser-supported information services) shall be 
    at the discretion of the cable operator. Where appropriate and 
    feasible, operators may delete signal enhancements, such as ghost-
    canceling, from the broadcast signal and employ such enhancements at 
    the system headend or headends.
        (B) The cable operator shall carry the entirety of the program 
    schedule of any television station carried on the cable system 
    unless carriage of specific programming is prohibited, and other 
    programming authorized to be substituted, under section 76.67 or 
    subpart F of part 76 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 
    effect on January 1, 1991), or any successor regulations thereto.

                         (4) Signal quality

        (A) Nondegradation; technical specifications

            The signals of local commercial television stations that a 
        cable operator carries shall be carried without material 
        degradation. The Commission shall adopt carriage standards to 
        ensure that, to the extent technically feasible, the quality of 
        signal processing and carriage provided by a cable system for 
        the carriage of local commercial television stations will be no 
        less than that provided by the system for carriage of any other 
        type of signal.

        (B) Advanced television

            At such time as the Commission prescribes modifications of 
        the standards for television broadcast signals, the Commission 
        shall initiate a proceeding to establish any changes in the 
        signal carriage requirements of cable television systems 
        necessary to ensure cable carriage of such broadcast signals of 
        local commercial television stations which have been changed to 
        conform with such modified standards.

                    (5) Duplication not required

        Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a cable operator shall not be 
    required to carry the signal of any local commercial television 
    station that substantially duplicates the signal of another local 
    commercial television station which is carried on its cable system, 
    or to carry the signals of more than one local commercial television 
    station affiliated with a particular broadcast network (as such term 
    is defined by regulation). If a cable operator elects to carry on 
    its cable system a signal which substantially duplicates the signal 
    of another local commercial television station carried on the cable 
    system, or to carry on its system the signals of more than one local 
    commercial television station affiliated with a particular broadcast 
    network, all such signals shall be counted toward the number of 
    signals the operator is required to carry under paragraph (1).

                       (6) Channel positioning

        Each signal carried in fulfillment of the carriage obligations 
    of a cable operator under this section shall be carried 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, at the election of the station, or on such other 
    channel number as is mutually agreed upon by the station and the 
    cable operator. Any dispute regarding the positioning of a local 
    commercial television station shall be resolved by the Commission.

                       (7) Signal availability

        Signals carried in fulfillment of the requirements of this 
    section shall be provided to every subscriber of a cable system. 
    Such signals shall be viewable via cable on all television receivers 
    of a subscriber which are connected to a cable system by a cable 
    operator or for which a cable operator provides a connection. If a 
    cable operator authorizes subscribers to install additional receiver 
    connections, but does not provide the subscriber with such 
    connections, or with the equipment and materials for such 
    connections, the operator shall notify such subscribers of all 
    broadcast stations carried on the cable system which cannot be 
    viewed via cable without a converter box and shall offer to sell or 
    lease such a converter box to such subscribers at rates in 
    accordance with section 543(b)(3) of this title.

                (8) Identification of signals carried

        A cable operator shall identify, upon request by any person, the 
    signals carried on its system in fulfillment of the requirements of 
    this section.

                          (9) Notification

        A cable operator shall provide written notice to a local 
    commercial television station at least 30 days prior to either 
    deleting from carriage or repositioning that station. No deletion or 
    repositioning of a local commercial television station shall occur 
    during a period in which major television ratings services measure 
    the size of audiences of local television stations. The notification 
    provisions of this paragraph shall not be used to undermine or evade 
    the channel positioning or carriage requirements imposed upon cable 
    operators under this section.

