Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154, 301, 302, 303, 303a, 307, 308, 309, 312, 317, 325, 338, 339, 503, 521, 522, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 549, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 571, 572, and 573.
Source:
37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, unless otherwise noted.
The rules and regulations set forth in this part provide for the certification of cable television systems and for their operation in conformity with standards for carriage of television broadcast signals, program exclusivity, cablecasting, access channels, and related matters.
Other pertinent provisions of the Commission's rules and regulations relating to Multichannel Video and the Cable Television Service are included in the following parts of this chapter:
Part 1 -- Practice and Procedure.
Part 11 -- Emergency Alert System (EAS).
Part 21 -- Domestic Public Radio Services (Other Than Maritime Mobile).
Part 63 -- Extension of Lines and Discontinuance of Service by Carriers.
Part 64 -- Miscellaneous Rules Relating to Common Carriers.
Part 78 -- Cable Television Relay Service.
Part 79 -- Closed Captioning of Video Programming.
Part 91 -- Industrial Radio Services. [65 FR 53614, Sept. 5, 2000]
(a) Cable system or cable television system. A facility consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and associated signal generation, reception, and control equipment that is designed to provide cable service which includes video programming and which is provided to multiple subscribers within a community, but such term does not include:
(1) A facility that services only to retransmit the television signals of one or more television broadcast stations;
(2) A facility that serves subscribers without using any public right-of-way;
(3) A facility of a common carrier which is subject, in whole or in part, to the provisions of Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, except that such facility shall be considered a cable system to the extent such facility is used in the transmission of video programming directly to subscribers, unless the extent of such use is solely to provide interactive on-demand services;
(4) An open video system that complies with Section 653 of the Communications Act; or
(5) Any facilities of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility systems.
Note to paragraph(a):
The provisions of Subparts D and F of this part shall also apply to all facilities defined previously as cable systems on or before April 28, 1985, except those that serve subscribers without using any public right-of-way. (b) Television station; television broadcast station. Any television broadcast station operating on a channel regularly assigned to its community by §73.606 or §73.622 of this chapter, and any television broadcast station licensed by a foreign government: Provided, however, That a television broadcast station licensed by a foreign government shall not be entitled to assert a claim to carriage, program exclusivity, or retransmission consent authorization pursuant to subpart D or F of this part, but may otherwise be carried if consistent with the rules on any service tier. Further provided that a television broadcast station operating on channels regularly assigned to its community by both §§73.606 and 73.622 of this chapter may assert a claim for carriage pursuant to subpart D of this part only for a channel assigned pursuant to §73.606.
(c) Television translator station. A television broadcast translator station as defined in §74.701 of this chapter.
(d) Grade A and Grade B contours. The field intensity contours defined in §73.683(a) of this chapter.
(e) Specified zone of a television broadcast station. The area extending 56.3 air km (35 air miles) from the reference point in the community to which that station is licensed or authorized by the Commission. A list of reference points is contained in §76.53. A television broadcast station that is authorized but not operating has a specified zone that terminates eighteen (18) months after the initial grant of its construction permit.
(f) Major television market. The specified zone of a commercial television station licensed to a community listed in §76.51, or a combination of such specified zones where more than one community is listed.
(g) Designated community in a major television market. A community listed in §76.51.
(h) Smaller television market. The specified zone of a commercial television station licensed to a community that is not listed in §76.51.
(i) Significantly viewed. Viewed in other than cable television households as follows: (1) For a full or partial network station -- a share of viewing hours of at least 3 percent (total week hours), and a net weekly circulation of at least 25 percent; and (2) for an independent station -- a share of viewing hours of at least 2 percent (total week hours), and a net weekly circulation of at least 5 percent. See §76.54.
Note:
As used in this paragraph, "share of viewing hours" means the total hours that noncable television households viewed the subject station during the week, expressed as a percentage of the total hours these households viewed all stations during the period, and "net weekly circulation" means the number of noncable television households that viewed the station for 5 minutes or more during the entire week, expressed as a percentage of the total noncable television households in the survey area. (j) Full network station. A commercial television broadcast station that generally carries in weekly prime time hours 85 percent of the hours of programing offered by one of the three major national television networks with which it has a primary affiliation (i.e., right of first refusal or first call).
(k) Partial network station. A commercial television broadcast station that generally carries in prime time more than 10 hours of programming per week offered by the three major national television networks, but less than the amount specified in paragraph (j) of this section.
(l) Independent station. A commercial television broadcast station that generally carries in prime time not more than 10 hours of programing per week offered by the three major national television networks.
(m) A network program is any program delivered simultaneously to more than one broadcast station regional or national, commercial or noncommercial.
(n) Prime time. The 5-hour period from 6 to 11 p.m., local time, except that in the central time zone the relevant period shall be between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m., and in the mountain time zone each station shall elect whether the period shall be 6 to 11 p.m. or 5 to 10 p.m.
Note:
Unless the Commission is notified to the contrary, a station in the mountain time zone shall be presumed to have elected the 6 to 11 p.m. period. (o) Cablecasting. Programming (exclusive of broadcast signals) carried on a cable television system. See paragraphs (y), (z) and (aa) (Classes II, III, and IV cable television channels) of this section.
(p) Origination cablecasting. Programing (exclusive of broadcast signals) carried on a cable television system over one or more channels and subject to the exclusive control of the cable operator.
(q) Legally qualified candidate. (1) Any person who:
(i) Has publicly announced his or her intention to run for nomination or office;
(ii) Is qualified under the applicable local, State or Federal law to hold the office for which he or she is a candidate; and
(iii) Has met the qualifications set forth in either paragraphs (q)(2), (3) or (4) of this section.
(2) A person seeking election to any public office including that of President or Vice President of the United States, or nomination for any public office except that of President or Vice President, by means of a primary, general or special election, shall be considered a legally qualified candidate if, in addition to meeting the criteria set forth in paragraph (q)(1) of this section, that person:
(i) Has qualified for a place on the ballot, or
(ii) Has publicly committed himself or herself to seeking election by the write-in method and is eligible under applicable law to be voted for by sticker, by writing in his or her name on the ballot or by other method, and makes a substantial showing that he or she is a bona fide candidate for nomination or office.
Persons seeking election to the office of President or Vice President of the United States shall, for the purposes of the Communications Act and the rules thereunder, be considered legally qualified candidates only in those States or territories (or the District of Columbia) in which they have met the requirements set forth in paragraphs (q) (1) and (2) of this rule; except that any such person who has met the requirements set forth in paragraphs (q) (1) and (2) in at least 10 States (or nine and the District of Columbia) shall be considered a legally qualified candidate for election in all States, territories and the District of Columbia for purposes of this Act.
(3) A person seeking nomination to any public office except that of President or Vice President of the United States, by means of a convention, caucus or similar procedure, shall be considered a legally qualified candidate if, in addition to meeting the requirements set forth in paragraph (q)(1) of this section, that person makes a substantial showing that he or she is a bona fide candidate for such nomination; except that no person shall be considered a legally qualified candidate for nomination by the means set forth in this paragraph prior to 90 days before the beginning of the convention, caucus or similar procedure in which he or she seeks nomination.
(4) A person seeking nomination for the office of President or Vice President of the United States shall, for the purposes of the Communications Act and the rules thereunder, be considered a legally qualified candidate only in those States or territories (or the District of Columbia) in which, in addition meeting the requirements set forth in paragraph (q)(1) of this section.
(i) He or she, or proposed delegates on his or her behalf, have qualified for the primary of Presidential preference ballot in that State, territory or the District of Columbia, or
(ii) He or she has made a substantial showing of bona fide candidacy for such nomination in that State, territory of the District of Columbia; except that such person meeting the requirements set forth in paragraph (q) (1) and (4) in at least 10 States (or nine and the District of Columbia) shall be considered a legally qualified candidate for nomination in all States, territories and the District of Columbia for purposes of the Act.
(5) The term "substantial showing" of bona fide candidacy as used in paragraph (q) (2), (3) and (4) of this section means evidence that the person claiming to be a candidate has engaged to a substantial degree in activities commonly associated with political campaigning. Such activities normally would include making campaign speeches, distributing campaign literature, issuing press releases, maintaining a campaign headquarters (even though the headquarters in some instances might be the residence of the candidate or his campaign manager). Not all of the listed activities are necessarily required in each case to demonstrate a substantial showing, and there may be activities not listed herein which would contribute to such a showing.
(r) Class I cable television channel. A signaling path provided by a cable television system to relay to subscriber terminals television broadcast programs that are received off-the-air or are obtained by microwave or by direct connection to a television broadcast station.
(s) Class II cable television channel. A signaling path provided by a cable television system to deliver to subscriber terminals television signals that are intended for reception by a television broadcast receiver without the use of an auxilliary decoding device and which signals are not involved in a broadcast transmission path.
(t) Class III cable television channel. A signaling path provided by a cable television system to deliver to subscriber terminals signals that are intended for reception by equipment other than a television broadcast receiver or by a television broadcast receiver only when used with auxiliary decoding equipment.
(u) Class IV cable television channel. A signaling path provided by a cable television system to transmit signals of any type from a subscriber terminal to another point in the cable television system.
(v) Subscriber terminal. The cable television system terminal to which a subscriber's equipment is connected. Separate terminals may be provided for delivery of signals of various classes.
Note:
Terminal devices interconnected to subscriber terminals of a cable system shall comply with subpart H of part 15. (w) System noise. That combination of undesired and fluctuating disturbances within a cable television channel that degrades the transmission of the desired signal and that is due to modulation processes or thermal or other noise-producing effects, but does not include hum and other undesired signals of discrete frequency. System noise is specified in terms of its rms voltage or its mean power level as measured in the 4 MHz bandwidth between 1.25 and 5.25 MHz above the lower channel boundary of a cable television channel.
(x) Terminal isolation. The attenuation, at any subscriber terminal, between that terminal and any other subscriber terminal in the cable television system.
(y) Visual signal level. The rms voltage produced by the visual signal during the transmission of synchronizing pulses.
(z) Affiliate. When used in relation to any person, another person who owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or control with, such person.
(aa) Person. An individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, or governmental entity.
(bb) Significant interest. A cognizable interest for attributing interests in broadcast, cable, and newspaper properties pursuant to §§73.3555, 73.3615, and 76.501.
(cc) Cable system operator. Any person or group of persons (1) who provides cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system; or (2) who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the management and operation of such a cable system.
(dd) System community unit: Community unit. A cable television system, or portion of a cable television system, that operates or will operate within a separate and distinct community or municipal entity (including unincorporated communities within unincorporated areas and including single, discrete unincorporated areas).
(ee) Subscribers. A member of the general public who receives broadcast programming distributed by a cable television system and does not further distribute it.
(ff) Cable service. The one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming, or other programming service; and, subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection or use of such video programming or other programming service. For the purposes of this definition, "video programming" is programming provided by, or generally considered comparable to programming provided by, a television broadcast station; and, "other programming service" is information that a cable operator makes available to all subscribers generally.
(gg) [Reserved]
(hh) Input selector switch. Any device that enables a viewer to select between cable service and off-the-air television signals. Such a device may be more sophisticated than a mere two-sided switch, may utilize other cable interface equipment, and may be built into consumer television receivers.
(ii) A syndicated program is any program sold, licensed, distributed or offered to television station licensees in more than one market within the United States other than as network programming as defined in §76.5(m).
(jj) Rural area. A community unit with a density of less than 19 households per route kilometer or thirty households per route mile of coaxial and/or fiber optic cable trunk and feeder line.
(kk) Technically integrated. Having 75% or more of the video channels received from a common headend.
(ll) Cable home wiring. The internal wiring contained within the premises of a subscriber which begins at the demarcation point. Cable home wiring includes passive splitters on the subscriber's side of the demarcation point, but does not include any active elements such as amplifiers, converter or decoder boxes, or remote control units.
(mm) Demarcation point. (1) For new and existing single unit installations, the demarcation point shall be a point at (or about) twelve inches outside of where the cable wire enters the subscriber's premises.
(2) For new and existing multiple dwelling unit installations with non-loop-through wiring configurations, the demarcation point shall be a point at (or about) twelve inches outside of where the cable wire enters the subscriber's dwelling unit, or, where the wire is physically inaccessible at such point, the closest practicable point thereto that does not require access to the individual subscriber's dwelling unit.
(3) For new and existing multiple dwelling unit installations with loop-through wiring configurations, the demarcation points shall be at (or about) twelve inches outside of where the cable wire enters or exits the first and last individual dwelling units on the loop, or, where the wire is physically inaccessible at such point(s), the closest practicable point thereto that does not require access to an individual subscriber's dwelling unit.
(4) As used in this paragraph (mm)(3), the term "physically inaccessible" describes a location that:
(i) Would require significant modification of, or significant damage to, preexisting structural elements, and
(ii) Would add significantly to the physical difficulty and/or cost of accessing the subscriber's home wiring.
Note to paragraph (MM)(4):
For example, wiring embedded in brick, metal conduit or cinder blocks with limited or without access openings would likely be physically inaccessible; wiring enclosed within hallway molding would not. (nn) Activated channels. Those channels engineered at the headend of a cable system for the provision of services generally available to residential subscribers of the cable system, regardless of whether such services actually are provided, including any channel designated for public, educational or governmental use.
(oo) Usable activated channels. Those activated channels of a cable system, except those channels whose use for the distribution of broadcast signals would conflict with technical and safety regulations. See part 76, subpart K.
(pp) Principal headend. (1) The headend, in the case of a cable system with a single headend or,
(2) In the case of a cable system with more than one headend, the principal headend designated by the cable operator, except that such designation shall not undermine or evade the requirements of subpart D of this part. The designation of a principal headend shall be made by May 3, 1993, and each cable system shall place in its public file the location of its designated principal headend by June 17, 1993, as provided in §76.1708. Except for good cause, an operator may not change its choice of principal headend.
(qq) Emergency Alert System (EAS). The EAS is composed of broadcast networks; cable networks and program suppliers; AM, FM and TV broadcast stations; Low Power TV (LPTV) stations; cable systems and wireless cable systems; and other entities and industries operating on an organized basis
during emergencies at the National, State, or local levels.
[37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972] Editorial Note:
For FEDERAL REGISTER citations affecting §76.5, see the List of CFR Sections Affected which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and on GPO Access.
Effective Date Note:
At 61 FR 6137, Feb. 16, 1996, in §76.5, paragraph (ll) was revised. Paragraph (ll) contains information collection and recordkeeping requirements and will not become effective until approval has been given by the Office of Management and Budget.
(a) General pleading requirements. All written submissions, both substantive and procedural, must conform to the following standards:
(1) A pleading must be clear, concise, and explicit. All matters concerning a claim, defense or requested remedy, should be pleaded fully and with specificity.
(2) Pleadings must contain facts which, if true, are sufficient to warrant a grant of the relief requested.
(3) Facts must be supported by relevant documentation or affidavit.
(4) The original of all pleadings and submissions by any party shall be signed by that party, or by the party's attorney. Complaints must be signed by the complainant. The signing party shall state his or her address and telephone number and the date on which the document was signed. Copies should be conformed to the original. Each submission must contain a written verification that the signatory has read the submission and to the best of his or her knowledge, information and belief formed after reasonable inquiry, it is well grounded in fact and is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification or reversal of existing law; and that it is not interposed for any improper purpose. If any pleading or other submission is signed in violation of this provision, the Commission shall upon motion or upon its own initiative impose appropriate sanctions.
(5) Legal arguments must be supported by appropriate judicial, Commission, or statutory authority. Opposing authorities must be distinguished. Copies must be provided of all non-Commission authorities relied upon which are not routinely available in national reporting systems, such as unpublished decisions or slip opinions of courts or administrative agencies.
(6) Parties are responsible for the continuing accuracy and completeness of all information and supporting authority furnished in a pending complaint proceeding. Information submitted, as well as relevant legal authorities, must be current and updated as necessary and in a timely manner at any time before a decision is rendered on the merits of the complaint.
(b) Copies to be Filed. Unless otherwise directed by specific regulation or the Commission, an original and two (2) copies of all pleadings shall be filed in accordance with §0.401(a) of this chapter, except that petitions requiring fees as set forth at part 1, subpart G of this chapter must be filed in accordance with §0.401(b) of this chapter.
(c) Frivolous pleadings. It shall be unlawful for any party to file a frivolous pleading with the Commission. Any violation of this paragraph shall constitute an abuse of process subject to appropriate sanctions.
[64 FR 6569, Feb. 10, 1999]
(a) Initiating pleadings. In addition to the general pleading requirements, initiating pleadings must adhere to the following requirements:
(1) Petitions. On petition by any interested party, cable television system operator, a multichannel video programming distributor, local franchising authority, or an applicant, permittee, or licensee of a television broadcast or translator station, the Commission may waive any provision of this part 76, impose additional or different requirements, issue a ruling on a complaint or disputed question, issue a show cause order, revoke the certification of the local franchising authority, or initiate a forfeiture proceeding.
Petitions may be submitted informally by letter.
(2) Complaints. Complaints shall conform to the relevant rule section under which the complaint is being filed.
(3) Certificate of service. Petitions and Complaints shall be accompanied by a certificate of service on any cable television system operator, franchising authority, station licensee, permittee, or applicant, or other interested person who is likely to be directly affected if the relief requested is granted.
(4) Statement of relief requested. (i) The petition or complaint shall state the relief requested. It shall state fully and precisely all pertinent facts and considerations relied on to demonstrate the need for the relief requested and to support a determination that a grant of such relief would serve the public interest.
(ii) The petition or complaint shall set forth all steps taken by the parties to resolve the problem, except where the only relief sought is a clarification or interpretation of the rules.
(iii) A petition or complaint may, on request of the filing party, be dismissed without prejudice as a matter of right prior to the adoption date of any final action taken by the Commission with respect to the petition or complaint. A request for the return of an initiating document will be regarded as a request for dismissal.
(5) Failure to prosecute. Failure to prosecute petition or complaint, or failure to respond to official correspondence or request for additional information, will be cause for dismissal. Such dismissal will be without prejudice if it occurs prior to the adoption date of any final action taken by the Commission with respect to the initiating pleading.
(b) Responsive pleadings. In addition to the general pleading requirements, responsive pleadings must adhere to the following requirements:
(1) Comments/oppositions to petitions. Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, interested persons may submit comments or oppositions within twenty (20) days after the date of public notice of the filing of such petition. Comments or oppositions shall be served on the petitioner and on all persons listed in petitioner's certificate of service, and shall contain a detailed full showing, supported by affidavit, of any facts or considerations relied on.
(2) Answers to complaints. (i) Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, any party who is served with a complaint shall file an answer in accordance with the following, and the relevant rule section under which the complaint is being filed.
(ii) The answer shall be filed within 20 days of service of the complaint, unless another period is set forth in the relevant rule section.
(iii) The answer shall advise the parties and the Commission fully and completely of the nature of any and all defenses, and shall respond specifically to all material allegations of the complaint. Collateral or immaterial issues shall be avoided in answers and every effort should be made to narrow the issues. Any party against whom a complaint is filed failing to file and serve an answer within the time and in the manner prescribed by these rules may be deemed in default and an order may be entered against defendant in accordance with the allegations contained in the complaint.
(iv) The answer shall admit or deny the averments on which the adverse party relies. If the defendant is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of an averment, the defendant shall so state and this has the effect of a denial. When a defendant intends in good faith to deny only part of an averment, the answer shall specify so much of it as is true and shall deny only the remainder. The defendant may make its denials as specific denials of designated averments or paragraphs, or may generally deny all the averments except such designated averments or paragraphs as the defendant expressly admits. When the defendant intends to controvert all averments, the defendant may do so by general denial.
(v) Averments in a complaint are deemed to be admitted when not denied in the answer.
(c) Reply. In addition to the general pleading requirements, reply comments and replies must adhere to the following requirements:
(1) The petitioner or complainant may file a reply to a responsive pleading which shall be served on all persons who have filed pleadings and shall also contain a detailed full showing, supported by affidavit, of any additional facts or considerations relied on. Unless expressly permitted by the Commission, reply comments and replies to an answer shall not contain new matters.
(2) Failure to reply will not be deemed an admission of any allegations contained in the responsive pleading, except with respect to any affirmative defense set forth therein.
(3) Unless otherwise directed by the Commission or the relevant rule section, comments and replies to answers must be filed within ten (10) days after submission of the responsive pleading.
(d) Motions. Except as provided in this section, or upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances, additional motions or pleadings by any party will not be accepted.
(e) Additional procedures and written submissions. (1) The Commission may specify other procedures, such as oral argument or evidentiary hearing directed to particular aspects, as it deems appropriate. In the event that an evidentiary hearing is required, the Commission will determine, on the basis of the pleadings and such other procedures as it may specify, whether temporary relief should be afforded any party pending the hearing and the nature of any such temporary relief.
(2) The Commission may require the parties to submit any additional information it deems appropriate for a full, fair, and expeditious resolution of the proceeding, including copies of all contracts and documents reflecting arrangements and understandings alleged to violate the requirements set forth in the Communications Act and in this part, as well as affidavits and exhibits.
(3) The Commission may, in its discretion, require the parties to file briefs summarizing the facts and issues presented in the pleadings and other record evidence.
(i) These briefs shall contain the findings of fact and conclusions of law which that party is urging the Commission to adopt, with specific citations to the record, and supported by relevant authority and analysis.
(ii) Any briefs submitted shall be filed concurrently by both the complainant and defendant at such time as is designated by the staff. Such briefs shall not exceed fifty (50) pages.
(iii) Reply briefs may be submitted by either party within twenty (20) days from the date initial briefs are due. Reply briefs shall not exceed thirty (30) pages.
(f) Discovery. (1) The Commission staff may in its discretion order discovery limited to the issues specified by the Commission. Such discovery may include answers to written interrogatories, depositions or document production.
(2) The Commission staff may in its discretion direct the parties to submit discovery proposals, together with a memorandum in support of the discovery requested. Such discovery requests may include answers to written interrogatories, document production or depositions. The Commission staff may hold a status conference with the parties, pursuant to §76.8 of this part, to determine the scope of discovery, or direct the parties regarding the scope of discovery. If the Commission staff determines that extensive discovery is required or that depositions are warranted, the staff may advise the parties that the proceeding will be referred to an administrative law judge in accordance with paragraph (g) of this section.
(g) Referral to administrative law judge. (1) After reviewing the pleadings, and at any stage of the proceeding thereafter, the Commission staff may, in its discretion, designate any proceeding or discrete issues arising out of any proceeding for an adjudicatory hearing before an administrative law judge.
(2) Before designation for hearing, the staff shall notify, either orally or in writing, the parties to the proceeding of its intent to so designate, and the parties shall be given a period of ten (10) days to elect to resolve the dispute through alternative dispute resolution procedures, or to proceed with an adjudicatory hearing. Such election shall be submitted in writing to the Commission.
(3) Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, or upon motion by the
Cable Services Bureau Chief, the Cable Services Bureau Chief shall not be deemed to be a party to a proceeding designated for a hearing before an administrative law judge pursuant to this paragraph.
(h) System community units outside the Contiguous States. On a finding that the public interest so requires, the Commission may determine that a system community unit operating or proposing to operate in a community located outside of the 48 contiguous states shall comply with provisions of subparts D, F, and G of this part in addition to the provisions thereof otherwise applicable.
(i) Commission ruling. The Commission, after consideration of the pleadings, may determine whether the public interest would be served by the grant, in whole or in part, or denial of the request, or may issue a ruling on the complaint or dispute, issue an order to show cause, or initiate a forfeiture proceeding.
Notes 1 through 4 to §76.7:
Note 1:
After issuance of an order to show cause pursuant to this section, the rules of procedure in Title 47, part 1, subpart A, §§1.91-1.95 of this chapter shall apply. Note 2:
Nothing in this section is intended to prevent the Commission from initiating show cause or forfeiture proceedings on its own motion; Provided, however, that show cause proceedings and forfeiture proceedings pursuant to §1.80(g) of this chapter will not be initiated by such motion until the affected parties are given an opportunity to respond to the Commission's charges. Note 3:
Forfeiture proceedings are generally nonhearing matters conducted pursuant to the provisions of §1.80(f) of this chapter (Notice of Apparent Liability). Petitioners who contend that the alternative hearing procedures of §1.80(g) of this chapter should be followed in a particular case must support this contention with a specific showing of the facts and considerations relied on. Note 4:
To the extent a conflict is perceived between the general pleading requirements of this section, and the procedural requirements of a specific section, the procedural requirements of the specific section should be followed. [64 FR 6569, Feb. 10, 1999]
(a) In any proceeding subject to the part 76 rules, the Commission staff may in its discretion direct the attorneys and/or the parties to appear for a conference to consider:
(1) Simplification or narrowing of the issues;
(2) The necessity for or desirability of amendments to the pleadings, additional pleadings, or other evidentiary submissions;
(3) Obtaining admissions of fact or stipulations between the parties as to any or all of the matters in controversy;
(4) Settlement of the matters in controversy by agreement of the parties;
(5) The necessity for and extent of discovery, including objections to interrogatories or requests for written documents;
(6) The need and schedule for filing briefs, and the date for any further conferences; and
(7) Such other matters that may aid in the disposition of the proceeding.
(b) Any party may request that a conference be held at any time after an initiating document has been filed.
(c) Conferences will be scheduled by the Commission at such time and place as it may designate, to be conducted in person or by telephone conference call.
(d) The failure of any attorney or party, following advance notice with an opportunity to be present, to appear at a scheduled conference will be deemed a waiver and will not preclude the Commission from conferring with those parties or counsel present.
(e) During a status conference, the Commission staff may issue oral rulings pertaining to a variety of matters relevant to the conduct of the proceeding including, inter alia, procedural matters, discovery, and the submission of briefs or other evidentiary materials. These rulings will be promptly memorialized in writing and served on the parties. When such rulings require a party to take affirmative action not subject to deadlines established by another provision of this subpart, such action will be required within ten (10) days from the date of the written memorialization unless otherwise directed by the staff.
[64 FR 6571, Feb. 10, 1999]
(a) Any materials filed in the course of a proceeding under this provision may be designated as proprietary by that party if the party believes in good faith that the materials fall within an exemption to disclosure contained in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(b). Any party asserting confidentiality for such materials shall so indicate by clearly marking each page, or portion thereof, for which a proprietary designation is claimed. If a proprietary designation is challenged, the party claiming confidentiality will have the burden of demonstrating, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the material designated as proprietary falls under the standards for nondisclosure enunciated in FOIA.
(b) Submissions containing information claimed to be proprietary under this section shall be submitted to the Commission in confidence pursuant to the requirements of §0.459 of this chapter and clearly marked "Not for Public Inspection." An edited version removing all proprietary data shall be filed with the Commission for inclusion in the public file within five (5) days from the date the unedited reply is submitted, and shall be served on the opposing parties.
(c) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, materials marked as proprietary may be disclosed solely to the following persons, only for use in the proceeding, and only to the extent necessary to assist in the prosecution or defense of the case:
(i) Counsel of record representing the parties in the proceeding and any support personnel employed by such attorneys;
(ii) Officers or employees of the parties in the proceeding who are named by another party as being directly involved in the proceeding;
(iii) Consultants or expert witnesses retained by the parties;
(iv) The Commission and its staff; and
(v) Court reporters and stenographers in accordance with the terms and conditions of this section.
(d) The Commission will entertain, subject to a proper showing, a party's request to further restrict access to proprietary information as specified by the party. The other parties will have an opportunity to respond to such requests.
(e) The persons designated in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section shall not disclose information designated as proprietary to any person who is not authorized under this section to receive such information, and shall not use the information in any activity or function other than the prosecution or defense of the case before the Commission. Each individual who is provided access to the information by the opposing party shall sign a notarized statement affirmatively stating, or shall certify under penalty of perjury, that the individual has personally reviewed the Commission's rules and understands the limitations they impose on the signing party.
(f) No copies of materials marked proprietary may be made except copies to be used by persons designated in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section. Each party shall maintain a log recording the number of copies made of all proprietary material and the persons to whom the copies have been provided.
(g) Upon termination of the complaint proceeding, including all appeals and petitions, all originals and reproductions of any proprietary materials, along with the log recording persons who received copies of such materials, shall be provided to the producing party. In addition, upon final termination of the proceeding, any notes or other work product derived in whole or in part from the proprietary materials of an opposing or third party shall be destroyed.
[64 FR 6571, Feb. 10, 1999]
(a) Interlocutory review. (1) Except as provided below, no party may seek review of interlocutory rulings until a decision on the merits has been issued by the staff or administrative law judge.
(2) Rulings listed in this paragraph are reviewable as a matter of right. An application for review of such ruling may not be deferred and raised as an exception to a decision on the merits.
(i) If the staff's ruling denies or terminates the right of any person to participate as a party to the proceeding, such person, as a matter of right, may file an application for review of that ruling.
(ii) If the staff's ruling requires production of documents or other written evidence, over objection based on a claim of privilege, the ruling on the claim of privilege is reviewable as a matter of right.
(iii) If the staff's ruling denies a motion to disqualify a staff person from participating in the proceeding, the ruling is reviewable as a matter of right.
(b) Petitions for reconsideration. Petitions for reconsideration of interlocutory actions by the Commission's staff or by an administrative law judge will not be entertained. Petitions for reconsideration of a decision on the merits made by the Commission's staff should be filed in accordance with §§1.104 through 1.106 of this chapter.
(c) Application for review. (1) Any party to a part 76 proceeding aggrieved by any decision on the merits issued by the staff pursuant to delegated authority may file an application for review by the Commission in accordance with §1.115 of this chapter.
(2) Any party to a part 76 proceeding aggrieved by any decision on the merits by an administrative law judge may file an appeal of the decision directly with the Commission, in accordance with §§1.276(a) and 1.277(a) through (c) of this chapter, except that in proceedings brought pursuant to §§76.1003, 76.1302, and 76.1513 of this part, unless a stay is granted by the Commission, the decision by the administrative law judge will become effective upon release and will remain in effect pending appeal.
[64 FR 6571, Feb. 10, 1999]
Any party aggrieved by the failure or refusal of a cable operator to provided a lockbox as provided for in Title VI of the Communications Act may petition the Commission for relief in accordance with the provisions and procedures set forth in §76.7 for petitions for special relief.
[50 FR 18661, May 2, 1985]
(a) In circumstances requiring the temporary use of community units for operations not authorized by the Commission's rules, a cable television system may request special temporary authority to operate. The Commission may grant special temporary authority, upon a finding that the public interest would be served thereby, for a period not to exceed ninety (90) days, and may extend such authority, upon a like finding, for one additional period, not to exceed ninety (90) days.
(b) Requests for special temporary authority may be submitted informally, by letter, and shall contain the following:
(1) Name and address of the applicant cable system.
(2) Community in which the community unit is located.
(3) Type of operation to be conducted.
(4) Date of commencement of proposed operations.
(5) Duration of time for which temporary authority is required.
(6) All pertinent facts and considerations relied on to demonstrate the need for special temporary authority and to support a determination that a grant of such authority would serve the public interest.
(7) A certificate of service on all interested parties.
(c) A request for special temporary authority shall be filed at least ten (10) days prior to the date of commencement of the proposed operations, or shall be accompanied by a statement of reasons for the delay in submitting such request.
(d) A grant of special temporary authority may be rescinded by the Commission at any time upon a finding of facts which warrant such action.
[39 FR 35166, Sept. 30, 1974; 42 FR 19346, Apr. 13, 1977, as amended at 43 FR 49008, Oct. 20, 1978]
For purposes of the cable television rules, the following is a list of the major television markets and their designated communities:
(a) First 50 major television markets:
(1) New York, New York-Linden-Paterson-Newark, New Jersey.
(2) Los Angeles-San Bernardino-Corona-Riverside-Anaheim, Calif.
(3) Chicago, Ill.
(4) Philadelphia, Pa.-Burlington, N.J.
(5) Detroit, Mich.
(6) Boston-Cambridge-Worcester-Lawrence, Mass.
(7) San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif.
(8) Cleveland-Lorain-Akron, Ohio.
(9) Washington, DC.
(10) Pittsburgh, Pa.
(11) St. Louis, Mo.
(12) Dallas-Fort Worth, Tex.
(13) Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
(14) Baltimore, Md.
(15) Houston, Tex.
(16) Indianapolis-Bloomington, Ind.
(17) Cincinnati, Ohio-Newport, Ky.
(18) Atlanta-Rome, Ga.
(19) Hartford-New Haven-New Britain-Waterbury-New London, Ct.
(20) Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.
(21) Miami, Fla.
(22) Kansas City, Mo.
(23) Milwaukee, Wis.
(24) Buffalo, N.Y.
(25) Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif.
(26) Memphis, Tenn.
(27) Columbus-Chillicothe, Ohio.
(28) Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida.
(29) Portland, Oreg.
(30) Nashville, Tenn.
(31) New Orleans, La.
(32) Denver-Castle Rock, Colorado.
(33) Providence, R.I.-New Bedford, Mass.
(34) Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
(35) Syracuse, N.Y.
(36) Charleston-Huntington, W. Va.
(37) Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids-Battle Creek, Mich.
(38) Louisville, Ky.
(39) Oklahoma City, Okla.
(40) Birmingham, Ala.
(41) Dayton-Kettering, Ohio.
(42) Charlotte, N.C.
(43) Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.
(44) Norfolk-Newport News-Portsmouth-Hampton, Va.
(45) San Antonio, Tex.
(46) Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, S.C.-Asheville, N.C.
(47) Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C.
(48) Salt Lake City, Utah.
(49) Wilkes Barre-Scranton, Pa.
(50) Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
(b) Second 50 major television markets:
(51) San Diego, Calif.
(52) Toledo, Ohio.
(53) Omaha, Nebr.
(54) Tulsa, Okla.
(55) Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne-Cocoa-Clermont, Florida.
(56) Rochester, N.Y.
(57) Harrisburg-Lancaster-York, Pa.
(58) Texarkana, Tex.-Shreveport, La.
(59) Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola, Fla.
(60) Davenport, Iowa-Rock Island-Moline, Ill.
(61) Flint-Bay City-Saginaw, Mich.
(62) Green Bay, Wis.
(63) Richmond-Petersburg, Va.
(64) Springfield-Decatur-Champaign, Illinois.
(65) Cedar Rapids-Waterloo, Iowa.
(66) Des Moines-Ames, Iowa.
(67) Wichita-Hutchinson, Kans.
(68) Jacksonville, Fla.
(69) Cape Girardeau, Mo.-Paducah, Ky.-Harrisburg, Ill.
(70) Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va.
(71) Knoxville, Tenn.
(72) Fresno-Visalia-Hanford-Clovis, California.
(73) Raleigh-Durham-Goldsboro-Fayetteville, North Carolina.
(74) Johnstown-Altoona, Pa.
(75) Portland-Poland Spring, Maine.
(76) Spokane, Wash.
(77) Jackson, Miss.
(78) Chattanooga, Tenn.
(79) Youngstown, Ohio.
(80) South Bend-Elkhart, Ind.
(81) Albuquerque, N. Mex.
(82) Fort Wayne-Roanoke, Ind.
(83) Peoria, Ill.
(84) Greenville-Washington-New Bern, N.C.
(85) Sioux Falls-Mitchell, S. Dak.
(86) Evansville, Ind.
(87) Baton Rouge, La.
(88) Beaumont-Port Arthur, Tex.
(89) Duluth, Minn.-Superior, Minn.
(90) Wheeling, W. Va.-Steubenville, Ohio.
(91) Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney, Nebr.
(92) Lansing-Onondaga, Mich.
(93) Madison, Wis.
(94) Columbus, Ga.
(95) Amarillo, Tex.
(96) Huntsville-Decatur, Ala.
(97) Rockford-Freeport, Ill.
(98) Fargo-Valley City, N.D.
(99) Monroe, La.-El Dorado, Ark.
(100) Columbia, S.C.
Note:
Requests for changes to this list shall be made in the form of a petition for rulemaking pursuant to §1.401 of this chapter, except that such petitions shall not be subject to the public notice provisions of §1.403 of this chapter. [37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, as amended at 37 FR 13866, July 14, 1972; 39 FR 24373, July 2, 1974; 39 FR 27572, July 30, 1974; 39 FR 37988, Oct. 25, 1974; 58 FR 17359, Apr. 2, 1993; 58 FR 30995, May 28, 1993; 58 FR 64168, Dec. 6, 1993; 58 FR 67694, Dec. 22, 1993; 59 FR 25344, May 16, 1994; 59 FR 46358, Sept. 8, 1994; 60 FR 45376, Aug. 31, 1995; 60 FR 51928, Oct. 4, 1995; 61 FR 18292, Apr. 25, 1996; 65 FR 68101, Nov. 14, 2000]
The following list of reference points shall be used to identify the boundaries of the major and smaller television markets (defined in §76.5). Where a community's reference point is not given, the geographic coordinates of the main post office in the community shall be used.
[37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, as amended at 37 FR 13866, July 14, 1972; 51 FR 18451, May 20, 1986; 51 FR 44608, Dec. 11, 1986; 54 FR 25716, June 19, 1989; 56 FR 49707, Oct. 1, 1991]
(a) Signals that are significantly viewed in a county (and thus are deemed to be significantly viewed within all communities within the county) are those that are listed in Appendix A of the memorandum opinion and order on reconsideration of the Cable Television Report and Order (Docket 18397 et al.), FCC 72-530.
(b) Significant viewing in a cable television community for signals not shown as significantly viewed under paragraph (a) or (d) of this section may be demonstrated by an independent professional audience survey of non-cable television homes that covers at least two weekly periods separated by at least thirty (30) days but no more than one of which shall be a week between the months of April and September. If two surveys are taken, they shall include samples sufficient to assure that the combined surveys result in an average figure at least one standard error above the required viewing level. If surveys are taken for more than 2-weekly periods in any 12 months, all such surveys must result in an average figure at least one standard error above the required viewing level. If a cable television system serves more than one community, a single survey may be taken, provided that the sample includes non-cable television homes from each community that are proportional to the population.
(c) Notice of a survey to be made pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section shall be served on all licensees or permittees of television broadcast stations within whose predicted Grade B contour the cable community or communities are located, in whole or in part, and on all other system community units, franchisees, and franchise applicants in the cable community or communities at least (30) days prior to the initial survey period. Furthermore, if a survey is undertaken pursuant to the provisions of §76.33(a)(2)(i) of the rules, notice shall also be served on the franchising authority. Such notice shall include the name of the survey organization and a description of the procedures to be used. Objections to survey organizations or procedures shall be served on the party sponsoring the survey within twenty (20) days after receipt of such notice.
(d) Signals of television broadcast stations not encompassed by the surveys (for the periods May 1970, November 1970 and February/March 1971) used in establishing appendix B of the Memorandum Opinion and Order on Reconsideration of Cable Television Report and Order, FCC 72-530, 36 FCC 2d 326 (1972), may be demonstrated as significantly viewed on a county-wide basis by independent professional audience surveys which cover three separate, consecutive four-week periods and are otherwise comparable to the surveys used in compiling the above-referenced appendix B: Provided, however, That such demonstration shall be based upon audience survey data for the first three years of the subject station's broadcast operations.
[37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, as amended at 37 FR 13866, July 14, 1972; 40 FR 48930, Oct. 20, 1975; 41 FR 32429, Aug. 3, 1976; 42 FR 19346, Apr. 13, 1977; 53 FR 17051, May 13, 1988; 56 FR 33392, July 22, 1991]
For purposes of the must-carry rules set forth in this subpart, the following definitions apply:
(a) Qualified noncommercial educational (NCE) television station. A qualified NCE television station is any television broadcast station which
(1)(i) Under the rules and regulations of the Commission in effect on March 29, 1990, is licensed by the Commission as an NCE television broadcast station and which is owned and operated by a public agency, nonprofit foundation, corporation, or association; and
(ii) Has as its licensee an entity which is eligible to receive a community service grant, or any successor grant thereto, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or any successor organization thereto, on the basis of the formula set forth in section 396(k)(6)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended; or
(2) Is owned and operated by a municipality and transmits noncommercial programs for educational programs for educational purposes, as defined in §73.621 of this chapter, for at least 50 percent of its broadcast week.
(3) This definition includes:
(i) The translator of any NCE television station with five watts or higher power serving the franchise area,
(ii) A full-service station or translator if such station or translator is licensed to a channel reserved for NCE use pursuant to §73.606 of this chapter, or any successor regulations thereto, and
(iii) Such stations and translators operating on channels not so reserved but otherwise qualified as NCE stations.
Note to paragraph
(a): For the purposes of §76.55(a), "serving the franchise area" will be based on the predicted protected contour of the NCE translator. (b) Qualified local noncommercial educational (NCE) television station. A qualified local NCE television station is a qualified NCE television station:
(1) That is licensed to a community whose reference point, as defined in §76.53 is within 80.45 km (50 miles) of the principal headend, as defined in §76.5(pp), of the cable system; or
(2) Whose Grade B service contour encompasses the principal headend, as defined in §76.5(pp), of the cable system.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a cable operator shall not be required to add the signal of a qualified local noncommercial educational television station not already carried under the provision of §76.56(a)(5), where such signal would be considered a distant signal for copyright purposes unless such station agrees to indemnify the cable operator for any increased copyright liability resulting from carriage of such signal on the cable system.
(c) Local commercial television station. A local commercial television station is any full power television broadcast station, other than a qualified NCE television station as defined in paragraph (a) of this section, 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 defined below in paragraph (e) of this section, as the cable system, except that the term local commercial television station does not include:
(1) Low power television stations, television translator stations, and passive repeaters with operate pursuant to part 74 of this chapter.
(2) A television broadcast station that would be considered a distant signal under the capable compulsory copyright license, 17 U.S.C. 111, if such station does not agree to indemnify the cable operator for any increased copyright liability resulting from carriage on the cable system; or
(3) A television broadcast station that does not deliver to the principal headend, as defined in §76.5(pp), 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, i.e., the input to the first active component of the signal processing equipment relevant to the signal at issue, 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.
(d) Qualified low power station. A qualified low power station is any television broadcast station conforming to the low power television rules contained in part 74 of this chapter, only if:
(1) Such station broadcasts for at least the minimum number of hours of operation required by the Commission for full power television broadcast stations under part 73 of this chapter;
(2) Such station meets all obligations and requirements applicable to full power television broadcast stations under part 73 of this chapter, 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;
(3) Such station complies with interference regulations consistent with its secondary status pursuant to part 74 of this chapter;
(4) Such station is located no more than 56.32 km (35 miles) from the cable system's principal headend, as defined in §76.5(pp), and delivers to that headend an over-the-air signal of good quality;
(5) 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
(6) There is no full power television broadcast station licensed to any community within the county or other equivalent political subdivision (of a State) served by the cable system.
Note to paragraph
(d): For the purposes of this section, a good quality signal shall mean a signal level of either -45 dBm for UHF signals or -49 dBm for VHF signals at the input terminals of the signal processing equipment, or a baseband video signal. (e) Television market. (1) Until January 1, 2000, a commercial broadcast television station's market, unless amended pursuant to §76.59, shall be defined as its Area of Dominant Influence (ADI) as determined by Arbitron and published in the Arbitron 1991-1992 Television ADI Market Guide, as noted below, except that for areas outside the contiguous 48 states, the market of a station shall be defined using Nielsen's Designated Market Area (DMA), where applicable, as published in the Nielsen 1991-92 DMA Market and Demographic Rank Report, and that Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam will each be considered a single market.
(2) Effective January 1, 2000, a commercial broadcast television station's market, unless amended pursuant to §76.59, shall be defined as its Designated Market Area (DMA) as determined by Nielsen Media Research and published in its Nielsen Station Index Directory and Nielsen Station Index US Television Household Estimates or any successor publications.
(i) For the 1999 election pursuant to §76.64(f), which becomes effective on January 1, 2000, DMA assignments specified in the 1997-98 Nielsen Station Index Directory and September 1997 Nielsen Station Index US Television Household Estimates, available from Nielsen Media Research, 299 Park Avenue, New York, NY, shall be used.
(ii) The applicable DMA list for the 2002 election pursuant to §76.64(f) will be the DMA assignments specified in the 2000-2001 list, and so forth for each triennial election pursuant to §76.64(f).
(3) In addition, the county in which a station's community of license is located will be considered within its market.
(4) A cable system's television market(s) shall be the one or more ADI markets in which the communities it serves are located until January 1, 2000, and the one or more DMA markets in which the communities it serves are located thereafter.
(5) In the absence of any mandatory carriage complaint or market modification petition, cable operators in communities that shift from one market to another, due to the change in 1999-2000 from ADI to DMA, will be permitted to treat their systems as either in the new DMA market, or with respect to the specific stations carried prior to the market change from ADI to DMA, as in both the old ADI market and the new DMA market.
(6) If the change from the ADI market definition to the DMA market definition in 1999-2000 results in the filing of a mandatory carriage complaint, any affected party may respond to that complaint by filing a market modification request pursuant to §76.59, and these two actions may be jointly decided by the Commission.
Note to paragraph
(e): For the 1996 must-carry/retransimission consent election, the ADI assignments specified in the 1991-1992 Television ADI Market Guide, available from the Arbitron Ratings Co., 9705 Patuxent Woods Drive, Columbia, MD, will apply. For the 1999 election, which becomes effective on January 1, 2000, DMA assignments specified in the 1997-98 DMA Market and Demographic Rank Report, available from Nielsen Media Research, 299 Park Avenue, New York, NY, shall be used. The applicable DMA list for
the 2002 election will be the 2000-2001 list, etc. (f) Network. For purposes of the must-carry rules, a commercial television network is an entity that offers programming on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 affiliates in 10 or more states.
[58 FR 17359, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 58 FR 44951, Aug. 25, 1993; 59 FR 62344, Dec. 5, 1994; 61 FR 29313, June 10, 1996; 64 FR 42617, Aug. 5, 1999]
(a) Carriage of qualified noncommercial educational stations. A cable television system shall carry qualified NCE television stations in accordance with the following provisions:
(1) Each cable operator shall carry on its cable television system any qualified local NCE television station requesting carriage, except that
(i) Systems with 12 or fewer usable activated channels, as defined in §76.6(oo), shall be required to carry the signal of one such station;
(ii) Systems with 13 to 36 usable activated channels, as defined in §76.5(oo), shall be required to carry at least one qualified local NCE station, but not more than three such stations; and
(iii) Systems with more than 36 usable activated channels shall be required to carry the signals of all qualified local NCE television stations requesting carriage, but in any event at least three such signals; however a cable system with more than 36 channels shall not be required to carry an additional qualified local NCE station whose programming substantially duplicates the programming of another qualified local NCE station being carried on the system.
Note:
For purposes of this paragraph, a station will be deemed to "substantially duplicate" the programming of another station if it broadcasts the same programming, simultaneous or non-simultaneous, for more than 50 percent of prime time, as defined in §76.5(n), and more than 50 percent outside of prime time over a three-month period. (2)(i) In the case of a cable system with 12 or fewer channels that operates beyond the presence of any qualified local NCE stations, the cable operator shall import one qualified NCE television station.
(ii) A cable system with between 13 and 36 channels that operates beyond the presence of any qualified local NCE stations, the cable operator shall import at least one qualified NCE television station.
(3) A cable system with 12 or fewer usable activated channels shall not be required to remove any programming service provided to subscribers as of March 29, 1990, to satisfy these requirements, except that the first available channel must be used to satisfy these requirements.
(4) A cable system with 13 to 36 usable activated channels which carries the signal of a qualified local NCE station affiliated with a State public television network shall not be required to carry more than one qualified local NCE station affiliated with such network, if the programming of such additional stations substantially duplicates, as defined in the note in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the programming of a qualified local NCE television station receiving carriage.
(5) Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraph (a)(1) of this section, all cable operators shall continue to provide carriage to all qualified local NCE television stations whose signals were carried on their systems as of March 29, 1990. In the case of a cable system that is required to import a distance qualified NCE signal, and such system imported the signal of a qualified NCE station as of March 29, 1990, such cable system shall continue to import such signal until such time as a qualified local NCE signal is available to the cable system. This requirements may be waived with respect to a particular cable operator and a particular NCE station, upon the written consent of the cable operator and the station.
(b) Carriage of local commercial television stations. Effective June 2, 1993, a cable television system shall carry local commercial broadcast television stations in accordance with the following provisions:
(1) A cable system with 12 or fewer usable activated channels, as defined in §76.5(oo), shall carry the signals of at least three qualified local commercial television stations, except that if such system serves 300 or fewer subscribers
it shall not be subject to these requirements as long as it does not delete from carriage the signal of a broadcast television station which was carried on that system on October 5, 1992.
(2) A cable system with more than 12 usable activated channels, as defined in §76.5(oo), shall carry local commercial television stations up to one-third of the aggregate number of usable activated channels of such system.
(3) If there are not enough local commercial television stations to fill the channels set aside under paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) of this section, a cable operator of a system with 35 or fewer usable activated channels, as defined in §76.5(oo), shall, if such stations exist, carry one qualified low power television station and a cable system with more than 35 usable activated channels shall carry two qualified low power stations.
(4) Whenever the number of local commercial television stations exceeds the maximum number of signals a cable system is required to carry under paragraph (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section, the cable operator shall have discretion in selecting which such stations shall be carried on its cable system, except that
(i) Under no circumstances shall a cable operator carry a qualified low power station in lieu of a local commercial television station; and
(ii) If the cable operator elects to carry an affiliate of a broadcast network, as defined in §76.55(f), such cable operator shall carry the affiliate of such broadcast network whose community of license reference point, as defined in §76.53, is closest to the principal headend, as defined in §76.5(pp), of the cable system.
(5) A cable operator is not required to carry the signal of any local commercial television station that substantially duplicates the signal of another local commercial television station that 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 defined in §76.55(f). However, if a cable operator declines to carry duplicating signals, such cable operator shall carry the station whose community of license reference point, as defined in §76.53, is closest to the principal headend of the cable system. For purposes of this paragraph, substantially duplicates means that a station regularly simultaneously broadcasts the identical programming as another station for more than 50 percent of the broadcast week. For purposes of this definition, only identical episodes of a television series are considered duplicative and commercial inserts are excluded from the comparison. When the stations being compared are licensed to communities in different time zones, programming aired by a station within one hour of the identical program being broadcast by another station will be considered duplicative.
(6) [Removed]
(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.
(c) Use of public, educational, or governmental (PEG) channels. A cable operator required to carry more than one signal of a qualified low power station or to add qualified local NCE stations in fulfillment of these must-carry obligations may do so, subject to approval by the franchising authority pursuant to Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, by placing such additional station on public, educational, or governmental channels not in use for their designated purposes.
(d) Availability of signals. (1) Local commercial television stations 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.
(2) Qualified local NCE television stations carried in fulfillment of the carriage obligations of a cable operator under this section shall be available to every subscriber as part of the cable system's lowest priced service tier that includes the retransmission of local commercial television broadcast signals.
(e) Carriage of additional broadcast television signals on such system shall be at the discretion of the cable operator, subject to the retransmission consent rules, §76.64. A cable system may also carry any ancillary or other transmission contained in the broadcast television signal.
Note 1 to §76.56:
Section 76.1620 provides notification requirements for a cable operator who 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. Note 2 to §76.56:
Section 76.1614 provides response requirements for a cable operator who receives a written request to identify its must-carry signals. Note 3 to §76.56:
Section 76.1709 provides recordkeeping requirements with regard to a cable operator's list of must-carry signals. [58 FR 17360, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 58 FR 39161, July 22, 1993; 58 FR 40368, July 28, 1993; 59 FR 62344, Dec. 5, 1994; 65 FR 53614, Sept. 5, 2000; 66 FR 16553, Mar. 26, 2001]
(a) At the election of the licensee of a local commercial broadcast television station, and for the purpose of this section, a qualified low power television station, carried in fulfillment of the must-carry obligations, a cable operator shall carry such signal 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.
(b) At the election of the licensee of a qualified local NCE broadcast television station carried in fulfillment of the must-carry obligations, a cable operator shall carry such signal on the cable system channel number on which the qualified NCE television station is broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on July 19, 1985.
(c) With respect to digital signals of a television station carried in fulfillment of the must-carry obligations, a cable operator shall carry the information necessary to identify and tune to the broadcast television signal.
(d) Any signal carried in fulfillment of the must-carry obligations may be carried on such other channel number as is mutually agreed upon by the station and the cable operator.
(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 stations shall notify the cable system of its choice of channel position when it requests carriage. Channel positioning requests from local commercial stations shall be fulfilled by the cable operator no later than October 6, 1993.
(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.
Note to §76.57:
Any existing agreement for channel position between a local commercial station entitled to must-carry status and a cable operator entered into prior to June 26, 1990, may continue through the expiration of such agreement. [58 FR 17361, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 58 FR 40368, July 28, 1993; 59 FR 62345, Dec. 5, 1994; 66 FR 16553, Mar. 26, 2001]
(a) The Commission, following a written request from a broadcast station or a cable system, may deem that the television market of a particular commercial television broadcast station should include additional communities within its television market or exclude communities from such station's television market. In this respect, communities may be considered part of more than one television market.
(b) Such requests for modification of a television market shall be submitted in accordance with §76.7, petitions for special relief, and shall include the following evidence:
(1) A map or maps illustrating the relevant community locations and geographic features, station transmitter sites, cable system headend locations, terrain features that would affect station reception, mileage between the community and the television station transmitter site, transportation routes and any other evidence contributing to the scope of the market.
(2) Grade B contour maps delineating the station's technical service area and showing the location of the cable system headends and communities in relation to the service areas.