                   (10) Compensation for carriage

        A cable operator shall not accept or request monetary payment or 
    other valuable consideration in exchange either for carriage of 
    local commercial television stations in fulfillment of the 
    requirements of this section or for the channel positioning rights 
    provided to such stations under this section, except that--
            (A) any such station may be required to bear the costs 
        associated with delivering a good quality signal or a baseband 
        video signal to the principal headend of the cable system;
            (B) a cable operator may accept payments from stations which 
        would be considered distant signals under section 111 of title 
        17 as indemnification for any increased copyright liability 
        resulting from carriage of such signal; and
            (C) a cable operator may continue to accept monetary payment 
        or other valuable consideration in exchange for carriage or 
        channel positioning of the signal of any local commercial 
        television station carried in fulfillment of the requirements of 
        this section, through, but not beyond, the date of expiration of 
        an agreement thereon between a cable operator and a local 
        commercial television station entered into prior to June 26, 
        1990.

(c) Low power station carriage obligation

                           (1) Requirement

        If there are not sufficient signals of full power local 
    commercial television stations to fill the channels set aside under 
    subsection (b) of this section--
            (A) a cable operator of a cable system with a capacity of 35 
        or fewer usable activated channels shall be required to carry 
        one qualified low power station; and
            (B) a cable operator of a cable system with a capacity of 
        more than 35 usable activated channels shall be required to 
        carry two qualified low power stations.

      (2) Use of public, educational, or governmental channels

        A cable operator required to carry more than one signal of a 
    qualified low power station under this subsection may do so, subject 
    to approval by the franchising authority pursuant to section 531 of 
    this title, by placing such additional station on public, 
    educational, or governmental channels not in use for their 
    designated purposes.

(d) Remedies

                (1) Complaints by broadcast stations

        Whenever a local commercial television station believes that a 
    cable operator has failed to meet its obligations under this 
    section, such station shall notify the operator, in writing, of the 
    alleged failure and identify its reasons for believing that the 
    cable operator is obligated to carry the signal of such station or 
    has otherwise failed to comply with the channel positioning or 
    repositioning or other requirements of this section. The cable 
    operator shall, within 30 days of such written notification, respond 
    in writing to such notification and either commence to carry the 
    signal of such station in accordance with the terms requested or 
    state its reasons for believing that it is not obligated to carry 
    such signal or is in compliance with the channel positioning and 
    repositioning and other requirements of this section. A local 
    commercial television station that is denied carriage or channel 
    positioning or repositioning in accordance with this section by a 
    cable operator may obtain review of such denial by filing a 
    complaint with the Commission. Such complaint shall allege the 
    manner in which such cable operator has failed to meet its 
    obligations and the basis for such allegations.

                     (2) Opportunity to respond

        The Commission shall afford such cable operator an opportunity 
    to present data and arguments to establish that there has been no 
    failure to meet its obligations under this section.

                   (3) Remedial actions; dismissal

        Within 120 days after the date a complaint is filed, the 
    Commission shall determine whether the cable operator has met its 
    obligations under this section. If the Commission determines that 
    the cable operator has failed to meet such obligations, the 
    Commission shall order the cable operator to reposition the 
    complaining station or, in the case of an obligation to carry a 
    station, to commence carriage of the station and to continue such 
    carriage for at least 12 months. If the Commission determines that 
    the cable operator has fully met the requirements of this section, 
    it shall dismiss the complaint.

(e) Input selector switch rules abolished

    No cable operator shall be required--
        (1) to provide or make available any input selector switch as 
    defined in section 76.5(mm) of title 47, Code of Federal 
    Regulations, or any comparable device; or
        (2) to provide information to subscribers about input selector 
    switches or comparable devices.

(f) Regulations by Commission

    Within 180 days after October 5, 1992, the Commission shall, 
following a rulemaking proceeding, issue regulations implementing the 
requirements imposed by this section. Such implementing regulations 
shall include necessary revisions to update section 76.51 of title 47 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations.

(g) Sales presentations and program length commercials

                   (1) Carriage pending proceeding

        Pending the outcome of the proceeding under paragraph (2), 
    nothing in this chapter shall require a cable operator to carry on 
    any tier, or prohibit a cable operator from carrying on any tier, 
    the signal of any commercial television station or video programming 
    service that is predominantly utilized for the transmission of sales 
    presentations or program length commercials.