Note to paragraph
(b)(2): Service area maps using Longley-Rice (version 1.2.2) propagation curves may also be included to support a technical service exhibit. (3) Available data on shopping and labor patterns in the local market.
(4) Television station programming information derived from station logs or the local edition of the television guide.
(5) Cable system channel line-up cards or other exhibits establishing historic carriage, such as television guide listings.
(6) Published audience data for the relevant station showing its average all day audience (i.e., the reported audience averaged over Sunday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-1 a.m., or an equivalent time period) for both cable and noncable households or other specific audience indicia, such as station advertising and sales data or viewer contribution records.
(c) Petitions for Special Relief to modify television markets that do not include such evidence shall be dismissed without prejudice and may be refiled at a later date with the appropriate filing fee.
[58 FR 17361, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 64 FR 33796, June 24, 1999]
A cable operator is prohibited from accepting or requesting monetary payment or other valuable consideration in exchange either for carriage or channel positioning of any broadcast television station carried in fulfillment of the must-carry requirements, 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; or
(b) A cable operator may accept payments from stations which would be considered distant signals under the cable compulsory copyright license, 17 U.S.C. 111, as indemnification for any increased copyright liability resulting from carriage of such signal.
Note:
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 must-carry requirements, through, but not beyond, the date of expiration of an agreement between a cable operator and a local commercial television station entered into prior to June 26, 1990. (c) A cable operator may accept payments from stations pursuant to a retransmission consent agreement, even if such station will be counted towards the must-carry complement, as long as all other applicable rules are adhered to.
[58 FR 17362, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 59 FR 62345, Dec. 5, 1994]
(a) Complaints regarding carriage of local commercial television stations. (1) Whenever a local commercial television station or a qualified low power television station believes that a cable operator has failed to meet its carriage or channel positioning obligations, pursuant to §§76.56 and 76.57, 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 position such signal on a particular channel.
(2) The cable operator shall, within 30 days of receipt 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 the must-carry rules. If a refusal for carriage is based on the station's distance from the cable system's principal headend, the operator's response shall include the location of such headend. If a cable operator denies carriage on the basis of the failure of the station to deliver a good quality signal at the cable system's principal headend, the cable operator must provide a list of equipment used to make the measurements, the point of measurement and a list and detailed description of the reception and over-the-air signal processing equipment used, including sketches such as block diagrams and a description of the methodology used for processing the signal at issue, in its response.
(3) A local commercial television station or qualified low power television
station that is denied carriage or channel positioning or repositioning in accordance with the must-carry rules by a cable operator may file a complaint with the Commission in accordance with the procedures set forth in §76.7 of this part. In addition to the requirements of §76.7 of this part, such complaint shall specifically:
(i) Allege the manner in which such cable operator has failed to meet its obligations and the basis for such allegations.
(ii) Be accompanied by the notice from the complainant to the cable television system operator, and the cable television system operator's response, if any. If no timely response was received, the complaint shall so state.
(iii) Establish the complaint is being filed within the sixty-day deadline stated in paragraph (a)(5) of this section.
(4) If the Commission determines that a cable operator has failed to meet its must-carry obligations, the Commission shall order that, within 45 days of such order or such other time period as the Commission may specify, the cable operator reposition the complaining station or, in the case of an obligation to carry a station, commence or resume carriage of the station and continue such carriage for at least 12 months. If the Commission determines that the cable operator has fully met the must-carry requirements, it shall dismiss the complaint.
(5) No must-carry complaint filed pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section will be accepted by the Commission if filed more than sixty (60) days after --
(i) The denial by a cable television system operator of request for carriage or channel position contained in the notice required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section, or
(ii) The failure to respond to such notice within the time period allowed by paragraph (a)(2) of this section.
(b) Complaints regarding carriage of qualified local NCE television stations. (1) Whenever a qualified local NCE television station believes that a cable operator has failed to comply with the signal carriage or channel positioning requirements, pursuant to §§76.56 through 76.57 of this part, the station may file a complaint with the Commission in accordance with the procedures set forth in §76.7 of this part. In addition to the requirements of §76.7 of this part, such complaint shall specifically:
(i) Allege the manner in which such cable operator has failed to comply with such requirements and state the basis for such allegations.
(ii) Be accompanied by any relevant correspondence between the complainant and the cable television system operator.
(2) If the Commission determines that a cable operator has failed to meet its must-carry obligations, the Commission shall order that, within 45 days of such order or such other period as the Commission may specify, the cable operator reposition the complaining station or, in the case of an obligation to carry a station, commence or resume carriage of the station and continue such carriage for a period of time the Commission deems appropriate for the specific case under consideration. If the Commission determines that the cable operator has fully met the must-carry requirements, it shall dismiss the complaint.
(3) With respect to must-carry complaints filed pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, such complaints may be filed at any time the complainant believes that the cable television system operator has failed to comply with the applicable provisions of subpart D of this part.
[58 FR 17362, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 64 FR 6572, Feb. 10, 1999]
(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.
(b) Each such television broadcast signal carried shall be carried without material degradation, and, for analog signals, in compliance with technical standards set forth in subpart K of this part.
(c) Each local commercial television station whose signal is carried shall, to the extent technically feasible and consistent with good engineering practice, be provided no less than the same quality of signal processing and carriage provided for carriage of any other type of standard television signal.
(d) Each qualified local noncommercial educational television station whose signal is carried shall be provided with bandwidth and technical capacity equivalent to that provided to commercial television broadcast stations carried.
(e) Each commercial broadcast television station carried pursuant to §76.56 shall include in its entirety the primary video, accompanying audio, and closed captioning data contained in line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval or on subcarriers. 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.
(f) Each qualified local NCE television station carried pursuant to §76.56 shall include in its entirety the primary video, accompanying audio, and closed captioning data contained in line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval or on subcarriers, that may be necessary for receipt of programming by handicapped persons or for educational or language purposes.
(g) With respect to carriage of digital signals, operators are not required to carry ancillary or supplementary transmissions or non-program related video material.
[58 FR 17362, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 59 FR 62345, Dec. 5, 1994; 66 FR 16553, Mar. 26, 2001]
(a) After 12:01 a.m. on October 6, 1993, no multichannel video programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of any commercial broadcasting station without the express authority of the originating station, except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) A commercial broadcast signal may be retransmitted without express authority of the originating station if --
(1) The distributor is a cable system and the signal is that of a commercial television station (including a low-power television station) that is being carried pursuant to the Commission's must-carry rules set forth in §76.56;
(2) The multichannel video programming distributor obtains the signal of a superstation that is distributed by a satellite carrier and the originating station was a superstation on May 1, 1991, and the distribution is made only to areas outside the local market of the originating station; or
(3) The distributor is a satellite carrier and the signal is transmitted directly to a home satellite antenna, provided that:
(i) The broadcast station is not owned or operated by, or affiliated with, a broadcasting network and its signal was retransmitted by a satellite carrier on May 1, 1991, or
(ii) The broadcast station is owned or operated by, or affiliated with a broadcasting network, and the household receiving the signal is an unserved household.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) A satellite carrier is an entity that uses the facilities of a satellite or satellite service licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, to establish and operate a channel of communications for point-to-multipoint distribution of television station signals, and that owns or leases a capacity or service on a satellite in order to provide such point-to-multipoint distribution, except to the extent that such entity provides such distribution pursuant to tariff under the Communications Act of 1934, other than for private home viewing;
(2) A superstation is a television broadcast station other than a network station, licensed by the Federal Communications Commission that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier;
(3) An unserved household with respect to a television network is a household that
(i) Cannot receive, through the use of a conventional outdoor rooftop receiving antenna, an over-the-air signal of grade B intensity of a primary network
station affiliated with that network, and
(ii) Has not, within 90 days before the date on which that household subscribes, either initially or on renewal, received secondary transmissions by a satellite carrier of a network station affiliated with that network, subscribed to a cable system that provides the signal of a primary network station affiliated with the network.
(4) A primary network station is a network station that broadcasts or rebroadcasts the basic programming service of a particular national network;
(5) The terms "network station," and "secondary transmission" have the meanings given them in 17 U.S.C. 111(f).
(d) A multichannel video program distributor is an entity such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, a television receive-only satellite program distributor, or a satellite master antenna television system operator, that makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming.
(e) The retransmission consent requirements of this section are not applicable to broadcast signals received by master antenna television facilities or by direct over-the-air reception in conjunction with the provision of service by a multichannel video program distributor provided that the multichannel video program distributor makes reception of such signals available without charge and at the subscribers option and provided further that the antenna facility used for the reception of such signals is either owned by the subscriber or the building owner; or under the control and available for purchase by the subscriber or the building owner upon termination of service.
(f) Commercial television stations are required to make elections between retransmission consent and must-carry status according to the following schedule:
(1) The initial election must be made by June 17, 1993.
(2) Subsequent elections must be made at three year intervals; the second election must be made by October 1, 1996 and will take effect on January 1, 1997; the third election must be made by October 1, 1999 and will take effect on January 1, 2000, etc.
(3) Television stations that fail to make an election by the specified deadline will be deemed to have elected must carry status for the relevant three-year period.
(4) New television stations and stations that return their analog spectrum allocation and broadcast in digital only shall make their initial election any time between 60 days prior to commencing broadcast and 30 days after commencing broadcast or commencing broadcasting in digital only; such initial election shall take effect 90 days after it is made.
(5) Television broadcast stations that become eligible for must carry status with respect to a cable system or systems due to a change in the market definition may, within 30 days of the effective date of the new definition, elect must-carry status with respect to such system or systems. Such elections shall take effect 90 days after they are made.
(g) If one or more franchise areas served by a cable system overlaps with one or more franchise areas served by another cable system, television broadcast stations are required to make the same election for both cable systems.
(h) On or before each must-carry/retransmission consent election deadline, each television broadcast station shall place copies of all of its election statements in the station's public file, and shall send via certified mail to each cable system in the station's defined market a copy of the station's election statement with respect to that operator.
(i) Notwithstanding a television station's election of must-carry status, if a cable operator proposes to retransmit that station's signal without according the station must-carry rights (i.e., pursuant to §76.56(e)), the operator must obtain the station's express authority prior to retransmitting its signal.
(j) Retransmission consent agreements between a broadcast station and a multichannel video programming distributor shall be in writing and shall specify the extent of the consent being granted, whether for the entire signal or any portion of the signal.
(k) Retransmission consent agreements between a broadcast station and a multichannel video programming distributor shall be in writing and shall specify the extent of the consent being granted, whether for the entire signal or any portion of the signal. This rule applies for either the analog or the digital signal of a television station.
(l) Exclusive retransmission consent agreements are prohibited. No television broadcast station shall make or negotiate and agreement with one multichannel video programming distributor for carriage to the exclusion of other multichannel video programming distributors. This paragraph shall terminate at midnight on December 31, 2005.
(m) A multichannel video programming distributor providing an all-band FM radio broadcast service (a service that does not involve the individual processing of specific broadcast signals) shall obtain retransmission consents from all FM radio broadcast stations that are included on the service that have transmitters located within 92 kilometers (57 miles) of the receiving antenna for such service. Stations outside of this 92 kilometer (57 miles) radius shall be presumed not to be carried in an all-band reception mode but may affirmatively assert retransmission consent rights by providing 30 days advance notice to the distributor.
Note 1 to §76.64:
Section 76.1608 provides notification requirements for a cable system that changes its technical configuration in such a way as to integrate two formerly separate cable systems. [58 FR 17363, Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at 59 FR 62345, Dec. 5, 1994; 65 FR 15575, Mar. 23, 2000; 65 FR 53615, Sept. 5, 2000; 66 FR 16553, Mar. 26, 2001]
(a) Duty to negotiate in good faith. Television broadcast stations that provide retransmission consent shall negotiate in good faith the terms and conditions of such agreements to fulfill the duties established by section 325(b)(3)(C) of the Communciations Act 47 U.S.C. 325; provided, however, that it shall not be a failure to negotiate in good faith if the television broadcast station proposes or enters into retransmission consent agreements containing different terms and conditions, including price terms, with different multichannel video programming distributors if such different terms and conditions are based on competitive marketplace considerations. If a television broadcast station negotiates with multichannel video programming distributors in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth in this section,
failure to reach an agreement is not an indication of a failure to negotiate in good faith.
(b) Good faith negotiation -- (1) Standards. The following actions or practices violate a broadcast television station's duty to negotiate retransmission consent agreements in good faith:
(i) Refusal by a television broadcast station to negotiate retransmission consent with any multichannel video programming distributor;
(ii) Refusal by a television broadcast station to designate a representative with authority make binding representations on retransmission consent;
(iii) Refusal by a television broadcast station to meet and negotiate retransmission consent at reasonable times and locations, or acting in a manner that unreasonably delays retransmission consent negotiations;
(iv) Refusal by a television broadcast station to put forth more than a single, unilateral proposal.
(v) Failure of a television broadcast station to respond to a retransmission consent proposal of a multichannel video programming distributor, including the reasons for the rejection of any such proposal;
(vi) Execution by a television broadcast station of an agreement with any party, a term or condition of which, requires that such television broadcast station not enter into a retransmission consent agreement with any multichannel video programming distributor; and
(vii) Refusal by a television broadcast station to execute a written retransmission consent agreement that sets forth the full understanding of the television broadcast station and the multichannel video programming distributor.
(2) Totality of the circumstances. In addition to the standards set forth in section 76.65(b)(1), a multichannel video programming distributor may demonstrate, based on the totality of the circumstances of a particular retransmission consent negotiation, that a television broadcast station breached its duty to negotiate in good faith as set forth in section 76.65(a).
(c) Good faith negotiation and exclusivity complaints. Any multichannel video programming distributor aggrieved by conduct that it believes constitutes a violation of the regulations set forth in this §76.64(m) 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.
(d) Burden of proof. In any complaint proceeding brought under this section, the burden of proof as to the existence of a violation shall be on the complainant.
(e) Time limit on filing of complaints. Any complaint filed pursuant to this subsection must be filed within one year of the date on which one of the following events occurs:
(1) A complainant multichannel video programming provider enters into a retransmission consent agreement with a television broadcast station that the complainant alleges to violate one or more of the rules contained in this subpart; or
(2) A television broadcast station engages in retransmission consent negotiations with a complainant that the complainant alleges to violate one or more of the rules contained in this subpart, and such negotiation is unrelated to any existing contract between the complainant and the television broadcast station; or
(3) The complainant has notified the television broadcast station that it intends to file a complaint with the Commission based on a request to negotiate retransmission consent that has been denied, unreasonably delayed, or unacknowledged in violation of one or more of the rules contained in this subpart.
(f) Termination of rules. This section shall terminate at midnight on December 31, 2005.
[65 FR 15575, Mar. 23, 2000]
(a) Definitions -- (1) Satellite carrier. A satellite carrier is an entity that uses the facilities of a satellite or satellite service licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and operates in the Fixed-Satellite Service under part 25 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations or the Direct Broadcast Satellite Service under part 100 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to establish and operate a channel of communications for point-to-multipoint distribution of television station signals, and that owns or leases a capacity or a service on a satellite in order to provide such point-to-multipoint distribution, except to the extent that such entity provides such distribution pursuant to tariff under the Communications Act of 1934, other than for private home viewing.
(2) Secondary transmission. A secondary transmission is the further transmitting of a primary transmission simultaneously with the primary transmission.
(3) Subscriber. A subscriber is a person who receives a secondary transmission service from a satellite carrier and pays a fee for the service, directly or indirectly, to the satellite carrier or to a distributor.
(4) Television broadcast station. A television broadcast station is an over-the-air commercial or noncommercial television broadcast station licensed by the Commission under subpart E of part 73 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, except that such term does not include a low-power or translator television station.
(5) Television network. For purposes of this section, a television network is an entity which offers an interconnected program service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 affiliated broadcast stations in 10 or more States.
(6) Local-into-local television service. A satellite carrier is providing local-into-local service when it retransmits a local television station signal back into the local market of that television station for reception by subscribers.
(b) Signal carriage obligations. (1) Each satellite carrier providing, under section 122 of title 17, United States Code, secondary transmissions to subscribers located within the local market of a television broadcast station of a primary transmission made by that station, shall carry upon request the signals of all television broadcast stations located within that local market, subject to section 325(b) of title 47, United States Code, and other paragraphs in this section.
(2) No satellite carrier shall be required to carry local television broadcast stations, pursuant to this section, until January 1, 2002.
(c) Election cycle. In television markets where a satellite carrier is providing local-into-local service, a commercial television broadcast station may elect either retransmission consent, pursuant to section 325 of title 47 United States Code, or mandatory carriage, pursuant to section 338, title 47 United States Code.
(1) The first retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election cycle shall be for a four-year period commencing on January 1, 2002 and ending December 31, 2005.
(2) The second retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election cycle, and all cycles thereafter, shall be for a period of three years (e.g. the second election cycle commences on January 1, 2006 and ends at midnight on December 31, 2008).
(3) A commercial television station must notify a satellite carrier, by July 1, 2001, of its retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election for the first election cycle commencing January 1, 2002.
(4) Except as provided in paragraphs (d)(2) and (d)(3) of this section, local commercial television broadcast stations shall make their retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election by October 1st of the year preceding the new cycle for all election cycles after the first election cycle.
(5) A noncommercial television station must request carriage by July 1, 2001 for the first election cycle and must renew its carriage request at the same time a commercial television station must make its retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election for all subsequent cycles.
(d) Carriage procedures -- (1) Carriage requests. (i) An election for mandatory carriage made by a television broadcast station shall be treated as a request for carriage. For purposes of this paragraph concerning carriage procedures, the term election request includes an election of retransmission consent or mandatory carriage.
(ii) An election request made by a television station must be in writing and sent to the satellite carrier's principal place of business, by certified mail, return receipt requested.
(iii) A television station's written notification shall include the:
(A) Station's call sign;
(B) Name of the appropriate station contact person;
(C) Station's address for purposes of receiving official correspondence;
(D) Station's community of license;
(E) Station's DMA assignment; and
(F) For commercial television stations, its election of mandatory carriage or retransmission consent.
(iv) Within 30 days of receiving a television station's carriage request, a satellite carrier shall notify in writing:
(A) those local television stations it will not carry, along with the reasons for such a decision; and
(B) those local television stations it intends to carry.
(v) A satellite carrier is not required to carry a television station, for the duration of the election cycle, if the station fails to assert its carriage rights by the deadlines established in this section.
(2) New local-into-local service. (i) A new satellite carrier or a satellite carrier providing local service in a market for the first time on or after July 1, 2001, must notify local television stations of its intent to provide local-into-local service at least 60 days before it intends to provide service or decides to enter into a new television market. This notification shall include information on the location of the satellite carrier's designated local receive facility in that particular market.
(ii) A local television station shall make its election request, in writing, sent to the satellite carrier's principal place of business by certified mail, return receipt requested, no more than 30 days after the station's receipt of the satellite carrier's notice of intent to provide local-into-local service in a new television market. This written notification shall include the information required by paragraph (d)(1)(iii) of this section.
(iii) A satellite carrier shall commence carriage of a local station by the later of 90 days from receipt of an election of mandatory carriage or upon commencing local-into-local service in the new television market.
(iv) Within 30 days of receiving a local television station's election of mandatory carriage in a new television market, a satellite carrier shall notify in writing: Those local television stations it will not carry, along with the reasons for such decision, and those local television stations it intends to carry.
(3) New television stations. (i) A television station providing over-the-air service in a market for the first time on or after July 1, 2001, shall be considered a new television station for satellite carriage purposes.
(ii) A new television station shall make its election request, in writing, sent to the satellite carrier's principal place of business by certified mail, return receipt requested, between 60 days prior to commencing broadcasting and 30 days after commencing broadcasting. This written notification shall include the information required by paragraph (d)(1)(iii) of this section.
(iii) A satellite carrier shall commence carriage within 90 days of receiving the request for carriage from the television broadcast station or whenever the new television station provides over-the-air service.
(iv) Within 30 days of receiving a new television station's election of mandatory carriage, a satellite carrier shall notify the station in writing that it will not carry the station, along with the reasons for such decision, or that it intends to carry the station.
(4) Television broadcast stations must send election requests as provided in paragraphs (d)(1), (2), and (3) of this section on or before the relevant deadline.
(e) Market definitions. (1) A local market, in the case of both commercial and noncommercial television broadcast stations, is the designated market area in which a station is located, and
(i) In the case of a commercial television broadcast station, all commercial television broadcast stations licensed to a community within the same designated market area within the same local market; and
(ii) In the case of a noncommercial educational television broadcast station, the market includes any station that is licensed to a community within the same designated market area as the noncommercial educational television broadcast station.
(2) A designated market area is the market area, as determined by Nielsen Media Research and published in the 1999-2000 Nielsen Station Index Directory and Nielsen Station Index United States Television Household Estimates or any successor publication.
(3) A satellite carrier shall use the 1999-2000 Nielsen Station Index Directory and Nielsen Station Index United States Television Household Estimates to define television markets for the first retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election cycle commencing on January 1, 2002 and ending on December 31, 2005. The 2003-2004 Nielsen Station Index Directory and Nielsen Station Index United States Television Household Estimates shall be used for the second retransmission consent-mandatory carriage election cycle commencing January 1, 2006 and ending December 31, 2008, and so forth for each triennial election pursuant to this section. Provided, however, that a county deleted from a market by Nielsen need not be subtracted from a market in which a satellite carrier provides local-into-local service, if that county is assigned to that market in the 1999-2000 Nielsen Station Index Directory or any subsequent issue of that publication.
(4) A local market includes all counties to which stations assigned to that market are licensed.
(f) Receive facilities. (1) A local receive facility is the reception point in each local market which a satellite carrier designates for delivery of the signal of the station for purposes of retransmission.
(2) A satellite carrier may establish another receive facility to serve a market if the location of such a facility is acceptable to at least one-half the stations with carriage rights in that market.
(3) Except as provided in 76.66(d)(2), a satellite carrier providing local-into-local service must notify local television stations of the location of the receive facility by June 1, 2001 for the first election cycle and at least 120 days prior to the commencement of all election cycles thereafter.
(4) A satellite carrier may relocate its local receive facility at the commencement of each election cycle. A satellite carrier is also permitted to relocate its local receive facility during the course of an election cycle, if it bears the signal delivery costs of the television stations affected by such a move. A satellite carrier relocating its local receive facility must provide 60 days notice to all local television stations carried in the affected television market.
(g) Good quality signal. (1) A television station asserting its right to carriage shall be required to bear the costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to the designated local receive facility of the satellite carrier or to another facility that is acceptable to at least one-half the stations asserting the right to carriage in the local market.
(2) To be considered a good quality signal for satellite carriage purposes, a television station shall deliver to the local receive facility of a satellite carrier either a signal level of -45dBm for UHF signals or -49dBm for VHF signals at the input terminals of the signal processing equipment.
(3) A satellite carrier is not required to carry a television station that does not agree to be responsible for the costs of delivering a good quality signal to the receive facility.
(h) Duplicating signals. (1) A satellite carrier shall not be required to carry upon request the signal of any local television broadcast station that substantially duplicates the signal of another local television broadcast station which is secondarily transmitted by the satellite carrier within the same local market, or the signals of more than one local commercial television broadcast station in a single local market that is affiliated with a particular television network unless such stations are licensed to communities in different States.
(2) A satellite carrier may select which duplicating signal in a market it shall carry.
(3) A satellite carrier may select which network affiliate in a market it shall carry.
(4) A satellite carrier is permitted to drop a local television station whenever that station meets the substantial duplication criteria set forth in this paragraph. A satellite carrier must add a television station to its channel line-up if such station no longer duplicates the programming of another local television station.
(5) A satellite carrier shall provide notice to its subscribers, and to the affected television station, whenever it adds or deletes a station's signal in a particular local market pursuant to this paragraph.
(6) A commercial television station substantially duplicates the programming of another commercial television station if it simultaneously broadcasts the identical programming of another station for more than 50 percent of the broadcast week.
(7) A noncommercial television station substantially duplicates the programming of another noncommercial station if it simultaneously broadcasts the same programming as another noncommercial station for more than 50 percent of prime time, as defined by §76.5(n), and more than 50 percent outside of prime time over a three month period, Provided, however, that after three noncommercial television stations are carried, the test of duplication shall be whether more than 50 percent of prime time programming and more than 50 percent outside of prime time programming is duplicative on a non-simultaneous basis.
(i) Channel positioning. (1) No satellite carrier shall be required to provide the signal of a local television broadcast station to subscribers in that station's local market on any particular channel number or to provide the signals in any particular order, except that the satellite carrier shall retransmit the signal of the local television broadcast stations to subscribers in the stations' local market on contiguous channels.
(2) The television stations subject to this paragraph include those carried under retransmission consent.
(3) All local television stations carried under mandatory carriage in a particular television market must be offered to subscribers at rates comparable to local television stations carried under retransmission consent in that same market.
(4) Within a market, no satellite carrier shall provide local-into-local service in a manner that requires subscribers to obtain additional equipment at their own expense or for an additional carrier charge in order to obtain one or more local television broadcast signals if such equipment is not required for the receipt of other local television broadcast signals.
(5) All television stations carried under mandatory carriage, in a particular market, shall be presented to subscribers in the same manner as television stations that elected retransmission consent, in that same market, on any navigational device, on-screen program guide, or menu provided by the satellite carrier.
(j) Manner of carriage. (1) Each television station carried by a satellite carrier, pursuant to this section, shall include in its entirety the primary video, accompanying audio, and closed captioning data contained in line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and, to the extent technically feasible, program-related material carried in the vertical blanking interval or on subcarriers. For noncommercial educational television stations, a satellite carrier must also carry any program-related material that may be necessary for receipt of programming by persons with disabilities or for educational or language purposes. Secondary audio programming must also be carried. Where appropriate and feasible, satellite carriers may delete signal enhancements, such as ghost-canceling, from the broadcast signal and employ such enhancements at the local receive facility.
(2) A satellite carrier, at its discretion, may carry any ancillary service transmission on the vertical blanking interval or the aural baseband of any television broadcast signal, including, but not limited to, multichannel television sound and teletext.
(k) Material degradation. Each local television station whose signal is carried under mandatory carriage shall, to the extent technically feasible and consistent with good engineering practice, be provided with the same quality of signal processing provided to television stations electing retransmission consent. A satellite carrier is permitted to use reasonable digital compression techniques in the carriage of local television stations.
(l) Compensation for carriage. (1) A satellite carrier shall not accept or request monetary payment or other valuable consideration in exchange either for carriage of local television broadcast stations in fulfillment of the mandatory carriage requirements of this section or for channel positioning rights provided to such stations under this section, except that any such station may be required to bear the costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to the receive facility of the satellite carrier.
(2) A satellite carrier may accept payments from a station pursuant to a retransmission consent agreement.
(m) Remedies. (1) Whenever a local television broadcast station believes that a satellite carrier has failed to meet its obligations under this section, such station shall notify the carrier, in writing, of the alleged failure and identify its reasons for believing that the satellite carrier failed to comply with such obligations.
(2) The satellite carrier shall, within 30 days after such written notification, respond in writing to such notification and comply with such obligations or state its reasons for believing that it is in compliance with such obligations.
(3) A local television broadcast station that disputes a response by a satellite carrier that it is in compliance with such obligations may obtain review of such denial or response by filing a complaint with the Commission, in accordance with §76.7 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations. Such complaint shall allege the manner in which such satellite carrier has failed to meet its obligations and the basis for such allegations.
(4) The satellite carrier against which a complaint is filed is permitted to present data and arguments to establish that there has been no failure to meet its obligations under this section.
(5) The Commission shall determine whether the satellite carrier has met its obligations under this section. If the Commission determines that the satellite carrier has failed to meet such obligations, the Commission shall order the satellite carrier to take appropriate remedial action. If the Commission determines that the satellite carrier has fully met the requirements of this section, it shall dismiss the complaint.
(6) The Commission will not accept any complaint filed later than 60 days after a satellite carrier, either implicitly or explicitly, denies a television station's carriage request.
[66 FR 7430, Jan. 23, 2001, as amended at 66 FR 49135, Sept. 26, 2001]
(a) In any case of cable systems serving communities where no portion of the community is covered by the predicted Grade B contour of at least one full service broadcast television station, or non-commercial educational television translator station operating with 5 or more watts output power and where the signals of no such broadcast stations are "significantly viewed" in the county where such a cable system is located, the cable system shall be exempt from the provisions of §76.66. Cable systems may be eligible for this exemption where they demonstrate with engineering studies prepared in accordance with §73.686 of this chapter or other showings that broadcast signals meeting the above criteria are not actually viewable within the community.
(b) Where a new full service broadcast television station, or new non-commercial educational television translator station with 5 or more watts, or an existing such station of either type with newly upgraded facilities provides predicted Grade B service to a community served by a cable system previously exempt under paragraph (a) of this section, or the signal
of any such broadcast station is newly determined to be "significantly viewed" in the county where such a cable system is located, the cable system at that time is required to comply fully with the provisions of §76.66. Cable systems may retain their exemption under paragraph (a) of this section where they demonstrate with engineering studies prepared in accordance with §73.686 of this chapter or other showings that broadcast signals meeting the above criteria are not actually viewable within the community.
[54 FR 25716, June 19, 1989] Source:
50 FR 40855, Oct. 7, 1985, unless otherwise noted.
(a) The provisions of this subpart shall apply to any corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, or trust engaged primarily in the management or operation of any cable system. Cable entities subject to these provisions include those systems defined in §76.5(a), all satellite master antenna television systems serving 50 or more subscribers, and any multichannel video programming distributor. For purposes of the provisions of this subpart, a multichannel video programming distributor is an entity such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multipoint distribution service, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, a television receive-only satellite program distributor, or a video dialtone program service provider, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming, whether or not a licensee. Multichannel video programming distributors do not include any entity which lacks control over the video programming distributed. For purposes of this subpart, an entity has control over the video programming it distributes, if it selects video programming channels or programs and determines how they are presented for sale to consumers. Nothwithstanding the foregoing, the regulations in this subpart are not applicable to the owners or originators (of programs or channels of programming) that distribute six or fewer channels of commonly-owned video programming over a leased transport facility. For purposes of this subpart, programming services are "commonly-owned" if the same entity holds a majority of the stock (or is a general partner) of each program service.
(b) Employment units. The provisions of this subpart shall apply to cable entities as employment units. Each cable entity may be considered a separate employment unit; however, where two or more cable entities are under common ownership or control and are interrelated in their local management, operation, and utilization of employees, they shall constitute a single employment unit.
(c) Headquarters office. A multiple cable operator shall treat as a separate employment unit each headquarters office to the extent the work of that office is primarily related to the operation of more than one employment unit as described in paragraph (b) of this section.
[50 FR 40855, Oct. 7, 1985, as amended at 58 FR 42250, Aug. 9, 1993]
(a) Equal opportunity in employment shall be afforded by each cable entity to all qualified persons, and no person shall be discriminated against in employment by such entity because of race, color, religion, national origin, age or sex.
(b) Each employment unit shall establish, maintain, and carry out a positive continuing program of specific practices designed to assure equal opportunity to every aspect of cable system employment policy and practice. Under the terms of its program, an employment unit shall:
(1) Define the responsibility of each level of management to ensure a positive application and vigorous enforcement of its policy of equal opportunity, and establish a procedure to review and control managerial and supervisory performance;
(2) Inform its employees and recognized employee organizations of the
positive equal employment opportunity policy and program and enlist their cooperation;
(3) Communicate its equal employment opportunity policy and progam and its employment needs to sources of qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age or sex, and solicit their recruitment assistance on a continuing basis;
(4) Conduct a continuing program to exclude every form of prejudice or discrimination based upon race, color, religion, national origin, age or sex from its personnel policies and practices and working conditions; and
(5) Conduct a continuing review of job structure and employment practices and adopt positive recruitment, training, job design, and other measures needed to ensure genuine equality of opportunity to participate fully in all organizational units, occupations, and levels of responsibility.
Under the terms of its program, an employment unit must:
(a) Disseminate its equal employment opportunity program to job applicants, employees, and those with whom it regularly does business. For example, this requirement may be met by:
(1) Posting notices in the employment unit's office and places of employment informing employees, and applicants for employment, of their equal employment opportunity rights, and their right to notify the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, or other appropriate agency, if they believe they have been discriminated against. Where a significant percentage of employees, employment applicants, or residents of the community of a cable television system of the relevant labor area are Hispanic, such notices should be posted in Spanish and English. Similar use should be made of other languages in such posted equal employment opportunity notices, where appropriate;
(2) Placing a notice in bold type on the employment application informing prospective employees that discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, age or sex is prohibited and that they may notify the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, or other appropriate agency if they believe they have been discriminated against.
(b) Establish, maintain and carry out a positive continuing program of outreach activities designed to ensure equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in employment. The following activities shall be undertaken by each employment unit:
(1) Recruit for every job vacancy in its operation. A job filled by an internal promotion is not considered a vacancy for which recruitment is necessary. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to require a cable entity to grant preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, national origin, color, religion, age, or gender.
(i) An employment unit shall use recruitment sources for each vacancy sufficient in its reasonable, good faith judgment to widely disseminate information concerning the vacancy.
(ii) In addition to using such recruitment sources, a cable employment unit shall provide notification of each vacancy to any organization that distributes information about employment opportunities to job seekers or refers job seekers to employers, upon request by such organization. To be entitled to notice of vacancies, the requesting organization must provide the cable employment unit with its name, mailing address, e-mail address (if applicable), telephone number, and contact person, and identify the category or categories of vacancies of which it requests notice. (An organization may request notice of all vacancies).
(2) Engage in at least two (if the unit has more than ten full-time employees) or one (if the unit has six to ten full-time employees) of the following initiatives during each twelve-month period preceding the filing of an annual employment report:
(i) Participation in at least two job fairs by unit personnel who have substantial responsibility in the making of hiring decisions;
(ii) Hosting of at least one job fair;
(iii) Co-sponsoring at least one job fair with organizations in the business and professional community whose
membership includes substantial participation of women and minorities;
(iv) Participation in at least two events sponsored by organizations representing groups present in the community interested in cable employment issues, including conventions, career days, workshops, and similar activities;
(v) Establishment of an internship program designed to assist members of the community in acquiring skills needed for cable employment;
(vi) Participation in job banks, internet programs, and other programs designed to promote outreach generally (i.e., that are not primarily directed to providing notification of specific job vacancies);
(vii) Participation in a scholarship program designed to assist students interested in pursuing a career in cable communications;
(viii) Establishment of training programs designed to enable unit personnel to acquire skills that could qualify them for higher level positions;
(ix) Establishment of a mentoring program for unit personnel;
(x) Participation in at least two events or programs sponsored by educational institutions relating to career opportunities in cable communications;
(xi) Sponsorship of at least one event in the community designed to inform and educate members of the public as to employment opportunities in cable communications;
(xii) Listing of each upper-level category opening in a job bank or newsletter of media trade groups whose membership includes substantial participation of women and minorities; and
(xiii) Participation in other activities reasonably calculated by the unit to further the goal of disseminating information as to employment opportunities in cable communications to job candidates who might otherwise be unaware of such opportunities.
(c) Retain records sufficient to document that it has satisfied the requirements of paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) of this section. Such records, which may be maintained in an electronic format, shall be retained for a period of seven years. Such records need not be submitted to the Commission unless specifically requested. The following records shall be maintained:
(1) Listings of all full-time job vacancies filled by the cable employment unit, identified by job title;
(2) For each such vacancy, the recruitment sources utilized to fill the vacancy (including, if applicable, organizations entitled to notification pursuant to paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section, which should be separately identified), identified by name, address, contact person, and telephone number;
(3) Dated copies of all advertisements, bulletins, letters, faxes, e-mails, or other communications announcing job vacancies;
(4) Documentation necessary to demonstrate performance of the initiatives required by paragraph (b)(2) of this section, if applicable, including information sufficient to fully disclose the nature of the initiative and the scope of the unit's participation, including the unit personnel involved;
(5) The total number of interviewees for each vacancy and the referral sources for each interviewee; and
(6) The date each vacancy was filled and the recruitment source that referred the hiree.
(d) Undertake to offer promotions of minorities and women in a non-discriminatory fashion to positions of greater responsibility. For example, this requirement may be met by:
(1) Instructing those who make decisions on placement and promotion that minority employees and females are to be considered without discrimination, and that job areas in which there is little or no minority or female representation should be reviewed to determine whether this results from discrimination;
(2) Giving minority groups and female employees equal opportunity for positions which lead to higher positions. Inquiring as to the interest and skills of all lower paid employees with respect to any of the higher paid positions, followed by assistance, counselling, and effective measures to enable employees with interest and potential to qualify themselves for such positions;
(3) Providing opportunity to perform overtime work on a basis that does not
discriminate against qualified minority group or female employees.
(e) Encourage minority and female entrepreneurs to conduct business with all parts of its operation. For example, this requirement may be met by:
(1) Recruiting as wide as possible a pool of qualified entrepreneurs from sources such as employee referrals, community groups, contractors, associations, and other sources likely to be representative of minority and female interests.
(f) A cable entity may elect not to utilize the provisions of paragraphs (b)(1)(ii) (notification to requesting community groups) and (b)(2) (menu options) hereof, provided that it complies with the following alternative recruitment requirements:
(1) The employment unit shall maintain records as required by paragraph (c)(1) through (c)(3) of this section, and shall maintain, in lieu of the records required by paragraph (c)(4) through (c)(6) of this section, data reflecting the recruitment source, gender, and racial and/or ethnic status of applicants for each full-time job vacancy filled by the employment unit;
(2) The employment unit shall place annually in its public file maintained pursuant to §76.1702 the information specified in §76.1702(b)(1) and (2) and, in lieu of the information required by §76.1702(b)(3) through (5), data reflecting, for each recruitment source utilized for any full-time vacancy during the preceding year, the total number of applicants generated by that source, the number of applicants who were female, and the number of applicants who were minority, identified by the applicable racial and/or ethnic group with which each applicant is associated.
(3) Cable employment units electing to proceed under this paragraph shall otherwise comply with the requirements specified in paragraph (b) of this section.
(g) A cable entity shall analyze its recruitment program on an ongoing basis to ensure that it is effective in achieving broad outreach, and address any problems found as a result of its analysis.
(h) Within forty-five days of the effective date of this paragraph (h) each cable employment unit with six or more fulltime employees shall elect whether it wishes to utilize the recruitment procedures specified in paragraph (b) of this section or the alternate recruitment procedures specified in paragraph (f) of this section and shall file with the Commission a statement indicating the election which shall also be placed in the public inspection file maintained pursuant to §76.1702. An employment unit may change its election annually at the time of the filing of the FCC Form 395-A or FCC Form 395-M. If the employment unit wishes to change its election, it shall so state in its FCC Form 395-A or FCC Form 395-M. A cable employment unit may also change its election at the time of a substantial change in its ownership by placing a statement of its new election in the public inspection file.
(i) Analyze on an ongoing basis its efforts to recruit, hire, promote and use services without discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, color, religion, age, or sex and explain any difficulties encountered in implementing its equal employment opportunity program. For example, this requirement may be met by:
(1) Where union agreements exist, cooperating with the union or unions in the development of programs to assure all persons equal opportunity for employment, and including an effective nondiscrimination clause in new or renegotiated union agreements;
(2) Reviewing seniority practices to ensure that such practices are nondiscriminatory;
(3) Examining rates of pay and fringe benefits for employees having the same duties, and eliminating any inequities based upon race, national origin, color, religion, age, or sex discrimination;
(4) Evaluating the recruitment program to ensure that it is effective in achieving a broad outreach to potential applicants.
(5) Utilizing media for recruitment purposes in a manner that will contain no indication, either explicit or implicit, of a preference for one race, national origin, color, religion, age, or sex over another; and
(6) Avoiding the use of selection techniques or tests that have the effect of
discriminating against qualified minority groups or women.
(j) Cable entities shall substantially comply with paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section in connection with hires for part-time positions. The remaining provisions of this section are not otherwise applicable to hires for part-time positions but are applicable only to full-time positions, defined as requiring a regular work schedule of 30 or more hours per week.
(k) The provisions of paragraphs (b)(1)(ii), (b)(2), (c), (f) and (g) of this section shall not apply to cable employment units that have fewer than six full-time employees.
[50 FR 40855, Oct. 7, 1985, as amended at 65 FR 7457, Feb. 15, 2000]
(a) Annual employment reports. Employment data on the annual employment report required by §76.1802 shall reflect the figures from any one payroll period in July, August, or September of the year during which the report is filed. Unless instructed otherwise by the Commission, the same payroll period shall be used for each successive annual employment report. Employment units shall also provide EEO recruitment information covering a 12-month period, as requested and explained on the form. If a cable entity acquires a unit during the twelve months covered by the annual employment report, the recruitment activity in the report shall cover the period starting with the date the entity acquired the unit.
Note to paragraph (A):
Data concerning the gender, race and ethnicity of a cable entity's workforce collected in the annual employment report will be used only for purposes of analyzing industry trends and making reports to Congress. Such data will not be used for the purpose of assessing any aspect of an individual cable entity's compliance with the equal employment opportunity requirements of §§76.73 and 76.75. (b) Certification of Compliance. The Commission will use the recruitment information submitted on a unit's annual employment report to determine whether the unit is in compliance with the provisions of this subpart. Employment profile statistics provided about race, ethnicity, and gender of employees will not be used to determine compliance with the EEO rules. Units found to be in compliance with these rules will receive a Certificate of Compliance. Units found not to be in compliance will receive notice that they are not certified for a given year.
(c) Investigations. The Commission will investigate each unit at least once every five years. Employment units are required to submit supplemental investigation information with their regular annual employment reports in the years they are investigated. If an entity acquires a unit during the period covered by the supplemental investigation, the information submitted by the unit as part of the investigation shall cover the period starting with the date the operator acquired the unit. The supplemental investigation information shall include a copy of the unit's EEO public file report for the preceding year.
(d) Job category definitions. The following job category definitions are to be used when classifying employees for purposes of this section:
(1) Corporate officers. An employee who is responsible for setting broad policies for the overall operation of the company and who holds a corporate office as designated by the company's governing regulations (e.g., Articles of Incorporation, Articles of Partnership, By-Laws). Examples of positions which may fall within this category include, Chairman of the Board, President and Vice President.
Note to paragraph (D)(1):
Employees who perform responsibilities falling within the "Corporate Officers" and another of the job categories in paragraphs (d) (2) through (6), should normally be classified in only one of the categories in paragraphs (d) (2) through (6). Specific job titles for categories in paragraphs (d) (1) through (6) are merely illustrative. The proper categorization of any employee depends on the kind and level of the employee's responsibilities and not merely the employee's title. Employees who are appropriately classified into one of the categories in paragraphs (d) (1) through (6) also should fall within the category of paragraph (d)(7). (2) General manager. An employee who exercises overall responsibility for a cable unit or system. Related title may include "systems manager."
(3) Chief technician. An employee who has overall responsibility for the system's technical operations. The incumbent ordinarily oversees technical budgets and expenditures, inventory control and fleet management. Individual ordinarily supervises technical personnel in the installation, service, maintenance and construction departments and/or studio. Category includes
related titles such as "Technical Operations Manager," "Technical Manager," "Plant Manager," or "Chief Engineer."
(4) Comptroller. An employee who manages the activities of the accounting department in the maintenance of the accounting book and other such records.
(5) General sales manager. A senior sales or marketing employee who oversees the marketing functions of the system which may include telemarketing in addition to direct sales.
(6) Production manager. A senior employee responsible for advertising and/or production of local community programming.
Note to paragraph (D)(6):
An employee whose responsibilities fall within more than one of the job categories in paragraphs (d) (2) through (6), (i.e., General Manager/Comptroller), should be listed in the one job category which represents the most frequently performed task by that person. (7) Managers. Occupations requiring administrative personnel who set broad policies, exercise overall responsibility for execution of these policies, and direct individual departments or special phases or segments of a firm's operation or subdepartments of a major department. Incumbents within this category ordinarily exercise authority to hire and terminate employees. This category would include systems managers and assistant managers, program directors and assistant directors, office managers, budget officers, promotions managers, public affairs directors, chief engineers and those holding equivalent positions. Employees appropriately falling within categories in paragraphs (d) (1) through (6) also should fall within this category.
(8) Professionals. Occupations requiring either college graduation or experience of such kind and amount as to provide a comparable background. Includes: accountants and auditors, editors, engineers, lawyers and labor relations specialists. This category would include persons engaged in the writing, preparation and reproduction of programming, writers or editors, producers and directors of programs, floor directors, announcers, singers, actors, music librarians and those in similar positions.
(9) Technicians. Occupations requiring a combination of basic scientific knowledge and manual skill which can be obtained through about 2 years of post high school education, such as is offered in many technical institutes and junior colleges, or through equivalent on-the-job training. Includes: computer programmers and operators, engineering aides, junior engineers and electronic technicians. This category also would include strand mappers, audio and video engineers, camera technicians (live or film), film processors, light technicians, drafters and design personnel, electronic converter repair technicians (technicians who perform more than clear and recycle functions) and advertising sales production personnel.
(10) Sales. Occupations engaging wholly or primarily in direct selling. This category would include advertising agents, cable service sales personnel (sales representatives), and individuals engaged in direct customer contact for the purposes of product and service promotion. This category includes employees who ordinarily are paid by commissions.
(11) Office and clerical. Includes all clerical-type work regardless of level of difficulty, where the activities are predominantly nonmanual though some manual work not directly involved with altering or transporting the products is included. Includes: Bookkeepers, cashiers, collectors of bills and accounts, messengers and clerks, office machine operators, stenographers, typists and secretaries, telephone operators, kindred workers and customer service representatives.
(12) Craft workers (skilled). Manual workers of relatively high skill level having a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the processes involved in their work. Exercise considerable independent judgment and usually receive an extensive period of training. Includes: Hourly paid supervisors who are not members of management, mechanics, and repair workers, electricians, motion picture projectionists, and splicers.
(13) Operatives (semi-skilled). Workers who operate machine or processing equipment or perform other factory-type duties of intermediate skill level
which can be mastered in a few weeks and require only limited training Includes: Apprentices, operatives, truck and tractor drivers, welders, installers, line workers, and trenching machine workers.
Note to paragraph (D)(13):
Apprentices -- Persons employed in a program including work training and related instruction to learn a trade or craft which is traditionally considered an apprenticeship regardless of whether the program is registered with a Federal or State agency. (14) Laborers (unskilled). Workers in manual occupations which generally require no special training. Perform elementary duties that may be learned in a few days and require the application of little or no independent judgment. Includes: gardeners and groundskeepers, laborers performing lifting or digging, stage hands and kindred workers.
(15) Service workers. Workers in both protective and nonprotective service occupations. Includes: Char workers and cleaners, elevator operators, guards and watch workers, janitors, and kindred workers.
Note to paragraph (D)(15):
A person who does a job falling within more than one of the job categories listed in paragraphs (d) (7) through (15) is to be listed in the job category which represents the most frequently performed task by that person; a person is to be listed only once. Specific job titles listed in the categories above are merely illustrative. The proper categorization of any employee depends on the kind and level of the employee's responsibilities. (e) Records and inquiries. Employment units subject to this subpart shall maintain records of their recruitment activity in accordance with §76.75 to demonstrate whether they are in compliance with the EEO rules. Units shall ensure that they maintain records sufficient to verify the accuracy of information provided in their annual employment reports, supplemental investigation responses, and in the EEO program information required by §76.1702 to be kept in a unit's public file. To determine compliance with the EEO rules, the Commission may conduct inquiries of employment units at random or if the Commission has evidence of a possible violation of the EEO rules. Upon request, employment units shall make records available to the Commission for its review.
(f) Public complaints. The public may file complaints based on annual employment reports, supplemental investigation information, or the contents of a unit's public file.
(g) Sanctions and remedies. The Commission may issue appropriate sanctions and remedies for any violation of the EEO rules.
[50 FR 40855, Oct. 7, 1985, as amended at 58 FR 42250, Aug. 9, 1993; 63 FR 16907, Apr. 7, 1998; 65 FR 7459, Feb. 15, 2000; 65 FR 76949, Dec. 8, 2000]
A copy of every annual employment report, and any other employment report filed with the Commission, and complaint report that has been filed with the Commission, and copies of all exhibits, letters, and other documents filed as part thereof, all amendments thereto, all correspondence between the cable entity and the Commission pertaining to the reports after they have been filed in all documents incorporated therein by reference, unless specifically exempted from the requirement, are open for public inspection at the offices of the Commission in Washington, DC.
Note to §76.59:
Cable operators must also comply with the public file requirements §76.1702. [65 FR 7459, Feb. 15, 2000] Source:
65 FR 68101, Nov. 14, 2000, unless otherwise noted.
(a) Upon receiving notification pursuant to §76.94, a cable community unit located in whole or in part within the geographic zone for a network program, the network non-duplication rights to which are held by a commercial television station licensed by the Commission, shall not carry that program as broadcast by any other television signal, except as otherwise provided below.
(b) For purposes of this section, the order of nonduplication priority of television signals carried by a community unit is as follows:
(1) First, all television broadcast stations within whose specified zone the community of the community unit is located, in whole or in part;
(2) Second, all smaller market television broadcast stations within whose secondary zone the community of the community unit is located, in whole or in part.
(c) For purposes of this section, all noncommercial educational television broadcast stations licensed to a community located in whole or in part within a major television market as specified in §76.51 shall be treated in the same manner as a major market commercial television broadcast station, and all noncommercial educational television broadcast stations not licensed to a community located in whole or in part within a major television market shall be treated in the same manner as a smaller market television broadcast station.
(d) Any community unit operating in a community to which a 100-watt or higher power translator is located within the predicted Grade B signal contour of the television broadcast station that the translator station retransmits, and which translator is carried by the community unit shall, upon request of such translator station licensee or permittee, delete the duplicating network programming of any television broadcast station whose reference point (See §76.53) is more than 88.5 km (55 miles) from the community of the community unit.
(e) Any community unit which operates in a community located in whole or in part within the secondary zone of a smaller market television broadcast station is not required to delete the duplicating network programming of any major market television broadcast station whose reference point (See §76.53) is also within 88.5 km (55 miles) of the community of the community unit.
(f) A community unit is not required to delete the duplicating network programming of any television broadcast station which is significantly viewed in the cable television community pursuant to §76.54.
(g) A community unit is not required to delete the duplicating network programming of any qualified NCE television broadcast station that is carried in fulfillment of the cable television system's mandatory signal carriage obligations, pursuant to §76.56.
Note:
With respect to network programming, the geographic zone within which the television station is entitled to enforce network non-duplication protection and priority of shall be that geographic area agreed upon between the network and the television station. In no event shall such rights exceed the area within which the television station may acquire broadcast territorial exclusivity rights as defined in §73.658(m) of this Chapter, except that small market television stations shall be entitled to a secondary protection zone of 32.2 additional kilometers (20 additional miles). To the extent rights are obtained for any hyphenated market named in §76.51, such rights shall not exceed those permitted under §73.658(m) of this Chapter for each named community in that market.
Television broadcast station licensees shall be entitled to exercise non-duplication rights pursuant to §76.92 in accordance with the contractual provisions of the network-affiliate agreement.
(a) In order to exercise non-duplication rights pursuant to §76.92, television stations shall notify each cable television system operator of the non-duplication sought in accordance with the requirements of this section. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this section, non-duplication protection notices shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of the party requesting non-duplication protection and the television broadcast station holding the non-duplication right;
(2) The name of the program or series (including specific episodes where necessary) for which protection is sought; and
(3) The dates on which protection is to begin and end.
(b) Broadcasters entering into contracts providing for network non-duplication protection shall notify affected cable systems within 60 calendar days of the signing of such a contract. In the event the broadcaster is unable based on the information contained in the contract, to furnish all the information required by paragraph (a) of this section at that time, the broadcaster must provide modified notices that contain the following information:
(1) The name of the network (or networks) which has (or have) extended non-duplication protection to the broadcaster;
(2) The time periods by time of day (local time) and by network (if more than one) for each day of the week that the broadcaster will be broadcasting programs from that network (or networks) and for which non-duplication protection is requested; and
(3) The duration and extent (e.g., simultaneous, same-day, seven-day, etc.) of the non-duplication protection which has been agreed upon by the network (or networks) and the broadcaster.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (d) of this section, a broadcaster shall be entitled to non-duplication protection beginning on the later of:
(1) The date specified in its notice (as described in paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section, whichever is applicable) to the cable television system; or
(2) The first day of the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) that begins 60 days after the cable television system receives notice from the broadcaster.
(d) A broadcaster shall provide the following information to the cable television system under the following circumstances:
(1) In the event the protection specified in the notices described in paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section has been limited or ended prior to the time specified in the notice, or in the event a time period, as identified to the cable system in a notice pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, for which a broadcaster has obtained protection is shifted to another time of day or another day (but not expanded), the broadcaster shall, as soon as possible, inform each cable television system operator that has previously received the notice of all changes from the original notice. Notice to be furnished "as soon as possible" under this paragraph shall be furnished by telephone, telegraph, facsimile, overnight mail or other similar expedient means.
(2) In the event the protection specified in the modified notices described in paragraph (b) of this section has been expanded, the broadcaster shall, at least 60 calendar days prior to broadcast of a protected program entitled to such expanded protection, notify each cable system operator that has previously received notice of all changes from the original notice.
(e) In determining which programs must be deleted from a television signal, a cable television system operator may rely on information from any of the following sources published or otherwise made available:
(1) Newspapers or magazines of general circulation.