             (2) Proceeding concerning certain stations

        Within 270 days after October 5, 1992, the Commission, 
    notwithstanding prior proceedings to determine whether broadcast 
    television stations that are predominantly utilized for the 
    transmission of sales presentations or program length commercials 
    are serving the public interest, convenience, and necessity, shall 
    complete a proceeding in accordance with this paragraph to determine 
    whether broadcast television stations that are predominantly 
    utilized for the transmission of sales presentations or program 
    length commercials are serving the public interest, convenience, and 
    necessity. In conducting such proceeding, the Commission shall 
    provide appropriate notice and opportunity for public comment. The 
    Commission shall consider the viewing of such stations, the level of 
    competing demands for the spectrum allocated to such stations, and 
    the role of such stations in providing competition to nonbroadcast 
    services offering similar programming. In the event that the 
    Commission concludes that one or more of such stations are serving 
    the public interest, convenience, and necessity, the Commission 
    shall qualify such stations as local commercial television stations 
    for purposes of subsection (a) of this section. In the event that 
    the Commission concludes that one or more of such stations are not 
    serving the public interest, convenience, and necessity, the 
    Commission shall allow the licensees of such stations a reasonable 
    period within which to provide different programming, and shall not 
    deny such stations a renewal expectancy solely because their 
    programming consisted predominantly of sales presentations or 
    program length commercials.

(h) Definitions

               (1) Local commercial television station

        (A) In general

            For purposes of this section, the term ``local commercial 
        television station'' means any full power television broadcast 
        station, other than a qualified noncommercial educational 
        television station within the meaning of section 535(l)(1) of 
        this title, licensed and operating on a channel regularly 
        assigned to its community by the Commission that, with respect 
        to a particular cable system, is within the same television 
        market as the cable system.

        (B) Exclusions

            The term ``local commercial television station'' shall not 
        include--
                (i) low power television stations, television translator 
            stations, and passive repeaters which operate pursuant to 
            part 74 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any 
            successor regulations thereto;
                (ii) a television broadcast station that would be 
            considered a distant signal under section 111 of title 17, 
            if such station does not agree to indemnify the cable 
            operator for any increased copyright liability resulting 
            from carriage on the cable system; or
                (iii) a television broadcast station that does not 
            deliver to the principal headend of a cable system either a 
            signal level of -45dBm for UHF signals or -49dBm for VHF 
            signals at the input terminals of the signal processing 
            equipment, if such station does not agree to be responsible 
            for the costs of delivering to the cable system a signal of 
            good quality or a baseband video signal.

        (C) Market determinations

            (i) For purposes of this section, a broadcasting station's 
        market shall be determined by the Commission by regulation or 
        order using, where available, commercial publications which 
        delineate television markets based on viewing patterns, except 
        that, following a written request, the Commission may, with 
        respect to a particular television broadcast station, include 
        additional communities within its television market or exclude 
        communities from such station's television market to better 
        effectuate the purposes of this section. In considering such 
        requests, the Commission may determine that particular 
        communities are part of more than one television market.
            (ii) In considering requests filed pursuant to clause (i), 
        the Commission shall afford particular attention to the value of 
        localism by taking into account such factors as--
                (I) whether the station, or other stations located in 
            the same area, have been historically carried on the cable 
            system or systems within such community;
                (II) whether the television station provides coverage or 
            other local service to such community;
                (III) whether any other television station that is 
            eligible to be carried by a cable system in such community 
            in fulfillment of the requirements of this section provides 
            news coverage of issues of concern to such community or 
            provides carriage or coverage of sporting and other events 
            of interest to the community; and
                (IV) evidence of viewing patterns in cable and noncable 
            households within the areas served by the cable system or 
            systems in such community.