(2) A television station whose programs may be subject to deletion. If a cable television system asks a television station for information about its program schedule, the television station shall answer the request:
(i) Within ten business days following the television station's receipt of the request; or
(ii) Sixty days before the program or programs mentioned in the request for information will be broadcast; whichever comes later.
(3) The broadcaster requesting exclusivity.
(f) A broadcaster exercising exclusivity pursuant to §76.92 shall provide to the cable system, upon request, an exact copy of those portions of the contracts, such portions to be signed by both the network and the broadcaster, setting forth in full the provisions pertinent to the duration, nature, and extent of the non-duplication terms concerning broadcast signal exhibition to which the parties have agreed.
(a) The provisions of §§76.92 through 76.94 shall not apply to a cable system serving fewer than 1,000 subscribers. Within 60 days following the provision of service to 1,000 subscribers, the operator of each such system shall file a notice to that effect with the Commission, and serve a copy of that notice on every television station that would be entitled to exercise network non-duplication protection against it.
(b) Network non-duplication protection need not be extended to a higher priority station for one hour following the scheduled time of completion of the broadcast of a live sports event by that station or by a lower priority station against which a cable community unit would otherwise be required to provide non-duplication protection following the scheduled time of completion.
Upon receiving notification pursuant to §76.105, a cable community unit located in whole or in part within the geographic zone for a syndicated program, the syndicated exclusivity rights to which are held by a commercial television station licensed by the Commission, shall not carry that program as broadcast by any other television signal, except as otherwise provided below.
Note:
With respect to each syndicated program, the geographic zone within which the television station is entitled to enforce syndicated exclusivity rights shall be that geographic area agreed upon between the non-network program supplier, producer or distributor and the television station. In no event shall such zone exceed the area within which the television station has acquired broadcast territorial exclusivity rights as defined in §73.658(m) of this Chapter. To the extent rights are obtained for any hyphenated market named in §76.51, such rights shall not exceed those permitted under §73.658(m) of this Chapter for each named community in that market.
(a) Television broadcast station licensees shall be entitled to exercise exclusivity rights pursuant to §76.101 in accordance with the contractual provisions of their syndicated program license agreements, consistent with §76.109.
(b) Distributors of syndicated programming shall be entitled to exercise exclusive rights pursuant to §76.101 for a period of one year from the initial broadcast syndication licensing of such programming anywhere in the United States; provided, however, that distributors shall not be entitled to exercise such rights in areas in which the programming has already been licensed.
(a) In order to exercise exclusivity rights pursuant to §76.101, distributors or television stations shall notify each cable television system operator of the exclusivity sought in accordance with the requirements of this section. Syndicated program exclusivity notices shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of the party requesting exclusivity and the television broadcast station or other party holding the exclusive right;
(2) The name of the program or series (including specific episodes where necessary) for which exclusivity is sought;
(3) The dates on which exclusivity is to begin and end.
(b) Broadcasters entering into contracts on or after August 18, 1988, which contain syndicated exclusivity protection shall notify affected cable systems within sixty calendar days of the signing of such a contract. Broadcasters who have entered into contracts prior to August 18, 1988, and who comply with the requirements specified in §76.109 shall notify affected cable systems on or before June 19, 1989. A broadcaster shall be entitled to exclusivity protection beginning on the later of:
(1) The date specified in its notice to the cable television system; or
(2) The first day of the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) that begins 60 days after the cable television system receives notice from the broadcaster;
(c) In determining which programs must be deleted from a television broadcast signal, a cable television system operator may rely on information from any of the following sources published or otherwise made available.
(1) Newspapers or magazines of general circulation;
(2) A television station whose programs may be subject to deletion. If a cable television system asks a television station for information about its program schedule, the television station shall answer the request:
(i) Within ten business days following the television station's receipt of the request; or
(ii) Sixty days before the program or programs mentioned in the request for information will be broadcast; whichever comes later.
(3) The distributor or television station requesting exclusivity.
(d) In the event the exclusivity specified in paragraph (a) of this section has been limited or has ended prior to the time specified in the notice, the distributor or broadcaster who has supplied the original notice shall, as soon as possible, inform each cable television system operator that has previously received the notice of all changes from the original notice. In the event the original notice specified contingent dates on which exclusivity is to begin and/or end, the distributor or broadcaster shall, as soon as possible, notify the cable television system operator of the occurrence of the relevant contingency. Notice to be furnished "as soon as possible" under this paragraph shall be furnished by telephone, telegraph, facsimile, overnight mail or other similar expedient means.
(a) Notwithstanding the requirements of §§76.101 through 76.105, a broadcast signal is not required to be deleted from a cable community unit when that cable community unit falls, in whole or in part, within that signal's grade B contour, or when the signal is significantly viewed pursuant to §76.54 in the cable community.
(b) The provisions of §§76.101 through 76.105 shall not apply to a cable system serving fewer than 1,000 subscribers. Within 60 days following the provision of service to 1,000 subscribers, the operator of each such system shall file a notice to that effect with the Commission, and serve a copy of that notice on every television station that would be entitled to exercise syndicated exclusivity protection against it.
A distributor or television station exercising exclusivity pursuant to §76.101 shall provide to the cable system, upon request, an exact copy of those portions of the exclusivity contracts, such portions to be signed by both the distributor and the television station, setting forth in full the provisions pertinent to the duration, nature, and extent of the exclusivity terms concerning broadcast signal exhibition to which the parties have agreed.
No licensee shall enter into any contract to indemnify a cable system for liability resulting from failure to delete programming in accordance with the provisions of this subpart unless the licensee has a reasonable basis for concluding that such program deletion is not required by this subpart.
For a station licensee to be eligible to invoke the provisions of §76.101, it must have a contract or other written indicia that it holds syndicated exclusivity rights for the exhibition of the program in question. Contracts entered on or after August 18, 1988, must contain the following words: "the licensee [or substitute name] shall, by the terms of this contract, be entitled to invoke the protection against duplication of programming imported under the Compulsory Copyright License, as provided in §76.101 of the FCC rules [or ‘as provided in the FCC's syndicated exclusivity rules']." Contracts entered into prior to August 18, 1988, must contain either the foregoing language or a clear and specific reference to the licensee's authority to exercise exclusivity rights as to the specific programming against cable television broadcast signal carriage by the cable system in question upon the contingency that the government reimposed syndicated exclusivity protection. In the absence of such a specific reference in contracts entered into prior to August 18, 1988, the provisions of these rules may be invoked only if the contract is amended to include the specific language referenced in this section or a specific written acknowledgment is obtained from the party from whom the broadcast exhibition rights were obtained that the existing contract was intended, or should now be construed by agreement of the parties, to include such rights. A general acknowledgment by a supplier of exhibition rights that specific contract language was intended to convey rights under these rules will be accepted with respect to all contracts containing that specific language. Nothing in this section shall be construed as a grant of exclusive rights to a broadcaster where such rights are not agreed to by the parties.
Whenever, pursuant to the requirements of the syndicated exclusivity rules, a community unit is required to delete a television program on a broadcast signal that is permitted to be carried under the Commission's rules, such community unit may, consistent with these rules and the sports blackout rules at §76.111, substitute a program from any other television broadcast station. Programs substituted pursuant to this section may be carried to their completion.
(a) No community unit located in whole or in part within the specified zone of a television broadcast station licensed to a community in which a sports event is taking place, shall, on request of the holder of the broadcast rights to that event, or its agent, carry the live television broadcast of that event if the event is not available live on a television broadcast station meeting the criteria specified in §76.128. For purposes of this section, if there is no television station licensed to the community in which the sports event is taking place, the applicable specified zone shall be that of the television station licensed to the community with which the sports event or team is identified, or, if the event or local team is not identified with any particular community, the nearest community to which a television station is licensed.
(b) Notification of the programming to be deleted pursuant to this section shall include the following information:
(1) As to programming to be deleted from television broadcast signals regularly carried by the community unit:
(i) The name and address of the party requesting the program deletion;
(ii) The date, time and expected duration of the sports event the television broadcast of which is to be deleted;
(iii) The call letters of the television broadcast station(s) from which the deletion is to be made.
(2) As to programming to be deleted from television broadcast signals not regularly carried by the community unit:
(i) The name and address of the party requesting the program deletion;
(ii) The date, time and expected duration of the sports event the television broadcast of which is to be deleted.
(c) Notifications given pursuant to this section must be received, as to regularly scheduled events, no later than the Monday preceding the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) during which the program deletion is to be made. Notifications as to events not regularly scheduled and revisions of notices previously submitted, must be received within twenty-four (24) hours after the time of the telecast to be deleted is known, but in any event no later than twenty-four (24) hours from the time the subject telecast is to take place.
(d) Whenever, pursuant to this section, a community unit is required to delete a television program on a signal regularly carried by the community unit, such community unit may, consistent with the rules contained in subpart F of this part, substitute a program from any other television broadcast station. A program substituted may be carried to its completion, and the community unit need not return to its regularly carried signal until it can do so without interrupting a program already in progress.
(e) The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to require the deletion of any portion of a television signal which a community unit was lawfully carrying prior to March 31, 1972.
(f) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any community unit having fewer than 1,000 subscribers.
For purposes of §§76.122-76.130, the following definitions apply:
(a) Satellite carrier. The term "satellite carrier" means an entity that uses the facilities of a satellite or satellite service licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and operates in the Fixed-Satellite Service under part 25 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations or the Direct Broadcast Satellite Service under part 100 of title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, to establish and operate a channel of communications for point-to-multipoint distribution of television station signals, and that owns or leases a capacity or service on a satellite in order to provide such point-to-multipoint distribution, except to the extent that such entity provides such distribution pursuant to tariff under the Communications Act of 1934, other than for private home viewing.
(b) Nationally distributed superstation. The term "nationally distributed superstation" means a television broadcast station, licensed by the Commission, that --
(1) Is not owned or operated by or affiliated with a television network that, as of January 1, 1995, offered interconnected program service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 affiliated television licensees in 10 or more States;
(2) On May 1, 1991, was retransmitted by a satellite carrier and was not a network station at that time; and
(3) Was, as of July 1, 1998, retransmitted by a satellite carrier under the statutory license of Section 119 of title 17, United States Code.
(c) Television network. The term "television network" means a television network in the United States which offers an interconnected program service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 affiliated broadcast stations in 10 or more States.
(d) Network station. The term "network station" means_
(1) A television broadcast station, including any translator station or terrestrial satellite station that rebroadcasts all or substantially all of the programming broadcast by a network station, that is owned or operated by, or affiliated with, one or more of the television networks in the United States which offer an interconnected program service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 of its affiliated television licensees in 10 or more States; or
(2) A noncommercial educational broadcast station (as defined in Section 397 of the Communications Act of 1934); except that the term does not include the signal of the Alaska Rural Communications Service, or any successor entity to that service.
(e) Zone of protection. The term "zone of protection" means --
(1) With respect to network non-duplication, the zone of protection within which the television station is entitled to enforce network non-duplication protection shall be that geographic area agreed upon between the network and the television station. In no event shall such rights exceed the area within which the television station may acquire broadcast territorial exclusivity rights as defined in §73.658(m) of this Chapter, except that small market television stations shall be entitled to a secondary protection zone of 32.2 additional kilometers (20 additional miles). To the extent rights are obtained for any hyphenated market named in §76.51, such rights shall not exceed those permitted under §73.658(m) of this Chapter for each named community in that market.
(2) With respect to each syndicated program, the zone of protection within which the television station is entitled to enforce syndicated exclusivity rights shall be that geographic area agreed upon between the non-network program supplier, producer or distributor and the television station. In no event shall such zone exceed the area within which the television station has acquired broadcast territorial exclusivity rights as defined in §73.658(m) of this Chapter. To the extent rights are obtained for any hyphenated market named in §76.51, such rights shall not exceed those permitted under §73.658(m) of this chapter for each named community in that market.
(3) With respect to sports blackout, the zone of protection is the "specified zone" of a television broadcast station, as defined in §76.5(e). If there is no television station licensed to the community in which the sports event is taking place, the applicable specified zone shall be that of the television station licensed to the community with which the sports event or team is identified, or, if the event or local team is not identified with any particular community, the nearest community to which a television station is licensed.
(a) Upon receiving notification pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section, a satellite carrier shall not deliver, to subscribers within zip code areas located in whole or in part within the zone of protection of a commercial television station licensed by the Commission, a program carried on a nationally distributed superstation when the network non-duplication rights to such program are held by the commercial television station providing notice, except as provided in paragraphs (j), (k) or (l) of this section.
(b) Television broadcast station licensees shall be entitled to exercise non-duplication rights pursuant to §76.122 in accordance with the contractual provisions of the network-affiliate agreement, and as provided in §76.124.
(c) In order to exercise non-duplication rights pursuant to §76.122, television stations shall notify each satellite carrier of the non-duplication sought in accordance with the requirements of this section. Non-duplication protection notices shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of the party requesting non-duplication protection and the television broadcast station holding the non-duplication right;
(2) The name of the program or series (including specific episodes where necessary) for which protection is sought;
(3) The dates on which protection is to begin and end;
(4) The name of the network (or networks) which has (or have) extended non-duplication protection to the broadcaster;
(5) The time periods by time of day (local time) and by network (if more than one) for each day of the week that the broadcaster will be broadcasting programs from that network (or networks) and for which non-duplication protection is requested;
(6) The duration and extent (e.g., simultaneous, same-day, seven-day, etc.) of the non-duplication protection which has been agreed upon by the network (or networks) and the broadcaster; and
(7) A list of the U.S. postal zip code(s) that encompass the zone of protection under these rules.
(d) Broadcasters entering into contracts providing for network non-duplication protection shall notify affected satellite carriers within 60 calendar days of the signing of such a contract; provided, however, that for such contracts signed before November 29, 2000, the broadcaster may provide notice on or before January 31, 2001, or with respect to pre-November 29, 2000 contracts that require amendment in order to invoke the provisions of these rules, notification may be given within sixty calendar days of the signing of such amendment.
(e) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a broadcaster shall be entitled to non-duplication protection beginning on the later of:
(1) The date specified in its notice to the satellite carrier; or
(2) The first day of the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) that begins 60 days after the satellite carrier receives notice from the broadcaster; Provided, however, that with respect to notifications given pursuant to this section prior to June 1, 2001, a satellite carrier is not required to provide non-duplication protection until 120 days after the satellite carrier receives such notification.
(f) A broadcaster shall provide the following information to the satellite carrier under the following circumstances:
(1) In the event the protection specified in the notices described in paragraph (c) of this section has been limited or ended prior to the time specified in the notice, or in the event a time period, as identified to the satellite carrier in a notice pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section, for which a broadcaster has obtained protection is shifted to another time of day or another day (but not expanded), the broadcaster shall, as soon as possible, inform each satellite carrier that has previously received the notice of all changes from the original notice. Notice to be furnished "as soon as possible" under this paragraph shall be furnished by telephone, telegraph, facsimile, e-mail, overnight mail or other similar expedient means.
(2) In the event the protection specified in the notices described in paragraph (c) of this section has been expanded, the broadcaster shall, at least 60 calendar days prior to broadcast of a protected program entitled to such expanded protection, notify each satellite carrier that has previously received notice of all changes from the original notice.
(g) In determining which programs must be deleted from a television signal, a satellite carrier may rely on information from newspapers or magazines of general circulation, the broadcaster requesting exclusivity protection, or the nationally distributed superstation.
(h) If a satellite carrier asks a nationally distributed superstation for information about its program schedule, the nationally distributed superstation shall answer the request:
(i) Within ten business days following its receipt of the request; or
(ii) Sixty days before the program or programs mentioned in the request for information will be broadcast, whichever comes later.
(i) A broadcaster exercising exclusivity pursuant to this section shall provide to the satellite carrier, upon request, an exact copy of those portions of the contracts, such portions to be signed by both the network and the broadcaster, setting forth in full the provisions pertinent to the duration, nature, and extent of the non-duplication terms concerning broadcast signal exhibition to which the parties have agreed.
(j) A satellite carrier is not required to delete the duplicating programming of any nationally distributed superstation that is carried by the satellite carrier as a local station with the station's retransmission consent pursuant to §76.64
(i) Within the station's local market;
(ii) If the station is "significantly viewed," pursuant to §76.54, in zip code areas included within the zone of protection; or
(iii) If the zone of protection falls, in whole or in part, within that signal's grade B contour.
(k) A satellite carrier is not required to delete the duplicating programming of any nationally distributed superstation from an individual subscriber who is located outside the zone of protection, notwithstanding that the subscriber lives within a zip code provided by the broadcaster pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section.
(l) A satellite carrier is not required to delete programming if it has fewer than 1,000 subscribers within the relevant protected zone who subscribe to the nationally distributed superstation carrying the programming for which deletion is requested pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section.
(a) Upon receiving notification pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section, a satellite carrier shall not deliver, to subscribers located within zip code areas in whole or in part within the zone of protection of a commercial television station licensed by the Commission, a program carried on a nationally distributed superstation when the syndicated program exclusivity rights to such program are held by the commercial television station providing notice, except as provided in paragraphs (k), (l) and (m) of this section.
(b) Television broadcast station licensees shall be entitled to exercise exclusivity rights pursuant to this Section in accordance with the contractual provisions of their syndicated program license agreements, consistent with §76.124.
(c) Distributors of syndicated programming shall be entitled to exercise exclusive rights pursuant to this Section for a period of one year from the initial broadcast syndication licensing of such programming anywhere in the United States; provided, however, that distributors shall not be entitled to exercise such rights in areas in which the programming has already been licensed.
(d) In order to exercise exclusivity rights pursuant to this Section, distributors of syndicated programming or television broadcast stations shall notify each satellite carrier of the exclusivity sought in accordance with the requirements of this paragraph. Syndicated program exclusivity notices shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of the party requesting exclusivity and the television broadcast station or other party holding the exclusive right;
(2)The name of the program or series (including specific episodes where necessary) for which exclusivity is sought;
(3)The dates on which exclusivity is to begin and end; and
(4) A list of the U.S. postal zip code(s) that encompass the zone of protection under these rules.
(e) A distributor or television station exercising exclusivity pursuant to this Section shall provide to the satellite carrier, upon request, an exact copy of those portions of the exclusivity contracts, such portions to be signed by both the distributor and the television station, setting forth in full the provisions pertinent to the duration, nature, and extent of the exclusivity terms concerning broadcast signal exhibition to which the parties have agreed.
(f) Television broadcast stations or distributors entering into contracts on or after November 29, 2000, which contain syndicated exclusivity protection with respect to satellite retransmission of programming, shall notify affected satellite carriers within sixty calendar days of the signing of such a contract. Television broadcast stations or distributors who have entered into contracts prior to November 29, 2000, and who comply with the requirements specified in §76.124 shall notify affected satellite carriers on or before January 31, 2001; provided, however, that with respect to pre-November 29, 2000 contracts that require amendment in order to invoke the provisions of these rules, notification may be given within sixty calendar days of the signing of such amendment.
(g) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a television broadcast station shall be entitled to exclusivity protection beginning on the later of:
(1) The date specified in its notice to the satellite carrier; or
(2) The first day of the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) that begins 60 days after the satellite carrier receives notice from the broadcaster.
Provided, however, that with respect to notifications given pursuant to this section prior to June 1, 2001, a satellite carrier is not required to provide syndicated exclusivity protection until 120 days after the satellite carrier receives such notification.
(h) In determining which programs must be deleted from a television broadcast signal, a satellite carrier may rely on information from the distributor or television broadcast station requesting exclusivity; newspapers or magazines of general circulation; or the nationally distributed superstation whose programs may be subject to deletion.
(i) If a satellite carrier asks a nationally distributed superstation for information about its program schedule, the nationally distributed superstation shall answer the request:
(1) Within ten business days following the its receipt of the request; or
(2) Sixty days before the program or programs mentioned in the request for information will be broadcast; whichever comes later.
(j) In the event the exclusivity specified in paragraph (a) of this section has been limited or has ended prior to the time specified in the notice, the distributor or broadcaster who has supplied the original notice shall, as soon as possible, inform each satellite carrier that has previously received the notice of all changes from the original notice. In the event the original notice specified contingent dates on which exclusivity is to begin and/or end, the distributor or broadcaster shall, as soon as possible, notify the satellite carrier of the occurrence of the relevant contingency. Notice to be furnished "as soon as possible" under this Subsection shall be furnished by telephone, telegraph, facsimile, e-mail, overnight mail or other similar expedient means.
(k) A satellite carrier is not required to delete the programming of any nationally distributed superstation that is carried by the satellite carrier as a local station with the station's retransmission consent pursuant to §76.64:
(1) Within the station's local market;
(2) If the station is "significantly viewed," pursuant to §76.54, in zip code areas included within the zone of protection; or
(3) If the zone of protection falls, in whole or in part, within that signal's grade B contour.
(l) A satellite carrier is not required to delete the duplicating programming of any nationally distributed superstation from an individual subscriber who is located outside the zone of protection, notwithstanding that the subscriber lives within a zip code provided by the broadcaster pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section.
(m) A satellite carrier is not required to delete programming if it has fewer than 1,000 subscribers within the relevant protected zone who subscribe to the nationally distributed superstation carrying the programming for which deletion is requested pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section.
For a television broadcast station licensee or distributor of syndicated programming to be eligible to invoke the provisions of §76.122 or §76.123 of this subpart, it must have a contract or other written indicia that it holds network program non-duplication or syndicated exclusivity rights for the exhibition of the program in question. Contracts entered on or after November 29, 2000, must contain the following words: "the licensee [or substitute name] shall, by the terms of this contract, be entitled to invoke the protection against duplication of programming imported under the Statutory Copyright License, as provided in §76.122 or §76.123 of the FCC rules [or 'as provided in the FCC's satellite network non-duplication or syndicated exclusivity rules']." Contracts entered into prior to November 29, 2000, must contain the foregoing language plus a clear and specific reference to the licensee's authority to exercise exclusivity rights as to the specific programming against signal carriage by the satellite carrier in question, or by satellite carriage in general in a protected, geographic or specified zone. In the absence of such a specific reference in contracts entered into prior to November 29, 2000, the provisions of these rules may be invoked only if the contract is amended to include the specific language referenced in this section or a specific written acknowledgment is obtained from the party from whom the broadcast exhibition rights were obtained that the existing contract was intended, or should now be construed by agreement of the parties, to include such rights. A general acknowledgment by a supplier of exhibition rights that specific contract language was intended to convey rights under these rules will be accepted with respect to all contracts containing that specific language. Nothing in this section shall be construed as a grant of exclusive rights to a broadcaster where such rights are not agreed to by the parties.
No television broadcast station licensee shall enter into any contract to indemnify a satellite carrier for liability resulting from failure to delete programming in accordance with the provisions of this Subpart unless the licensee has a reasonable basis for concluding that such program deletion is not required by this Subpart.
(a) Upon the request of the holder of the broadcast rights to a sports event, or its agent, no satellite carrier shall retransmit to subscribers within the area comprising the specified zone a "nationally distributed superstation" or "network station" carrying the live television broadcast of a sports event if the event is not available live on a television broadcast station meeting the criteria specified in §76.128. For purposes of this section, if there is no television station licensed to the community in which the sports event is taking place, the applicable specified zone shall be that of the television station licensed to the community with which the sports event or team is identified, or, if the event or local team is not identified with any particular community, the nearest community to which a television station is licensed.
(b) Notification of the programming to be deleted pursuant to this Section shall include the following information:
(1) The name and address of the party requesting the program deletion;
(2) The date, time and expected duration of the sports event the television broadcast of which is to be deleted;
(3) The call letters of the nationally distributed superstation or network station(s) from which the deletion is to be made;
(4) The U.S. postal zip codes that encompass the specified zone.
(c) Notifications given pursuant to this section must be received by the satellite carrier, as to regularly scheduled events, within forty-eight (48) hours after the time of the telecast to be deleted is known, and no later than the Monday preceding the calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) during which the program deletion is to be made. Notifications as to events not regularly scheduled and revisions of notices previously submitted, must be received within twenty-four (24) hours after the time of the telecast to be deleted is known, but in any event no later than twenty-four (24) hours from the time the subject telecast is to take place.
(d) A satellite carrier is not required to delete a sports event from an individual subscriber who is located outside the specified zone, notwithstanding that the subscriber lives within a zip code provided by the holder of the broadcast rights pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section.
(e) A satellite carrier is not required to delete a sports event if it has fewer than 1,000 subscribers within the relevant specified zone who subscribe to the nationally distributed superstation or network station carrying the sports event for which deletion is requested pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section.
(f) Notwithstanding paragraph (c) of this section, for sports events to be deleted on or before March 31, 2001, notification must be received by satellite carriers at least 60 full days prior to the day the telecast is to be deleted.
The cable and satellite sports blackout rules (§§76.111 and 76.127) may apply when the sports event is not available live on any of the following television broadcast stations carried by a cable system or other MVPD:
(a) Television broadcast stations within whose specified zone the community of the community unit or the community within which the sporting event is taking place is located, in whole or in part;
(b) Television broadcast stations within whose Grade B contours the community of the community unit or the community within which the sporting event is taking place is located, in whole or in part;
(c) Television broadcast stations licensed to other designated communities which are generally considered to be part of the same television market (Example: Burlington, Vt.-Plattsburgh, N.Y. or Cincinnati, Ohio-Newport, Ky., television markets);
(d) Television broadcast stations that are significantly viewed, pursuant to §76.54, in the community unit or community within the specified zone.
Whenever, pursuant to the requirements of the network program non-duplication, syndicated program exclusivity, or sports blackout rules, a satellite carrier is required to delete a television program from retransmission to satellite subscribers within a zip code area, such satellite carrier may, consistent with this Subpart, substitute a program from any other television broadcast station for which the satellite carrier has obtained the necessary legal rights and permissions, including but not limited to copyright and retransmission consent. Programs substituted pursuant to this section may be carried to their completion.
(a) General requirements. No cable television system is required to permit the use of its facilities by any legally
qualified candidate for public office, but if any system shall permit any such candidate to use its facilities, it shall afford equal opportunities to all other candidates for that office to use such facilities. Such system shall have no power of censorship over the material broadcast by any such candidate. Appearance by a legally qualified candidate on any:
(1) Bona fide newscast;
(2) Bona fide news interview;
(3) Bona fide news documentary (if the appearance of the candidate is incidental to the presentation of the subject or subjects covered by the news documentary); or
(4) On-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events (including, but not limited to political conventions and activities incidental thereto) shall not be deemed to be use of a system. (section 315(a) of the Communications Act.)
(b) Uses. As used in this section and §76.206, the term "use" means a candidate appearance (including by voice or picture) that is not exempt under paragraphs 76.205 (a)(1) through (a)(4) of this section.
(c) Timing of request. A request for equal opportunities must be submitted to the system within 1 week of the day on which the first prior use giving rise to the right of equal opportunities occurred: Provided, however, That where the person was not a candidate at the time of such first prior use, he or she shall submit his or her request within 1 week of the first subsequent use after he or she has become a legally qualified candidate for the office in question.
(d) Burden of proof. A candidate requesting equal opportunities of the system or complaining of noncompliance to the Commission shall have the burden of proving that he or she and his or her opponent are legally qualified candidates for the same public office.
(e) Discrimination between candidates. In making time available to candidates for public office, no system shall make any discrimination between candidates in practices, regulations, facilities, or services for or in connection with the service rendered pursuant to this part, or make or give any preference to any candidate for public office or subject any such candidate to any prejudice or disadvantage; nor shall any system make any contract or other agreement which shall have the effect of permitting any legally qualified candidate for any public office to cablecast to the exclusion of other legally qualified candidates for the same public office.
[57 FR 210, Jan. 3, 1992, as amended at 59 FR 14568, Mar. 29, 1994]
(a) Charges for use of cable television systems. The charges, if any, made for the use of any system by any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office in connection with his or her campaign for nomination for election, or election, to such office shall not exceed:
(1) During the 45 days preceding the date of a primary or primary runoff election and during the 60 days preceding the date of a general or special election in which such person is a candidate, the lowest unit charge of the system for the same class and amount of time for the same period.
(i) A candidate shall be charged no more per unit than the system charges its most favored commercial advertisers for the same classes and amounts of time for the same periods. Any system practices offered to commercial advertisers that enhance the value of advertising spots must be disclosed and made available to candidates upon equal terms. Such practices include but are not limited to any discount privileges that affect the value of advertising, such as bonus spots, time-sensitive make goods, preemption priorities, or any other factors that enhance the value of the announcement.
(ii) The Commission recognizes non-preemptible, preemptible with notice, immediately preemptible and run-of-schedule as distinct classes of time.
(iii) Systems may establish and define their own reasonable classes of immediately preemptible time so long as the differences between such classes are based on one or more demonstrable benefits associated with each class and are not based solely upon price or identity of the advertiser. Such demonstrable benefits include, but are not limited to, varying levels of preemption protection, scheduling flexibility,
or associated privileges, such as guaranteed time-sensitive make goods. Systems may not use class distinctions to defeat the purpose of the lowest unit charge requirement. All classes must be fully disclosed and made available to candidates.
(iv) Systems may establish reasonable classes of preemptible with notice time so long as they clearly define all such classes, fully disclose them and make them available to candidates.
(v) Systems may treat non-preemptible and fixed position as distinct classes of time provided that systems articulate clearly the differences between such classes, fully disclose them, and make them available to candidates.
(vi) Systems shall not establish a separate, premium-priced class of time sold only to candidates. Systems may sell higher-priced non-preemptible or fixed time to candidates if such a class of time is made available on a bona fide basis to both candidates and commercial advertisers, and provided such class is not functionally equivalent to any lower-priced class of time sold to commercial advertisers.
(vii) [Reserved]
(viii) Lowest unit charge may be calculated on a weekly basis with respect to time that is sold on a weekly basis, such as rotations through particular programs or dayparts. Systems electing to calculate the lowest unit charge by such a method must include in that calculation all rates for all announcements scheduled in the rotation, including announcements aired under long-term advertising contracts. Systems may implement rate increases during election periods only to the extent that such increases constitute "ordinary business practices," such as seasonal program changes or changes in audience ratings.
(ix) Systems shall review their advertising records periodically throughout the election period to determine whether compliance with this section requires that candidates receive rebates or credits. Where necessary, systems shall issue such rebates or credits promptly.
(x) Unit rates charged as part of any package, whether individually negotiated or generally available to all advertisers, must be included in the lowest unit charge calculation for the same class and length of time in the same time period. A candidate cannot be required to purchase advertising in every program or daypart in a package as a condition for obtaining package unit rates.
(xi) Systems are not required to include non-cash promotional merchandising incentives in lowest unit charge calculations; provided, however, that all such incentives must be offered to candidates as part of any purchases permitted by the system. Bonus spots, however, must be included in the calculation of the lowest unit charge calculation.
(xii) Make goods, defined as the rescheduling of preempted advertising, shall be provided to candidates prior to election day if a system has provided a time-sensitive make good during the year preceding the pre-election periods, respectively set forth in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, to any commercial advertiser who purchased time in the same class.
(xiii) Systems must disclose and make available to candidates any make good policies provided to commercial advertisers. If a system places a make good for any commercial advertiser or other candidate in a more valuable program or daypart, the value of such make good must be included in the calculation of the lowest unit charge for that program or daypart.
(2) At any time other than the respective periods set forth in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, systems may charge legally qualified candidates for public office no more than the charges made for comparable use of the system by commercial advertisers. The rates, if any, charged all such candidates for the same office shall be uniform and shall not be rebated by any means, direct or indirect. A candidate shall be charged no more than the rate the system would charge for comparable commercial advertising. All discount privileges otherwise offered by a system to commercial advertisers must be disclosed and made available upon equal terms to all candidates for public office.
(b) If a system permits a candidate to use its cablecast facilities, the system
shall make all discount privileges offered to commercial advertisers, including the lowest unit charges for each class and length of time in the same time period and all corresponding discount privileges, available on equal terms to all candidates. This duty includes an affirmative duty to disclose to candidates information about rates, terms, conditions and all value-enhancing discount privileges offered to commercial advertisers, as provided in §76.1611. Systems may use reasonable discretion in making the disclosure; provided, however, that the disclosure includes, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) A description and definition of each class of time available to commercial advertisers sufficiently complete enough to allow candidates to identify and understand what specific attributes differentiate each class;
(2) A description of the lowest unit charge and related privileges (such as priorities against preemption and make goods prior to specific deadlines) for each class of time offered to commercial advertisers;
(3) A description of the system's method of selling preemptible time based upon advertiser demand, commonly known as the "current selling level," with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase at these demand-generated rates in the same manner as commercial advertisers;
(4) An approximation of the likelihood of preemption for each kind of preemptible time; and
(5) An explanation of the system's sales practices, if any, that are based on audience delivery, with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase this kind of time, if available to commercial advertisers.
(c) Once disclosure is made, systems shall negotiate in good faith to actually sell time to candidates in accordance with the disclosure.
[57 FR 210, Jan. 3, 1992, as amended at 57 FR 27709, June 22, 1992; 65 FR 53615, Sept. 5, 2000]
A cable television system operator engaging in origination cablecasting shall afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance.
Note to §76.209:
See public notice, "Applicability of the Fairness Doctrine in the Handling of Controversial Issues of Public Importance," 29 FR 10415. [65 FR 66644, Nov. 7, 2000]
(a) No cable television system operator, except as in paragraph (c), when engaged in origination cablecasting shall transmit or permit to be transmitted on the origination cablecasting channel or channels any advertisement of or information concerning any lottery, gift, enterprise, or similar scheme, offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or any list of prizes drawn or awarded by means of any such lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, whether said list contains any part or all of such prizes.
(b) The determination whether a particular program comes within the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section depends on the facts of each case. However, the Commission will in any event consider that a program comes within the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section if in connection with such program a prize consisting of money or thing of value is awarded to any person whose selection is dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, if as a
condition of winning or competing for such prize, such winner or winners are required to furnish any money or thing of value or are required to have in their possession any product sold, manufactured, furnished, or distributed by a sponsor of a program cablecast on the system in question.
(c) The provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall not apply to advertisements or lists of prizes or information concerning:
(1) A lottery conducted by a State acting under authority of State law which is transmitted:
(i) By a cable system located in that State;
(ii) By a cable system located in another State which conducts such a lottery; or
(iii) By a cable system located in another State which is integrated with a cable system described in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) or (c)(1)(ii) of this section, if termination of the receipt of such transmission by the cable systems in such other State would be technically infeasible.
(2) Any gaming conducted by an Indian Tribe pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).
(3) A lottery, gift enterprise or similar scheme, other than one described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section, that is authorized or not otherwise prohibited by the State in which it is conducted and which is:
(i) Conducted by a not-for-profit organization or a governmental organization; or
(ii) Conducted as a promotional activity by a commercial organization and is clearly occasional and ancillary to the primary business of that organization.
(d) For the purposes of paragraph (c) lottery means the pooling of proceeds derived from the sale of tickets or chances and allotting those proceeds or parts thereof by chance to one or more chance takers or ticket purchasers. It does not include the placing or accepting of bets or wagers on sporting events or contests.
(e) For purposes of paragraph (c)(3)(i) of this section, the term "not-for-profit organization" means any organization that would qualify as tax exempt under section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
[37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, as amended at 40 FR 6210, Feb. 10, 1975; 42 FR 13947, Apr. 13, 1977; 54 FR 20856, May 15, 1989; 55 FR 18888, May 7, 1990]
(a) No cable operator shall air more than 10.5 minutes of commercial matter per hour during children's programming on weekends, or more than 12 minutes of commercial matter per hour on weekdays.
(b) This rule shall not apply to programs aired on a broadcast television channel which the cable operator passively carries, or to access channels over which the cable operator may not exercise editorial control, pursuant to 47 U.S.C. 531(e) and 532(c)(2).
Note 1 to §76.225:
Commercial matter means air time sold for purposes of selling a product or service. Note 2 to §76.225:
For purposes of this section, children's programming refers to programs originally produced and broadcast primarily for an audience of children 12 years old and younger. Note 3 to §76.225:
Section 76.1703 contains recordkeeping requirements for cable operators with regard to children's programming. [56 FR 19616, Apr. 29, 1991, as amended at 65 FR 53615, Sept. 5, 2000]
(a) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in paragraph (c) of this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators ninety (90) days written notice of its intent to enforce the standards.
(b) Nothing in this rule should be construed to prevent or prohibit:
(1) A franchising authority and a cable operator from agreeing to customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in paragraph (c) of this section;
(2) A franchising authority from enforcing, through the end of the franchise term, pre-existing customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in paragraph (c) of this section and are contained in current franchise agreements;
(3) Any State or any franchising authority from enacting or enforcing any consumer protection law, to the extent not specifically preempted herein; or
(4) The establishment or enforcement of any State or municipal law or regulation concerning customer service that imposes customer service requirements that exceed, or address matters not addressed by the standards set forth in paragraph (c) of this section.
(c) Effective July 1, 1993, a cable operator shall be subject to the following customer service standards:
(1) Cable system office hours and telephone availability --
(i) The cable operator will maintain a local, toll-free or collect call telephone access line which will be available to its subscribers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(A) Trained company representatives will be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours.
(B) After normal business hours, the access line may be answered by a service or an automated response system, including an answering machine. Inquiries received after normal business hours must be responded to by a trained company representative on the next business day.
(ii) Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds. These standards shall be met no less than ninety (90) percent of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis.
(iii) The operator will not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering standards above unless an historical record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply.
(iv) Under normal operating conditions, the customer will receive a busy signal less than three (3) percent of the time.
(v) Customer service center and bill payment locations will be open at least during normal business hours and will be conveniently located.
(2) Installations, outages and service calls. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following four standards will be met no less than ninety five (95) percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis:
(i) Standard installations will be performed within seven (7) business days
after an order has been placed. "Standard" installations are those that are located up to 125 feet from the existing distribution system.
(ii) Excluding conditions beyond the control of the operator, the cable operator will begin working on "service interruptions" promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known. The cable operator must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.
(iii) The "appointment window" alternatives for installations, service calls, and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at maximum, a four-hour time block during normal business hours. (The operator may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer.)
(iv) An operator may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment.
(v) If a cable operator representative is running late for an appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer will be contacted. The appointment will be rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the customer.
(3) Communications between cable operators and cable subscribers --
(i) Refunds -- Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either --
(A) The customer's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or thirty (30) days, whichever is earlier, or
(B) The return of the equipment supplied by the cable operator if service is terminated.
(ii) Credits -- Credits for service will be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(4) Definitions --
(i) Normal business hours -- The term "normal business hours" means those hours during which most similar businesses in the community are open to serve customers. In all cases, "normal business hours" must include some evening hours at least one night per week and/or some weekend hours.
(ii) Normal operating conditions -- The term "normal operating conditions" means those service conditions which are within the control of the cable operator. Those conditions which are not within the control of the cable operator include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions which are ordinarily within the control of the cable operator include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system.
(iii) Service interruption -- The term "service interruption" means the loss of picture or sound on one or more cable channels.
Note to §76.309:
Section 76.1602 contains notification requirements for cable operators with regard to operator obligations to subscribers and general information to be provided to customers regarding service. Section 76.1603 contains subscriber notification requirements governing rate and service changes. Section 76.1619 contains notification requirements for cable operators with regard to subscriber bill information and operator response procedures pertaining to bill disputes. [58 FR 21109, Apr. 19, 1993, as amended at 61 FR 18977, Apr. 30, 1996; 65 FR 53615, Sept. 5, 2000; 67 FR 1650, Jan. 14, 2002]
The operator of every operational cable television system that serves 20,000 or more subscribers shall file with the Commission a Form 325 soliciting general information and frequency and signal distribution information on a Physical System Identification Number ("PSID") basis. These forms shall be completed and returned to the Commission within 60 days after the date of receipt by the operator.
Note:
The Commission retains its authority to require Form 325 to be filed by a sampling of cable operators with less than 20,000 subscribers. [64 FR 28108, May 25, 1999]
(a) No cable television system (including all parties under common control) shall carry the signal of any television broadcast station if such system directly or indirectly owns, operates, controls, or has an interest in a TV broadcast station whose predicted Grade B contour, computed in accordance with §73.684 of part 73 of this
chapter, overlaps in whole or in part the service area of such system (i.e., the area within which the system is serving subscribers).
(b) [Reserved]
(c) Effective date. The provisions of paragraph (a) of this section are not effective until November 8, 1987, as to ownership interests proscribed herein if such interests were in existence on or before July 1, 1970 (e.g., if franchise were in existence on or before July 1970), and will be applied to cause divestiture as to ownership interests proscribed herein only where the cable system is directly or indirectly, owned, operated, controlled by, or has an interest in a non-satellite television broadcast station which places a principal community contour encompassing the entire community and there is no other commercial non-satellite television broadcast station placing a principal community contour encompassing the entire community.
(d) No cable operator shall offer satellite master antenna television service ("SMATV"), as that service is defined in §76.5(a)(2), separate and apart from any franchised cable service in any portion of the franchise area served by that cable operator's cable system, either directly or indirectly through an affiliate owned, operated, controlled, or under common control with the cable operator.
(e)(1) A cable operator may directly or indirectly, through an affiliate owned, operated, controlled by, or under common control with the cable operator, offer SMATV service within its franchise area if the cable operator's SMATV system was owned, operated, controlled by or under common control with the cable operator as of October 5, 1992.
(2) A cable operator may directly or indirectly, through an affiliate owned, operated, controlled by, or under common control with the cable operator, offer service within its franchise area through SMATV facilities, provided such service is offered in accordance with the terms and conditions of a cable franchise agreement.
(f) The restrictions in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section shall not apply to any cable operator in any franchise area in which a cable operator is subject to effective competition as determined under section 623(l) of the Communications Act.
Note 1 to §76.501:
Actual working control, in whatever manner exercised, shall be deemed a cognizable interest. Note 2 to §76.501:
In applying the provisions of this section, ownership and other interests in an entity or entities covered by this rule will be attributed to their holders and deemed cognizable pursuant to the following criteria:
(a) Except as otherwise provided herein, partnership and direct ownership interests and any voting stock interest amounting to 5% or more of the outstanding voting stock of a corporation will be cognizable;
(b) Investment companies, as defined in 15 U.S.C. 80a-3, insurance companies and banks holding stock through their trust departments in trust accounts will be considered to have a cognizable interest only if they hold 20% or more of the outstanding voting stock of a corporation, or if any of the officers or directors of the corporation are representatives of the investment company, insurance company or bank concerned. Holdings by a bank or insurance company will be aggregated if the bank or insurance company has any right to determine how the stock will be voted. Holdings by investment companies will be aggregated if under common management.
(c) Attribution of ownership interests in an entity covered by this rule that are held indirectly by any party through one or more intervening corporations will be determined by successive multiplication of the ownership percentages for each link in the vertical ownership chain and application of the relevant attribution benchmark to the resulting product, except that wherever the ownership percentage for any link in the chain exceeds 50%, it shall not be included for purposes of this multiplication. [For example, if A owns 10% of company X, which owns 60% of company Y, which owns 25% of "Licensee," then X's interest in "Licensee" would be 25% (the same as Y's interest since X's interest in Y exceeds 50%), and A's interest in "Licensee" would be 2.5% (0.1 x 0.25). Under the 5% attribution benchmark, X's interest in "Licensee" would be cognizable, while A's interest would not be cognizable.]
(d) Voting stock interests held in trust shall be attributed to any person who holds or shares the power to vote such stock, to any person who has the sole power to sell such stock, and to any person who has the right to revoke the trust at will or to replace the trustee at will. If the trustee has a familial, personal or extra-trust business relationship to the grantor or the beneficiary, the grantor or beneficiary, as appropriate, will be attributed with the stock interests held in
trust. An otherwise qualified trust will be ineffective to insulate the grantor or beneficiary from attribution with the trust's assets unless all voting stock interests held by the grantor or beneficiary in the relevant entity covered by this rule are subject to said trust.
(e) Subject to paragraph (i) of this Note, holders of non-voting stock shall not be attributed an interest in the issuing entity. Subject to paragraph (i) of this Note, holders of debt and instruments such as warrants, convertible debentures, options or other non-voting interests with rights of conversion to voting interests shall not be attributed unless and until conversion is effected.
(f)(1) Subject to paragraph (i) of this Note, a limited partnership interest shall be attributed to a limited partner unless that partner is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies. An interest in a Limited Liability Company ("LLC") or Registered Limited Liability Partnership ("RLLP") shall be attributed to the interest holder unless that interest holder is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies.
(2) In the case of a limited partnership, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (g)(1) of this section, it must verify that the partnership agreement or certificate of limited partnership, with respect to the particular limited partner exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt limited partner has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media activities of the partnership. In the case of an LLC or RLLP, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (g)(1) of this section, it must verify that the organizational document, with respect to the particular interest holder exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt interest holder has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media activities of the LLC or RLLP. The criteria which would assume adequate insulation for purposes of these certifications are described in the Memorandum Opinion and Order in MM Docket No. 83-46, FCC 85-252 (released June 24, 1985), as modified on reconsideration in the Memorandum Opinion and Order in MM Docket No. 83-46, FCC 86-410 (released November 28, 1986). Irrespective of the terms of the certificate of limited partnership or partnership agreement, or other organizational document in the case of an LLC or RLLP, however, no such certification shall be made if the individual or entity making the certification has actual knowledge of any material involvement of the limited partners, or other interest holders in the case of an LLC or RLLP, in the management or operation of the media businesses of the partnership or LLC or RLLP.
(3) In the case of an LLC or RLLP, the entity seeking insulation shall certify, in addition, that the relevant state statute authorizing LLCs permits an LLC member to insulate itself as required by our criteria.
(g) Officers and directors of an entity covered by this rule are considered to have a cognizable interest in the entity with which they are so associated. If any such entity engages in businesses in addition to its primary media business, it may request the Commission to waive attribution for any officer or director whose duties and responsibilities are wholly unrelated to its primary business. The officers and directors of a parent company of a media entity, with an attributable interest in any such subsidiary entity, shall be deemed to have a cognizable interest in the subsidiary unless the duties and responsibilities of the officer or director involved are wholly unrelated to the media subsidiary, and a certification properly documenting this fact is submitted to the Commission. The officers and directors of a sister corporation of a media entity shall not be attributed with ownership of that entity by virtue of such status.
(h) Discrete ownership interests held by the same individual or entity will be aggregated in determining whether or not an interest is cognizable under this section. An individual or entity will be deemed to have a cognizable investment if:
(1) The sum of the interests held by or through "passive investors" is equal to or exceeds 20 percent; or
(2) The sum of the interests other than those held by or through "passive investors" is equal to or exceeds 5 percent; or
(3) The sum of the interests computed under paragraph (i)(1) of this section plus the sum of the interests computed under paragraph (i)(2) of this section is equal to or exceeds 20 percent.
(i) Notwithstanding paragraphs (e) and (f) of this Note, the holder of an equity or debt interest or interests in an entity covered by this rule shall have that interest attributed if the equity (including all stockholdings, whether voting or nonvoting, common or preferred, and partnership interests) and debt interest or interests, in the aggregate, exceed 33 percent of the total asset value (all equity plus all debt) of that entity, provided however that:
(1) in applying the provisions of paragraph (i) of this note to §§76.501, 76.505 and 76.905(b)(2), the holder of an equity or debt interest or interests in a broadcast station, cable system, SMATV or multiple video distribution provider subject to §§76.501, 76.505, or 76.905(b)(2) ("interest holder") shall have
that interest attributed if the equity (including all stockholdings, whether voting or nonvoting, common or preferred, and partnership interests) and debt interest or interests, in the aggregate, exceed 33 percent of the total asset value (defined as the aggregate of all equity plus all debt) of that entity; and
(i) the interest holder also holds an interest in a broadcast station, cable system, SMATV, or multiple video distribution provider that operates in the same market, is subject to §§76.501, 76.505, or 76.905(b)(2) and is attributable without reference to this paragraph (i); or
(ii) the interest holder supplies over fifteen percent of the total weekly broadcast programming hours of the station in which the interest is held.
(2) For purposes of applying subparagraph (i)(1), the term "market" will be defined as it is defined under the rule that is being applied. Note 3 to §76.501:
In cases where record and beneficial ownership of voting stock is not identical (e.g., bank nominees holding stock as record owners for the benefit of mutual funds, brokerage houses holding stock in street names for benefit of customers, investment advisors holding stock in their own names for the benefit of clients, and insurance companies holding stock), the party having the right to determine how the stock will be voted will be considered to own it for purposes of this subpart. Note 4 to §76.501:
Paragraph (a) of this section will not be applied so as to require the divestiture of ownership interests proscribed herein solely because of the transfer of such interests to heirs or legatees by will or intestacy, provided that the degree or extent of the proscribed cross-ownership is not increased by such transfer. Note 5 to §76.501:
Certifications pursuant to this section and these notes shall be sent to the attention of the Cable Services Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, NW. Washington, DC 20554. Note 6 to §76.501:
In applying paragraph (a) of §76.501, for purposes of paragraph note 2(i) of this section, attribution of ownership interests in an entity covered by this rule that are held indirectly by any party through one or more intervening organizations will be determined by successive multiplication of the ownership percentages for each link in the vertical ownership chain and application of the relevant attribution benchmark to the resulting product. The ownership percentage for any link in the chain that exceeds 50% shall be included. [For example, if A owns 10% of company X, which owns 60% of company Y, which owns 25% of "Licensee," then X's interest in "Licensee" would 15% (0.6x0.25), and A's interest in "Licensee" would be 1.5% (0.1x0.6x0.25).] [58 FR 27677, May 11, 1993, as amended at 60 FR 37834, July 24, 1995; 61 FR 15388, Apr. 8, 1996; 64 FR 50646, Sept. 17, 1999; 64 FR 67194, Dec. 1, 1999; 66 FR 9973, Feb. 13, 2001]
(a) A franchise authority shall have 120 days from the date of submission of a completed FCC Form 394, together with all exhibits, and any additional information required by the terms of the franchise agreement or applicable state or local law to act upon an application to sell, assign, or otherwise transfer controlling ownership of a cable system.
(b) A franchise authority that questions the accuracy of the information provided under paragraph (a) must notify the cable operator within 30 days of the filing of such information, or such information shall be deemed accepted, unless the cable operator has failed to provide any additional information reasonably requested by the franchise authority within 10 days of such request.
(c) If the franchise authority fails to act upon such transfer request within 120 days, such request shall be deemed granted unless the franchise authority and the requesting party otherwise agree to an extension of time.
[61 FR 15388, Apr. 8, 1996]
(a) Subject to paragraph (b) of this section, no cable operator shall serve more than 30% of all multichannel-video programming subscribers nationwide through multichannel video programming distributors owned by such operator or in which such cable operator holds an attributable interest.
(b) Cable subscribers that a cable operator does not serve through incumbent cable franchises shall be excluded from the cable operator's limit.
(c) For purposes of this section, "incumbent cable franchise" means a cable franchise in existence as of October 20, 1999 and all successors in interest to these franchises.
(d) Subscribers that a cable operator serves through incumbent cable franchises shall include all subscribers served by those incumbent cable franchises, regardless of when the subscribers were added to the incumbent cable franchise system.
(e) "Multichannel video-programming subscribers" means subscribers who receive multichannel video-programming from cable systems, direct broadcast satellite services, direct-to-home satellite services, multichannel multipoint distribution services, local multipoint distribution services, satellite master antenna television services (as defined in §76.5(a)(2)), and open video systems.
(f) "Cable operator" means any person or entity that owns or has an attributable interest in an incumbent cable franchise.
(g) Prior to acquiring additional multichannel video-programming providers, any cable operator that serves 20% or more of multichannel video-programming subscribers nationwide shall certify to the Commission, concurrent with its applications to the Commission for transfer of licenses at issue in the acquisition, that no violation of the national subscriber limits prescribed in this section will occur as a result of such acquisition.
Note 1 to §76.503:
Certifications made under this section shall be sent to the attention of the Cable Services Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, 445 Twelfth Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554. Note 2 to §76.503:
Attributable Interest shall be defined by reference to the criteria set forth in Notes 1 through 5 to §76.501 provided however, that:
(a) Notes 2(f) and 2(g) to §76.501 to shall not apply;
(b)(1) Subject to Note 2(i) to §76.501, a limited partnership interest shall be attributed to a limited partner unless that partner is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies. An interest in a Limited Liability Company ("LLC") or Registered Limited Liability Partnership ("RLLP") shall be attributed to the interest holder unless that interest holder is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies.
(2) In the case of a limited partnership, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, it must verify that the partnership agreement or certificate of limited partnership, with respect to the particular limited partner exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt limited partner has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming activities of the partnership. In the case of an LLC or RLLP, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (g)(1) of this section, it must verify that the organizational document, with respect to the particular interest holder exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt interest holder has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming activities of the LLC or RLLP. The criteria which would assume adequate insulation for purposes of these certifications are described in the Report and Order, FCC No. 99-288, CS Docket No. 98-82 (released October 20, 1999). In order for the Commission to accept the certification, the certification must be accompanied by facts, e.g. in the form of documents, affidavits or declarations, that demonstrate that these insulation criteria are met. Irrespective of the terms of the certificate of limited partnership or partnership agreement, or other organizational document in the case of an LLC or RLLP, however, no such certification shall be made if the individual or entity making the certification has actual knowledge of any material involvement of the limited partners, or other interest holders in the case of an LLC or RLLP, in the management or operation of the video-programming activities of the partnership or LLC or RLLP.
(3) In the case of an LLC or RLLP, the entity seeking insulation shall certify, in addition, that the relevant state statute authorizing LLCs permits an LLC member to insulate itself as required by our criteria.