            (iii) A cable operator shall not delete from carriage the 
        signal of a commercial television station during the pendency of 
        any proceeding pursuant to this subparagraph.
            (iv) Within 120 days after the date on which a request is 
        filed under this subparagraph (or 120 days after February 8, 
        1996, if later), the Commission shall grant or deny the request.

                   (2) Qualified low power station

        The term ``qualified low power station'' means any television 
    broadcast station conforming to the rules established for Low Power 
    Television Stations contained in part 74 of title 47, Code of 
    Federal Regulations, only if--
            (A) such station broadcasts for at least the minimum number 
        of hours of operation required by the Commission for television 
        broadcast stations under part 73 of title 47, Code of Federal 
        Regulations;
            (B) such station meets all obligations and requirements 
        applicable to television broadcast stations under part 73 of 
        title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, with respect to the 
        broadcast of nonentertainment programming; programming and rates 
        involving political candidates, election issues, controversial 
        issues of public importance, editorials, and personal attacks; 
        programming for children; and equal employment opportunity; and 
        the Commission determines that the provision of such programming 
        by such station would address local news and informational needs 
        which are not being adequately served by full power television 
        broadcast stations because of the geographic distance of such 
        full power stations from the low power station's community of 
        license;
            (C) such station complies with interference regulations 
        consistent with its secondary status pursuant to part 74 of 
        title 47, Code of Federal Regulations;
            (D) such station is located no more than 35 miles from the 
        cable system's headend, and delivers to the principal headend of 
        the cable system an over-the-air signal of good quality, as 
        determined by the Commission;
            (E) the community of license of such station and the 
        franchise area of the cable system are both located outside of 
        the largest 160 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, ranked by 
        population, as determined by the Office of Management and Budget 
        on June 30, 1990, and the population of such community of 
        license on such date did not exceed 35,000; and
            (F) there is no full power television broadcast station 
        licensed to any community within the county or other political 
        subdivision (of a State) served by the cable system.

    Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to change the secondary 
    status of any low power station as provided in part 74 of title 47, 
    Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect on October 5, 1992.

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title VI, Sec. 614, as added Pub. L. 102-385, 
Sec. 4, Oct. 5, 1992, 106 Stat. 1471; amended Pub. L. 104-104, title 
III, Sec. 301(d)(1), Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 116.)

                       References in Text

    This chapter, referred to in subsec. (g)(1), was in the original 
``this Act'', meaning act June 19, 1934, ch. 652, 48 Stat. 1064, as 
amended, known as the Communications Act of 1934, which is classified 
principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to 
the Code, see section 609 of this title and Tables.


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (h)(1)(C)(i). Pub. L. 104-104, Sec. 301(d)(1)(A), 
substituted ``by the Commission by regulation or order using, where 
available, commercial publications which delineate television markets 
based on viewing patterns,'' for ``in the manner provided in section 
73.3555(d)(3)(i) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect 
on May 1, 1991,''.
    Subsec. (h)(1)(C)(iv). Pub. L. 104-104, Sec. 301(d)(1)(B), added cl. 
(iv) and struck out former cl. (iv) which read as follows: ``In the 
rulemaking proceeding required by subsection (f) of this section, the 
Commission shall provide for expedited consideration of requests filed 
under this subparagraph.''


                             Effective Date

    Section effective 60 days after Oct. 5, 1992, see section 28 of Pub. 
L. 102-385, set out as an Effective Date of 1992 Amendment note under 
section 325 of this title.


                     Application to Pending Requests

    Section 301(d)(2) of Pub. L. 104-104 provided that: ``The amendment 
made by paragraph (1) [amending this section] shall apply to--
        ``(A) any request pending under section 614(h)(1)(C) of the 
    Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 534(h)(1)(C)) on the date of 
    enactment of this Act [Feb. 8, 1996]; and
        ``(B) any request filed under that section after that date.''

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 325, 336, 338, 535, 543, 
555, 573 of this title.