(c) Officers and directors of an entity covered by this rule are considered to have a cognizable interest in the entity with which they are so associated. If any such entity engages in activities other than video-programming activities, it may request the Commission to waive attribution for any officer or director whose duties and responsibilities are wholly unrelated to the entity's video-programming activities. In the case of common or appointed directors and officers, if common or appointed directors or officers have duties and responsibilities that are wholly unrelated to video-programming activities for both entities, the relevant entity may request the Commission to waive attribution of the director or officer. The officers and directors of a parent company of a video-programming business, with an attributable interest in any such subsidiary entity, shall be deemed to have a cognizable interest in the subsidiary unless the duties and responsibilities of the officer or director involved are wholly unrelated to the video-programming subsidiary, and a certification properly documenting this fact is submitted to the Commission. The officers and directors of a sister corporation of a cable system shall not
be attributed with ownership of that entity by virtue of such status. [64 FR 67195, 67199, Dec. 1, 1999]
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section no cable operator shall devote more than 40 percent of its activated channels to the carriage of national video programming services owned by the cable operator or in which the cable operator has an attributable interest.
(b) The channel occupancy limits set forth in paragraph (a) of this section shall apply only to channel capacity up to 75 channels.
(c) A cable operator may devote two additional channels or up to 45 percent of its channel capacity, whichever is greater, to the carriage of video programming services owned by the cable operator or in which the cable operator has an attributable interest provided such video programming services are minority-controlled.
(d) Cable operators carrying video programming services owned by the cable operator or in which the cable operator holds an attributable interest in excess of limits set forth in paragraph (a) of this section as of December 4, 1992, shall not be precluded by the restrictions in this section.
(e) Minority-controlled means more than 50 percent owned by one or more members of a minority group.
(f) Minority means Black, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander.
Note 1:
Attributable interest shall be defined by reference to the criteria set forth in Notes 1 through 5 to §76.501 provided however, that:
(a) Notes 2(f) and 2(g) to §76.501 to shall not apply;
(b)(1) Subject to Note 2(i) to §76.501, a limited partnership interest shall be attributed to a limited partner unless that partner is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies. An interest in a Limited Liability Company ("LLC") or Registered Limited Liability Partnership ("RLLP") shall be attributed to the interest holder unless that interest holder is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies.
(2) In the case of a limited partnership, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, it must verify that the partnership agreement or certificate of limited partnership, with respect to the particular limited partner exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt limited partner has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming activities of the partnership. In the case of an LLC or RLLP, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (g)(1) of this section, it must verify that the organizational document, with respect to the particular interest holder exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt interest holder has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the video programming activities of the LLC or RLLP. The criteria which would assume adequate insulation for purposes of these certifications are described in the Report and Order, FCC No. 99-288, CS Docket No. 98-82 (released October 20, 1999). In order for the Commission to accept the certification, the certification must be accompanied by facts, e.g. in the form of documents, affidavits or declarations, that demonstrate that these insulation criteria are met. Irrespective of the terms of the certificate of limited partnership or partnership agreement, or other organizational document in the case of an LLC or RLLP, however, no such certification shall be made if the individual or entity making the certification has actual knowledge of any material involvement of the limited partners, or other interest holders in the case of an LLC or RLLP, in the management or operation of the video-programming activities of the partnership or LLC or RLLP.
(3) In the case of an LLC or RLLP, the entity seeking insulation shall certify, in addition, that the relevant state statute authorizing LLCs permits an LLC member to insulate itself as required by our criteria.
(c) Officers and directors of an entity covered by this rule are considered to have a cognizable interest in the entity with which they are so associated. If any such entity engages in activities other than video-programming activities, it may request the Commission to waive attribution for any officer or director whose duties and responsibilities are wholly unrelated to the entity's video-programming activities. In the case of common or appointed directors and officers, if common or appointed directors or officers have duties and responsibilities that are wholly unrelated to video-programming activities for both entities, the relevant entity may request the Commission to waive attribution of the director or officer. The officers
and directors of a parent company of a video-programming business, with an attributable interest in any such subsidiary entity, shall be deemed to have a cognizable interest in the subsidiary unless the duties and responsibilities of the officer or director involved are wholly unrelated to the video-programming subsidiary, and a certification properly documenting this fact is submitted to the Commission. The officers and directors of a sister corporation of a cable system shall not be attributed with ownership of that entity by virtue of such status. Note 2 to §76.504:
Section 76.1710 contains recordkeeping requirements for cable operators with regard to attributable interests. [58 FR 60141, Nov. 15, 1993, as amended at 64 FR 67196, Dec. 1, 1999; 65 FR 53615, Sept. 5, 2000]
(a) No local exchange carrier or any affiliate of such carrier owned by, operated by, controlled by, or under common control with such carrier may purchase or otherwise acquire directly or indirectly more than a 10 percent financial interest, or any management interest, in any cable operator providing cable service within the local exchange carrier's telephone service area.
(b) No cable operator or affiliate of a cable operator that is owned by, operated by, controlled by, or under common ownership with such cable operator may purchase or otherwise acquire, directly or indirectly, more than a 10 percent financial interest, or any management interest, in any local exchange carrier providing telephone exchange service within such cable operator's franchise area.
(c) A local exchange carrier and a cable operator whose telephone service area and cable franchise area, respectively, are in the same market may not enter into any joint venture or partnership to provide video programming directly to subscribers or to provide telecommunications services within such market.
(d) Exceptions:
(1) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section, a local exchange carrier (with respect to a cable system located in its telephone service area) and a cable operator (with respect to the facilities of a local exchange carrier used to provide telephone exchange service in its cable franchise area) may obtain a controlling interest in, management interest in, or enter into a joint venture or partnership with the operator of such system or facilities for the use of such system or facilities to the extent that:
(i) Such system or facilities only serve incorporated or unincorporated :
(A) Places or territories that have fewer than 35,000 inhabitants; and
(B) Are outside an urbanized area, as defined by the Bureau of the Census; and
(ii) In the case of a local exchange carrier, such system, in the aggregate with any other system in which such carrier has an interest, serves less than 10 percent of the households in the telephone service area of such carrier.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (c) of this section, a local exchange carrier may obtain, with the concurrence of the cable operator on the rates, terms, and conditions, the use of that part of the transmission facilities of a cable system extending from the last multi-user terminal to the premises of the end user, if such use is reasonably limited in scope and duration, as determined by the Commission.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section, a local exchange
carrier may obtain a controlling interest in, or form a joint venture or other partnership with, or provide financing to, a cable system (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "the subject cable system") if:
(i) The subject cable system operates in a television market that is not in the top 25 markets, and such market has more than 1 cable system operator, and the subject cable system is not the cable system with the most subscribers in such television market;
(ii) The subject cable system and the cable system with the most subscribers in such television market held on May 1, 1995, cable television franchises from the largest municipality in the television market and the boundaries of such franchises were identical on such date;
(iii) The subject cable system is not owned by or under common ownership or control of any one of the 50 cable system operators with the most subscribers as such operators existed on May 1, 1995; and
(iv) The system with the most subscribers in the television market is owned by or under common ownership or control of any one of the 10 largest cable system operators as such operators existed on May 1, 1995.
(4) Paragraph (a) of this section does not apply to any cable system if:
(i) The cable system serves no more than 17,000 cable subscribers, of which no less than 8,000 live within an urban area, and no less than 6,000 live within a nonurbanized area as of June 1, 1995;
(ii) The cable system is not owned by, or under common ownership or control with, any of the 50 largest cable system operators in existence on June 1, 1995; and
(iii) The cable system operates in a television market that was not in the top 100 television markets as of June 1, 1995.
(5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section, a local exchange carrier with less than $100,000,000 in annual operating revenues (or any affiliate of such carrier owned by, operated by, controlled by, or under common control with such carrier) may purchase or otherwise acquire more than a 10 percent financial interest in, or any management interest in, or enter into a joint venture or partnership with, any cable system within the local exchange carrier's telephone service area that serves no more than 20,000 cable subscribers, if no more than 12,000 of those subscribers live within an urbanized area, as defined by the Bureau of the Census.
(6) The Commission may waive the restrictions of paragraphs (a), (b), or (c) of this section only if:
(i) The Commission determines that, because of the nature of the market served by the affected cable system or facilities used to provide telephone exchange service:
(A) The affected cable operator or local exchange carrier would be subjected to undue economic distress by the enforcement of such provisions;
(B) The system or facilities would not be economically viable if such provisions were enforced; or
(C) The anticompetitive effects of the proposed transaction are clearly outweighed in the public interest by the probable effect of the transaction in meeting the convenience and needs of the community to be served; and
(ii) The local franchising authority approves of such waiver.
(e) For purposes of this section, the term "telephone service area" when used in connection with a common carrier subject in whole or in part to title II of the Communications Act means the area within which such carrier provided telephone exchange service as of January 1, 1993, but if any common carrier after such date transfers its telephone exchange service facilities to another common carrier, the area to which such facilities provide telephone exchange service shall be treated as part of the telephone service area of the acquiring common carrier and not of the selling common carrier.
(f) For purposes of this section, entities are affiliated if either entity has an attributable interest in the other or if a third party has an attributable interest in both entities.
(g) Attributable interest shall be defined by reference to the criteria set forth in Notes 1 through 5 to §76.501.
[61 FR 18977, Apr. 30, 1996, as amended at 64 FR 67196, Dec. 1, 1999]
(a) The operator of each cable television system shall be responsible for insuring that each such system is designed, installed, and operated in a manner that fully complies with the provisions of this subpart.
(b) The operator of each cable television system shall conduct complete performance tests of that system at least twice each calendar year (at intervals not to exceed seven months), unless otherwise noted below. The performance tests shall be directed at determining the extent to which the system complies with all the technical standards set forth in §76.605(a) and shall be as follows:
(1) For cable television systems with 1000 or more subscribers but with 12,500 or fewer subscribers, proof-of-performance tests conducted pursuant to this section shall include measurements taken at six (6) widely separated points. However, within each cable system, one additional test point shall be added for every additional 12,500 subscribers or fraction thereof (e.g., 7 test points if 12,501 to 25,000 subscribers; 8 test points if 25,001 to 37,500 subscribers, etc.). In addition, for technically integrated portions of cable systems that are not mechanically continuous (i.e., employing microwave connections), at least one test point will be required for each portion of the cable system served by a technically integrated microwave hub. The proof-of-performance test points chosen shall be balanced to represent all geographic areas served by the cable system. At least one-third of the test points shall be representative of subscriber terminals most distant from the system input and from each microwave receiver (if microwave transmissions are employed), in terms of cable length. The measurements may be taken at convenient monitoring points in the cable network: Provided, that data shall be included to relate the measured performance of the system as would be viewed from a nearby subscriber terminal. An identification of the instruments, including the makes, model numbers, and the most recent date of calibration, a description of the procedures utilized, and a statement of the qualifications of the person performing the tests shall also be included.
(2) Proof-of-performance tests to determine the extent to which a cable television system complies with the standards set forth in §76.605(a) (3), (4), and (5) shall be made on each of the NTSC or similar video channels of that system. Unless otherwise as noted, proof-of-performance tests for all other standards in §76.605(a) shall be made on a minimum of four (4) channels plus one additional channel for every 100 MHz, or fraction thereof, of cable distribution system upper frequency limit (e.g., 5 channels for cable television systems with a cable distribution system upper frequency limit of 101 to 216 MHz; 6 channels for cable television systems with a cable distribution system upper frequency limit of 217-300 MHz; 7 channels for cable television systems with a cable distribution upper frequency limit to 300 to 400
MHz, etc.). The channels selected for testing must be representative of all the channels within the cable television system.
(3) The operator of each cable television system shall conduct semi-annual proof-of-performance tests of that system, to determine the extent to which the system complies with the technical standards set forth in §76.605(a)(4) as follows. The visual signal level on each channel shall be measured and recorded, along with the date and time of the measurement, once every six hours (at intervals of not less than five hours or no more than seven hours after the previous measurement), to include the warmest and the coldest times, during a 24-hour period in January or February and in July or August.
(4) The operator of each cable television system shall conduct triennial proof-of-performance tests of its system to determine the extent to which the system complies with the technical standards set forth in §76.605(a)(11).
(c) Successful completion of the performance tests required by paragraph (b) of this section does not relieve the system of the obligation to comply with all pertinent technical standards at all subscriber terminals. Additional tests, repeat tests, or tests involving
specified subscriber terminals may be required by the Commission or the local franchiser to secure compliance with the technical standards.
(d) The provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section shall not apply to any cable television system having fewer than 1,000 subscribers: Provided, however, that any cable television system using any frequency spectrum other than that allocated to over-the-air television and FM broadcasting (as described in §§73.603 and 73.210 of this chapter) is required to conduct all tests, measurements and monitoring of signal leakage that are required by this subpart. A cable television system operator complying with the monitoring, logging and the leakage repair requirements of §76.614, shall be considered to have met the requirements of this paragraph. However, the leakage log shall be retained for five years rather than the two years prescribed in §76.1706.
Note 1 to §76.601:
Prior to requiring any additional testing pursuant to §76.601(c), the local franchising authority shall notify the cable operator who will be allowed thirty days to come into compliance with any perceived signal quality problems which need to be corrected. The Commission may request cable operators to test their systems at any time. Note 2 to §76.601:
Section 76.1717 contains recordkeeping requirements for each system operator in order to show compliance with the technical rules of this subpart. Note 3 to §76.601:
Section 76.1704 contains recordkeeping requirements for proof of performance tests. [65 FR 53615, Sept. 5, 2000]
(a) As of December 30, 1992, unless otherwise noted, the following requirements apply to the performance of a cable television system as measured at any subscriber terminal with a matched impedance at the termination point or at the output of the modulating or processing equipment (generally the headend) of the cable television system or otherwise as noted. The requirements are applicable to each NTSC or similar video downstream cable television channel in the system:
(1)(i) The cable television channels delivered to the subscriber's terminal shall be capable of being received and displayed by TV broadcast receivers used for off-the-air reception of TV broadcast signals, as authorized under part 73 of this chapter; and
(ii) Cable television systems shall transmit signals to subscriber premises equipment on frequencies in accordance with the channel allocation plan set forth in the Electronics Industries Association's "Cable Television Channel Identification Plan, EIA IS-132, May 1994" (EIA IS-132). This incorporation by reference was approved by the Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 522(a) and 1 CFR Part 51. Cable systems are required to use this channel allocation plan for signals transmitted in the frequency range 54 MHz to 1002 MHz. This incorporation by reference was approved by the Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 522(a) and 1 CFR Part 51. Copies of EIA IS-132 may be obtained from: Global Engineering Documents, 2805 McGraw Ave., Irvine CA 92714. Copies of EIA IS-132 may be inspected during normal business hours at the following locations: Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street, NW, Dockets Branch (Room 239), Washington, DC, or the Office of the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol Street, NW., suite 700, Washington, DC. This requirement is applicable on May 31, 1995, for new and re-built cable systems, and on June 30, 1997, for all cable systems.
(2) The aural center frequency of the aural carrier must be 4.5 MHz ± 5 kHz above the frequency of the visual carrier at the output of the modulating or
processing equipment of a cable television system, and at the subscriber terminal.
(3) The visual signal level, across a terminating impedance which correctly matches the internal impedance of the cable system as viewed from the subscriber terminal, shall not be less than 1 millivolt across an internal impedance of 75 ohms (0 dBmV). Additionally, as measured at the end of a 30 meter (100 foot) cable drop that is connected to the subscriber tap, it shall not be less than 1.41 millivolts across an internal impedance of 75 ohms (+3 dBmV). (At other impedance values, the minimum visual signal level, as viewed from the subscriber terminal, shall be the square root of 0.0133 (Z) millivolts and, as measured at the end of a 30 meter (100 foot) cable drop that is connected to the subscriber tap, shall be 2 times the square root of 0.00662(Z) millivolts, where Z is the appropriate impedance value.)
(4) The visual signal level on each channel, as measured at the end of a 30 meter cable drop that is connected to the subscriber tap, shall not vary more than 8 decibels within any six-month interval, which must include four tests performed in six-hour increments during a 24-hour period in July or August and during a 24-hour period in January or February, and shall be maintained within:
(i) 3 decibels (dB) of the visual signal level of any visual carrier within a 6 MHz nominal frequency separation;
(ii) 10 dB of the visual signal level on any other channel on a cable television system of up to 300 MHz of cable distribution system upper frequency limit, with a 1 dB increase for each additional 100 MHz of cable distribution system upper frequency limit (e.g., 11 dB for a system at 301-400 MHz; 12 dB for a system at 401-500 MHz, etc.); and
(iii) A maximum level such that signal degradation due to overload in the subscriber's receiver or terminal does not occur.
(5) The rms voltage of the aural signal shall be maintained between 10 and 17 decibels below the associated visual signal level. This requirement must be met both at the subscriber terminal and at the output of the modulating and processing equipment (generally the headend). For subscriber terminals that use equipment which modulate and remodulate the signal (e.g., baseband converters), the rms voltage of the aural signal shall be maintained between 6.5 and 17 decibels below the associated visual signal level at the subscriber terminal.
(6) The amplitude characteristic shall be within a range of ±2 decibels from 0.75 MHz to 5.0 MHz above the lower boundary frequency of the cable television channel, referenced to the average of the highest and lowest amplitudes within these frequency boundaries.
(i) Prior to December 30, 1999, the amplitude characteristic may be measured after a subscriber tap and before a converter that is provided and maintained by the cable operator.
(ii) As of December 30, 1999, the amplitude characteristic shall be measured at the subscriber terminal.
(7) The ratio of RF visual signal level to system noise shall be as follows:
(i) From June 30, 1992, to June 30, 1993, shall not be less than 36 decibels.
(ii) From June 30, 1993 to June 30, 1995, shall not be less than 40 decibels.
(iii) As of June 30, 1995, shall not be less then 43 decibels.
(iv) For class I cable television channels, the requirements of paragraphs (a)(7)(i), (a)(7)(ii) and (a)(7)(iii) of this section are applicable only to:
(A) Each signal which is delivered by a cable television system to subscribers within the predicted Grade B contour for that signal;
(B) Each signal which is first picked up within its predicted Grade B contour;
(C) Each signal that is first received by the cable television system by direct video feed from a TV broadcast station, a low power TV station, or a TV translator station.
(8) The ratio of visual signal level to the rms amplitude of any coherent disturbances such as intermodulation products, second and third order distortions or discrete-frequency interfering signals not operating on proper offset assignments shall be as follows:
(i) The ratio of visual signal level to coherent disturbances shall not be less than 51 decibels for noncoherent channel cable television systems, when
measured with modulated carriers and time averaged; and
(ii) The ratio of visual signal level to coherent disturbances which are frequency-coincident with the visual carrier shall not be less than 47 decibels for coherent channel cable systems, when measured with modulated carriers and time averaged.
(9) The terminal isolation provided to each subscriber terminal:
(i) Shall not be less than 18 decibels. In lieu of periodic testing, the cable operator may use specifications provided by the manufacturer for the terminal isolation equipment to meet this standard; and
(ii) Shall be sufficient to prevent reflections caused by open-circuited or short-circuited subscriber terminals from producing visible picture impairments at any other subscriber terminal.
(10) The peak-to-peak variation in visual signal level caused by undesired low frequency disturbances (hum or repetitive transients) generated within the system, or by inadequate low frequency response, shall not exceed 3 percent of the visual signal level. Measurements made on a single channel using a single unmodulated carrier may be used to demonstrate compliance with this parameter at each test location.
(11) As of June 30, 1995, the following requirements apply to the performance of the cable television system as measured at the output of the modulating or processing equipment (generally the headend) of the system:
(i) The chrominance-luminance delay inequality (or chroma delay), which is the change in delay time of the chrominance component of the signal relative to the luminance component, shall be within 170 nanoseconds.
(ii) The differential gain for the color subcarrier of the television signal, which is measured as the difference in amplitude between the largest and smallest segments of the chrominance signal (divided by the largest and expressed in percent), shall not exceed ±20%.
(iii) The differential phase for the color subcarrier of the television signal which is measured as the largest phase difference in degrees between each segment of the chrominance signal and reference segment (the segment at the blanking level of O IRE), shall not exceed ±10 degrees.
(12) As an exception to the general provision requiring measurements to be made at subscriber terminals, and without regard to the type of signals carried by the cable television system, signal leakage from a cable television system shall be measured in accordance with the procedures outlined in §76.609(h) and shall be limited as follows:
(b) Cable television systems distributing signals by using methods such as nonconventional coaxial cable techniques, noncoaxial copper cable techniques, specialized coaxial cable and fiber optical cable hybridization techniques or specialized compression techniques or specialized receiving devices, and which, because of their basic design, cannot comply with one or more of the technical standards set forth in paragraph (a) of this section, may be permitted to operate: Provided, That an adequate showing is made pursuant to §76.7 which establishes that the public interest is benefited. In such instances, the Commission may prescribe special technical requirements to ensure that subscribers to such systems are provided with an equivalent level of good quality service.
Note 1:
Local franchising authorities of systems serving fewer than 1000 subscribers may adopt standards less stringent than those in §76.605(a). Any such agreement shall be reduced to writing and be associated with the system's proof-of-performance records. Note 2:
For systems serving rural areas as defined in §76.5, the system may negotiate with its local franchising authority for standards less stringent than those in §§76.605(a)(3), 76.605(a)(7), 76.605(a)(8), 76.605(a)(10) and 76.605(a)(11). Any such agreement shall be reduced to writing and be associated with the system's proof-of-performance records. Note 3:
The requirements of this section shall not apply to devices subject to the provisions of §§15.601 through 15.626. Note 4:
Should subscriber complaints arise from a system failing to meet §76.605(a)(6) prior to December 30, 1999, the cable operator will be required to provide a converter that will allow the system to meet the standard immediately at the complaining subscriber's terminal. Further, should the problem be found to be system-wide, the Commission may order all converters on the system be changed to meet the standard. Note 5:
Should subscriber complaints arise from a system failing to meet §76.605(a)(10), the cable operator will be required to remedy the complaint and perform test measurements on §76.605(a)(10) containing the full number of channels as indicated in §76.601(b)(2) at the complaining subscriber's terminal. Further, should the problem be found to be system-wide, the Commission may order that the full number of channels as indicated in §76.601(b)(2) be tested at all required locations for future proof-of-performance tests. Note 6:
No State or franchising authority may prohibit, condition, or restrict a cable system's use of any type of subscriber equipment or any transmission technology. [37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, as amended at 37 FR 13867, July 14, 1972; 40 FR 2690, Jan. 15, 1975; 40 FR 3296, Jan. 21, 1975; 41 FR 53028, Dec. 3, 1976; 42 FR 21782, Apr. 29, 1977; 47 FR 21503, May 18, 1982; 50 FR 52466, Dec. 24, 1985; 51 FR 1255, Jan. 10, 1986; 52 FR 22461, June 12, 1987; 57 FR 11002, Apr. 1, 1992; 57 FR 61010, Dec. 23, 1992; 58 FR 44952, Aug. 25, 1993; 59 FR 25342, May 16, 1994; 61 FR 18510, Apr. 26, 1996; 61 FR 18978, Apr. 30, 1996; 65 FR 53616, Sept. 5, 2000]
(a) As of June 30, 1992, the operator of each cable television system shall not take any action to remove or alter closed captioning data contained on line 21 of the vertical blanking interval.
(b) As of July 1, 1993, the operator of each cable television system shall deliver intact closed captioning data contained on line 21 of the vertical blanking interval, as it arrives at the headend or from another origination source, to subscriber terminals and (when so delivered to the cable system) in a format that can be recovered and displayed by decoders meeting §15.119 of this chapter.
[57 FR 11003, Apr. 1, 1992]
(a) Measurements made to demonstrate conformity with the performance requirements set forth in §§76.601 and 76.605 shall be made under conditions which reflect system performance during normal operations, including the effect of any microwave relay operated in the Cable Television Relay (CARS) Service intervening between pickup antenna and the cable distribution network. Amplifiers shall be operated at normal gains, either by the insertion of appropriate signals or by manual adjustment. Special signals inserted in a cable television channel for measurement purposes should be operated at levels approximating those used for normal operation. Pilot tones, auxiliary or substitute signals, and nontelevision signals normally carried on the cable television system should be operated at normal levels to the extent possible. Some exemplary, but not mandatory, measurement procedures are set forth in this section.
(b) When it may be necessary to remove the television signal normally carried on a cable television channel in order to facilitate a performance measurement, it will be permissible to disconnect the antenna which serves the channel under measurement and to substitute therefor a matching resistance termination. Other antennas and inputs should remain connected and normal signal levels should be maintained on other channels.
(c) As may be necessary to ensure satisfactory service to a subscriber, the Commission may require additional tests to demonstrate system performance or may specify the use of different test procedures.
(d) The frequency response of a cable television channel may be determined by one of the following methods, as appropriate:
(1) By using a swept frequency or a manually variable signal generator at the sending end and a calibrated attenuator and frequency-selective voltmeter at the subscriber terminal; or
(2) By using either a multiburst generator or vertical interval test signals and either a modulator or processor at the sending end, and by using either a demodulator and either an oscilloscope display or a waveform monitor display at the subscriber terminal.
(e) System noise may be measured using a frequency-selective voltmeter (field strength meter) which has been suitably calibrated to indicate rms noise or average power level and which has a known bandwidth. With the system operating at normal level and with a properly matched resistive termination substituted for the antenna, noise power indications at the subscriber terminal are taken in successive increments of frequency equal to the bandwidth of the frequency-selective voltmeter, summing the power indications to obtain the total noise power present over a 4 MHz band centered within the cable television channel. If it is established that the noise level is constant within this bandwidth, a single measurement may be taken which is corrected by an appropriate factor representing the ratio of 4 MHz to the noise bandwidth of the frequency-selective voltmeter. If an amplifier is inserted between the frequency-selective voltmeter and the subscriber terminal in order to facilitate this measurement, it should have a bandwidth of at least 4 MHz and appropriate corrections must be made to account for its gain and noise figure. Alternatively, measurements made in accordance with the NCTA Recommended Practices for Measurements on Cable Television Systems, 2nd edition, November 1989, on noise measurement may be employed.
(f) The amplitude of discrete frequency interfering signals within a cable television channel may be determined with either a spectrum analyzer or with a frequency-selective voltmeter (field strength meter), which instruments have been calibrated for adequate accuracy. If calibration accuracy is in doubt, measurements may be referenced to a calibrated signal generator, or a calibrated variable attenuator, substituted at the point of measurement. If an amplifier is used between the subscriber terminal and the measuring instrument, appropriate corrections must be made to account for its gain.
(g) The terminal isolation between any two terminals in the cable television system may be measured by applying a signal of known amplitude to one terminal and measuring the amplitude of that signal at the other terminal. The frequency of the signal should be close to the midfrequency of the channel being tested. Measurements of terminal isolation are not required when either:
(1) The manufacturer's specifications for subscriber tap isolation based on a representative sample of no less than 500 subscribers taps or
(2) Laboratory tests performed by or for the operator of a cable television system on a representative sample of no less than 50 subscriber taps, indicates that the terminal isolation standard of §76.605(a)(9) is met.
To demonstrate compliance with §76.605(a)(9), the operator of a cable television system shall attach either such manufacturer's specifications or laboratory measurements as an exhibit to each proof-of-performance record.
(h) Measurements to determine the field strength of the signal leakage
emanated by the cable television system shall be made in accordance with standard engineering procedures. Measurements made on frequencies above 25 MHz shall include the following:
(1) A field strength meter of adequate accuracy using a horizontal dipole antenna shall be employed.
(2) Field strength shall be expressed in terms of the rms value of synchronizing peak for each cable television channel for which signal leakage can be measured.
(3) The resonant half wave dipole antenna shall be placed 3 meters from and positioned directly below the system components and at 3 meters above ground. Where such placement results in a separation of less than 3 meters between the center of the dipole antenna and the system components, or less than 3 meters between the dipole and ground level, the dipole shall be repositioned to provide a separation of 3 meters from the system components at a height of 3 meters or more above ground.
(4) The horizontal dipole antenna shall be rotated about a vertical axis and the maximum meter reading shall be used.
(5) Measurements shall be made where other conductors are 3 or more meters (10 or more feet) away from the measuring antenna.
(i) For systems using cable traps and filters to control the delivery of specific channels to the subscriber terminal, measurements made to determine compliance with §76.605(a) (5) and (6) may be performed at the location immediately prior to the trap or filter for the specific channel. The effects of these traps or filters, as certified by the system engineer or the equipment manufacturer, must be attached to each proof-of-performance record.
(j) Measurements made to determine the differential gain, differential phase and the chrominance-luminance delay inequality (chroma delay) shall be made in accordance with the NCTA Recommended Practices for Measurements on Cable Television Systems, 2nd edition, November 1989, on these parameters.
[37 FR 3278, Feb. 12, 1972, as amended at 37 FR 13867, July 14, 1972; 41 FR 10067, Mar. 9, 1976; 42 FR 21782, Apr. 29, 1977; 49 FR 45441, Nov. 16, 1984; 57 FR 11004, Apr. 1, 1992; 57 FR 61011, Dec. 23, 1992; 58 FR 44952, Aug. 25, 1993]
The provisions of §§76.611 (effective July 1, 1990), 76.612, 76.613, 76.614 and 76.1803 and 76.1804 are applicable to all cable television systems transmitting carriers or other signal components carried at an average power level equal to or greater than 10−4 watts across a 25 kHz bandwidth in any 160 microsecond period, at any point in the cable distribution system in the frequency bands 108-137 and 225-400 MHz for any purpose. For grandfathered systems, refer to §§76.618 and 76.619.
Note
1: See the provisions of §76.616 for cable operation near certain aeronautical and marine emergency radio frequencies. Note 2:
Until January 1, 1990, the band 136-137 MHz is allocated as an alternative allocation to the space operation, meteorological-satellite service and the space research service on a primary basis. After January 1, 1990, the space service will become secondary to aeronautical mobile service radio. Until January 1, 1990, the band 136 to 137 MHz is excluded from the rule sections regarding protection of aeronautical frequencies. [50 FR 29399, July 19, 1985, as amended at 65 FR 53616, Sept. 5, 2000]
(a) No cable television system shall commence or provide service in the frequency bands 108-137 and 225-400 MHz unless such systems is in compliance with one of the following cable television basic signal leakage performance criteria:
(1) prior to carriage of signals in the aeronautical radio bands and at least once each calendar year, with no more than 12 months between successive
tests thereafter, based on a sampling of at least 75% of the cable strand, and including any portion of the cable system which are known to have or can reasonably be expected to have less leakage integrity than the average of the system, the cable operator demonstrates compliance with a cumulative signal leakage index by showing either that (i) 10 log I
[TOP]
§76.1
Purpose.
[TOP]
§76.3
Other pertinent rules.
[TOP]
§76.5
Definitions.
[TOP]
§76.6
General pleading requirements.
[TOP]
§76.7
General special relief, waiver, enforcement, complaint, show cause, forfeiture, and declaratory ruling procedures.
[TOP]
§76.8
Status conference.
[TOP]
§76.9
Confidentiality of proprietary information.
[TOP]
§76.10
Review.
[TOP]
§76.11
Lockbox enforcement.
[TOP]
§76.29
Special temporary authority.
[TOP]
§76.51
Major television markets.
[TOP]
§76.53
Reference points.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
State and community Latitude Longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama:
Anniston.................................... 33 deg.39'4 85 deg.49'4
9" 7"
Birmingham.................................. 33 deg.31'0 86 deg.48'3
1" 6"
Decatur..................................... 34 deg.36'3 86 deg.58'4
5" 5"
Demopolis................................... 32 deg.30'5 87 deg.50'0
6" 7"
Dothan...................................... 31 deg.13'2 85 deg.23'3
7" 5"
Dozier...................................... 31 deg.29'3 86 deg.21'5
0" 9"
Florence.................................... 34 deg.48'0 87 deg.40'3
5" 1"
Huntsville.................................. 34 deg.44'1 86 deg.35'1
8" 9"
Louisville.................................. 31 deg.47'0 85 deg.33'0
0" 9"
Mobile...................................... 30 deg.41'3 88 deg.02'3
6" 3"
Montgomery.................................. 32 deg.22'3 86 deg.18'3
3" 1"
Mount Cheaha State Park..................... 33 deg.29'2 85 deg.48'3
6" 0"
Selma....................................... 24 deg.24'2 87 deg.01'1
6" 5"
Tuscaloosa.................................. 33 deg.12'0 87 deg.33'4
5" 4"
Alaska:
Anchorage................................... 61 deg.13'0 149 deg.53'
9" 29"
College..................................... 64 deg.51'2 147 deg.48'
2" 38"
Fairbanks................................... 64 deg.50'3 147 deg.41'
5" 51"
Juneau...................................... 58 deg.18'0 134 deg.25'
6" 09"
Sitka....................................... 57 deg.02'5 135 deg.20'
8" 12"
Arizona:
Flagstaff................................... 35 deg.11'5 111 deg.39'
4" 02"
Mesa........................................ 33 deg.24'5 111 deg.49'
4" 41"
Nogales..................................... 31 deg.20'1 110 deg.56'
4" 12"
Phoenix..................................... 33 deg.27'1 112 deg.04'
2" 28"
Tucson...................................... 32 deg.13'1 110 deg.58'
5" 08"
Yuma........................................ 32 deg.43'1 114 deg.37'
6" 01"
Arkansas:
El Dorado................................... 33 deg.12'3 92 deg.39'4
9" 0"
Fayetteville................................ 36 deg.03'4 94 deg.09'3
1" 8"
Fort Smith.................................. 35 deg.23'1 94 deg.25'3
0" 6"
Jonesboro................................... 35 deg.50'1 90 deg.42'1
4" 1"
Little Rock................................. 34 deg.44'4 92 deg.16'3
2" 7"
California:
Bakersfield................................. 35 deg.22'3 119 deg.01'
1" 16"
Chico....................................... 39 deg.44'0 121 deg.49'
7" 57"
Concord..................................... 37 deg.58'4 122 deg.01'
6" 51"
Corona...................................... 33 deg.52'3 117 deg.33'
5" 56"
El Centro................................... 32 deg.47'2 115 deg.32'
5" 45"
Eureka...................................... 40 deg.48'0 124 deg.09'
8" 46"
Fontana..................................... 34 deg.05'4 117 deg.26'
5" 29"
Fresno...................................... 36 deg.44'1 119 deg.47'
2" 11"
Guasti...................................... 34 deg.03'4 117 deg.35'
8" 10"
Hanford..................................... 36 deg.19'5 119 deg.38'
1" 48"
Los Angeles................................. 34 deg.03'1 118 deg.14'
5" 28"
Modesto..................................... 37 deg.38'2 120 deg.59'
6" 44"
Monterey.................................... 36 deg.35'4 121 deg.53'
4" 39"
Oakland..................................... 37 deg.48'0 122 deg.15'
3" 54"
Palm Springs................................ 33 deg.49'2 116 deg.32'
2" 46"
Redding..................................... 40 deg.34'5 122 deg.23'
7" 34"
Sacramento.................................. 38 deg.34'5 121 deg.29'
7" 41"
Salinas..................................... 36 deg.40'2 121 deg.39'
4" 25"
San Bernardino.............................. 34 deg.06'3 117 deg.17'
0" 28"
San Diego................................... 32 deg.42'5 117 deg.09'
3" 21"
San Francisco............................... 37 deg.46'3 122 deg.24'
9" 40"
San Jose.................................... 37 deg.20'1 121 deg.53'
6" 24"
San Luis Obispo............................. 35 deg.16'4 120 deg.39'
9" 34"
San Mateo................................... 37 deg.34'0 122 deg.19'
8" 16"
Santa Barbara............................... 34 deg.25'1 119 deg.41'
8" 55"
Santa Maria................................. 34 deg.57'0 120 deg.26'
2" 10"
Stockton.................................... 37 deg.57'3 121 deg.17'
0" 16"
Tulare...................................... 36 deg.12'3 119 deg.20'
1" 35"
Ventura..................................... 34 deg.16'4 119 deg.17'
7" 22"
Visalia..................................... 36 deg.19'4 119 deg.17'
6" 30"
Colorado:
Colorado Springs............................ 38 deg.50'0 104 deg.49'
7" 16"
Denver...................................... 39 deg.44'5 104 deg.59'
8" 22"
Durango..................................... 37 deg.16'2 107 deg.52'
9" 25"
Grand Junction.............................. 39 deg.04'0 108 deg.33'
6" 54"
Montrose.................................... 38 deg.28'4 107 deg.52'
4" 31"
Pueblo...................................... 38 deg.16'1 104 deg.36'
7" 33"
Sterling.................................... 40 deg.37'2 103 deg.12'
9" 25"
Connecticut:
Bridgeport.................................. 41 deg.10'4 73 deg.11'2
9" 2"
Hartford.................................... 41 deg.46'1 72 deg.40'4
2" 9"
New Britain................................. 41 deg.40'0 72 deg.47'0
2" 8"
New Haven................................... 41 deg.18'2 72 deg.55'3
5" 0"
Norwich..................................... 41 deg.31'3 72 deg.04'3
6" 1"
Waterbury................................... 41 deg.33'1 73 deg.02'3
3" 1"
Delaware:
Wilmington.................................. 39 deg.44'4 75 deg.32'5
6" 1"
District of Columbia:
Washington.................................. 38 deg.53'5 77 deg.00'3
1" 3"
Florida:
Clearwater.................................. 27 deg.57'5 82 deg.47'5
6" 1"
Daytona Beach............................... 29 deg.12'4 81 deg.01'1
4" 0"
Fort Lauderdale............................. 26 deg.07'1 80 deg.08'3
1" 4"
Fort Myers.................................. 26 deg.38'4 81 deg.52'0
2" 6"
Fort Pierce................................. 27 deg.26'4 80 deg.19'3
8" 8"
Gainesville................................. 29 deg.38'5 82 deg.19'1
6" 9"
Jacksonville................................ 30 deg.19'4 81 deg.39'4
4" 2"
Largo....................................... 27 deg.54'5 82 deg.47'3
4" 2"
Leesburg.................................... 28 deg.48'4 81 deg.52'3
3" 0"
Melbourne................................... 28 deg.04'4 80 deg.36'2
1" 9"
Miami....................................... 25 deg.46'3 80 deg.11'3
7" 2"
Ocala....................................... 29 deg.11'3 82 deg.08'1
4" 4"
Orlando..................................... 28 deg.32'4 81 deg.22'3
2" 8"
Panama City................................. 30 deg.09'2 85 deg.39'4
4" 7"
Pensacola................................... 30 deg.24'5 87 deg.12'5
1" 6"
St. Petersburg.............................. 27 deg.46'1 82 deg.38'1
8" 6"
Sarasota.................................... 27 deg.20'0 82 deg.32'2
5" 9"
Tallahassee................................. 30 deg.26'3 84 deg.16'5
0" 0"
Tampa....................................... 27 deg.56'5 82 deg.27'2
8" 6"
West Palm Beach............................. 26 deg.42'3 80 deg.03'0
6" 5"
Georgia:
Albany...................................... 31 deg.34'3 84 deg.09'2
6" 2"
Athens...................................... 33 deg.57'3 83 deg.22'3
4" 9"
Atlanta..................................... 33 deg.45'1 84 deg.23'3
0" 7"
Augusta..................................... 33 deg.28'2 81 deg.58'0
0" 0"
Chatsworth.................................. 34 deg.46'0 84 deg.46'1
8" 0"
Cochran..................................... 32 deg.23'1 83 deg.21'1
8" 8"
Columbus.................................... 32 deg.28'0 84 deg.59'2
7" 4"
Dawson...................................... 31 deg.46'3 84 deg.26'2
3" 0"
Macon....................................... 32 deg.50'1 83 deg.37'3
2" 6"
Pelham...................................... 31 deg.07'4 84 deg.09'0
2" 2"
Savannah.................................... 32 deg.04'4 81 deg.05'3
2" 7"
Thomasville................................. 30 deg.50'2 83 deg.58'5
5" 9"
Waycross.................................... 31 deg.12'1 82 deg.21'4
9" 7"
Wrens....................................... 33 deg.12'2 82 deg.23'2
1" 3"
Guam:
Agana....................................... 13 deg.28'2 144 deg.45'
3" 00"
Hawaii:
Hilo........................................ 19 deg.43'4 155 deg.05'
2" 30"
Honolulu.................................... 21 deg.18'3 157 deg.51'
6" 48"
Wailuku..................................... 20 deg.53'2 156 deg.30'
1" 27"
Idaho:
Boise....................................... 43 deg.37'0 116 deg.11'
7" 58"
Idaho Falls................................. 43 deg.29'3 112 deg.02'
9" 28"
Lewiston.................................... 46 deg.25'0 117 deg.01'
5" 10"
Moscow...................................... 46 deg.43'5 116 deg.59'
8" 54"
Pocatello................................... 42 deg.51'3 112 deg.27'
8" 01"
Twin Falls.................................. 42 deg.33'2 114 deg.28'
5" 21"
Illinois:
Aurora...................................... 41 deg.45'2 88 deg.18'5
2" 6"
Bloomington................................. 40 deg.28'5 88 deg.59'3
8" 2"
Carbondale.................................. 37 deg.43'3 89 deg.13'0
8" 0"
Champaign................................... 40 deg.07'0 88 deg.14'4
5" 8"
Chicago..................................... 41 deg.52'2 87 deg.38'2
8" 2"
Decatur..................................... 39 deg.50'3 88 deg.57'1
7" 1"
Elgin....................................... 42 deg.02'1 88 deg.16'5
4" 3"
Freeport.................................... 42 deg.17'5 89 deg.37'0
7" 7"
Harrisburg.................................. 37 deg.44'2 88 deg.32'2
0" 5"
Jacksonville................................ 39 deg.44'0 90 deg.13'4
3" 4"
Joliet...................................... 41 deg.31'3 88 deg.04'5
7" 2"
La Salle.................................... 41 deg.19'4 89 deg.05'4
9" 4"
Moline...................................... 41 deg.30'3 90 deg.30'4
1" 9"
Mount Vernon................................ 38 deg.18'2 88 deg.54'2
9" 6"
Olney....................................... 38 deg.43'4 88 deg.05'0
7" 0"
Peoria...................................... 40 deg.41'4 89 deg.35'3
2" 3"
Quincy...................................... 39 deg.55'5 91 deg.24'1
9" 2"
Rockford.................................... 42 deg.16'0 89 deg.05'4
7" 8"
Rock Island................................. 41 deg.30'4 90 deg.34'2
0" 4"
Springfield................................. 39 deg.47'5 89 deg.38'5
8" 1"
Urbana...................................... 40 deg.06'4 88 deg.13'1
1" 3"
Indiana:
Bloomington................................. 39 deg.09'5 86 deg.31'5
6" 2"
Elkhart..................................... 41 deg.40'5 85 deg.58'1
6" 5"
Evansville.................................. 37 deg.58'2 87 deg.34'2
0" 1"
Fort Wayne.................................. 41 deg.04'2 85 deg.08'2
1" 6"
Gary........................................ 41 deg.35'5 87 deg.20'0
9" 7"
Hammond..................................... 41 deg.35'1 87 deg.27'4
3" 3"
Indianapolis................................ 39 deg.46'0 86 deg.09'4
7" 6"
Lafayette................................... 40 deg.25'1 86 deg.53'3
1" 9"
Marion...................................... 40 deg.33'1 85 deg.39'4
7" 9"
Muncie...................................... 40 deg.11'2 85 deg.23'1
8" 6"
Richmond.................................... 39 deg.49'4 84 deg.53'2
9" 6"
Roanoke..................................... 40 deg.57'5 85 deg.22'3
0" 0"
St. John.................................... 41 deg.27'0 87 deg.28'1
0" 3"
South Bend.................................. 41 deg.40'3 86 deg.15'0
3" 1"
Terre Haute................................. 39 deg.28'0 87 deg.24'2
3" 6"
Vincennes................................... 38 deg.40'5 87 deg.31'1
2" 2"
Iowa:
Ames........................................ 42 deg.01'3 93 deg.36'4
6" 4"
Cedar Rapids................................ 41 deg.58'4 91 deg.39'4
8" 8"
Davenport................................... 41 deg.31'2 90 deg.34'2
4" 1"
Des Moines.................................. 41 deg.35'1 93 deg.37'0
4" 0"
Dubuque..................................... 42 deg.29'5 90 deg.40'0
5" 8"
Fort Dodge.................................. 42 deg.30'1 94 deg.11'0
2" 5"
Iowa City................................... 41 deg.39'3 91 deg.31'5
7" 2"
Mason City.................................. 43 deg.09'1 93 deg.12'0
5" 0"
Sioux City.................................. 42 deg.29'4 96 deg.24'3
6" 0"
Waterloo.................................... 42 deg.29'4 92 deg.20'2
0" 0"
Kansas:
Ensign...................................... 37 deg.38'4 100 deg.14'
8" 00"
Garden City................................. 37 deg.57'5 100 deg.52'
4" 20"
Goodland.................................... 39 deg.20'5 101 deg.42'
3" 35"
Great Bend.................................. 38 deg.22'0 98 deg.45'5
4" 8"
Hays........................................ 38 deg.52'1 99 deg.19'5
6" 7"
Hutchinson.................................. 38 deg.03'1 97 deg.55'2
1" 0"
Pittsburg................................... 37 deg.24'5 94 deg.42'1
0" 1"
Salina...................................... 38 deg.50'3 97 deg.36'4
6" 6"
Topeka...................................... 39 deg.03'1 95 deg.40'2
6" 3"
Wichita..................................... 37 deg.41'3 97 deg.20'1
0" 6"
Kentucky:
Ashland..................................... 38 deg.28'3 82 deg.38'2
6" 3"
Bowling Green............................... 36 deg.59'4 86 deg.26'3
1" 3"
Covington................................... 39 deg.05'0 84 deg.30'2
0" 9"
Elizabethtown............................... 37 deg.41'3 85 deg.51'3
8" 5"
Hazard...................................... 37 deg.14'5 83 deg.11'3
4" 1"
Lexington................................... 38 deg.02'5 84 deg.29'4
0" 6"
Louisville.................................. 38 deg.14'4 85 deg.45'4
7" 9"
Madisonville................................ 37 deg.19'4 87 deg.29'5
5" 4"
Morehead.................................... 38 deg.10'5 83 deg.26'0
3" 8"
Murray...................................... 36 deg.36'3 88 deg.18'3
5" 9"
Newport..................................... 39 deg.05'2 84 deg.29'2
8" 0"
Owensboro................................... 37 deg.46'2 87 deg.06'4
7" 6"
Owenton..................................... 38 deg.32'1 84 deg.50'1
1" 6"
Paducah..................................... 37 deg.05'1 88 deg.35'5
3" 6"
Pikesville.................................. 37 deg.28'4 82 deg.31'0
9" 9"
Somerset.................................... 37 deg.05'3 84 deg.36'1
5" 7"
Louisiana:
Alexandria.................................. 31 deg.18'3 92 deg.26'4
3" 7"
Baton Rouge................................. 30 deg.26'5 91 deg.11'0
8" 0"
Houma....................................... 29 deg.35'3 90 deg.43'0
4" 9"
Lafayette................................... 30 deg.13'2 92 deg.01'0
4" 6"
Lake Charles................................ 30 deg.13'4 93 deg.12'5
5" 2"
Monroe...................................... 32 deg.30'0 92 deg.06'5
2" 5"
New Orleans................................. 29 deg.56'5 90 deg.04'1
3" 0"
Shreveport.................................. 32 deg.30'4 93 deg.44'5
6" 8"
West Monroe................................. 32 deg.30'5 92 deg.08'1
1" 3"
Maine:
Augusta..................................... 44 deg.18'5 69 deg.46'2
3" 9"
Bangor...................................... 44 deg.48'1 68 deg.46'1
3" 8"
Calais...................................... 45 deg.11'0 67 deg.16'4
4" 3"
Orono....................................... 44 deg.53'1 68 deg.40'1
5" 2"
Poland Spring............................... 44 deg.01'4 70 deg.21'4
2" 0"
Portland.................................... 43 deg.39'3 70 deg.15'1
3" 9"
Presque Isle................................ 46 deg.40'5 68 deg.00'5
7" 2"
Maryland:
Baltimore................................... 39 deg.17'2 76 deg.36'4
6" 5"
Cumberland.................................. 39 deg.39'0 78 deg.45'4
1" 5"
Hagerstown.................................. 39 deg.38'3 77 deg.43'1
9" 5"
Salisbury................................... 38 deg.21'5 75 deg.35'5
6" 6"
Massachusetts:
Adams....................................... 42 deg.37'3 73 deg.07'0
0" 5"
Boston...................................... 42 deg.21'2 71 deg.03'2
4" 5"
Cambridge................................... 42 deg.21'5 71 deg.06'2
8" 4"
Greenfield.................................. 42 deg.35'1 72 deg.35'5
5" 4"
New Bedford................................. 41 deg.38'1 70 deg.55'4
3" 1"
Springfield................................. 42 deg.06'2 72 deg.35'3
1" 2"
Worcester................................... 42 deg.15'3 71 deg.48'1
7" 7"
Michigan:
Allen Park.................................. 42 deg.15'1 83 deg.12'5
2" 7"
Battle Creek................................ 42 deg.18'5 85 deg.10'4
8" 8"
Bay City.................................... 43 deg.36'0 83 deg.53'1
4" 5"
Cadillac.................................... 44 deg.15'1 85 deg.23'5
0" 2"
Cheboygan................................... 45 deg.38'3 84 deg.28'3
8" 8"
Detroit..................................... 42 deg.19'4 83 deg.02'5
8" 7"
Escanaba.................................... 45 deg.44'4 87 deg.03'1
5" 8"
Flint....................................... 43 deg.00'5 83 deg.41'3
0" 3"
Grand Rapids................................ 42 deg.58'0 85 deg.40'1
3" 3"
Jackson..................................... 42 deg.14'4 84 deg.24'2
3" 2"
Kalamazoo................................... 42 deg.17'2 85 deg.35'1
9" 4"
Lansing..................................... 42 deg.44'0 84 deg.33'1
1" 5"
Marquette................................... 46 deg.32'3 87 deg.23'4
7" 3"
Mount Pleasant.............................. 43 deg.16'1 84 deg.46'3
2" 1"
Muskegon.................................... 43 deg.14'1 86 deg.15'0
7" 2"
Onondaga.................................... 42 deg.26'4 84 deg.33'4
1" 3"
Saginaw..................................... 43 deg.25'5 83 deg.56'0
2" 5"
Sault Ste. Marie............................ 46 deg.29'5 84 deg.20'3
8" 7"
Traverse City............................... 44 deg.45'4 85 deg.37'2
7" 5"
University Center........................... 43 deg.33'3 83 deg.59'0
1" 9"
Minnesota:
Alexandria.................................. 45 deg.53'0 95 deg.22'3
6" 9"
Appleton.................................... 45 deg.12'0 96 deg.01'0
0" 2"
Austin...................................... 43 deg.39'5 92 deg.58'2
7" 0"
Duluth...................................... 46 deg.46'5 92 deg.06'2
6" 4"
Hibbing..................................... 47 deg.25'4 92 deg.56'2
3" 1"
Mankato..................................... 44 deg.09'4 94 deg.00'0
9" 9"
Minneapolis................................. 44 deg.58'5 93 deg.15'4
7" 3"
Rochester................................... 44 deg.01'2 92 deg.28'0
1" 3"
St. Cloud................................... 45 deg.33'3 94 deg.09'3
5" 8"
St. Paul.................................... 44 deg.56'5 93 deg.05'1
0" 1"
Walker...................................... 47 deg.05'5 94 deg.35'1
7" 2"
Mississippi:
Biloxi...................................... 30 deg.23'4 88 deg.53'0
3" 8"
Bude........................................ 31 deg.27'4 90 deg.50'3
6" 4"
Columbus.................................... 33 deg.29'4 88 deg.25'3
0" 3"
Greenwood................................... 33 deg.31'0 90 deg.10'5
5" 5"
Gulfport.................................... 30 deg.22'0 89 deg.05'3
4" 6"
Jackson..................................... 32 deg.17'5 90 deg.11'0
6" 6"
Laurel...................................... 31 deg.41'4 89 deg.07'4
0" 8"
Meridian.................................... 32 deg.21'5 88 deg.42'0
7" 2"
Oxford...................................... 34 deg.22'0 89 deg.31'0
0" 7"
State College............................... 33 deg.27'1 88 deg.47'1
8" 3"
Tupelo...................................... 34 deg.15'2 88 deg.42'3
6" 0"
Missouri:
Cape Girardeau.............................. 37 deg.18'2 89 deg.31'2
9" 9"
Columbia.................................... 38 deg.57'0 92 deg.19'4
3" 6"
Hannibal.................................... 39 deg.42'2 91 deg.22'4
4" 5"
Jefferson City.............................. 38 deg.34'4 92 deg.10'2
0" 4"
Joplin...................................... 37 deg.05'2 94 deg.30'5
6" 0"
Kansas City................................. 39 deg.04'5 94 deg.35'2
6" 0"
Kirksville.................................. 40 deg.11'3 92 deg.34'5
7" 8"
Poplar Bluff................................ 36 deg.45'2 90 deg.23'3
0" 8"
St. Joseph.................................. 39 deg.45'5 94 deg.51'0
7" 2"
St. Louis................................... 38 deg.37'4 90 deg.12'2
5" 2"
Sedalia..................................... 38 deg.42'0 93 deg.13'2
8" 6"
Springfield................................. 37 deg.13'0 93 deg.17'3
3" 2"
Montana:
Anaconda.................................... 46 deg.07'4 112 deg.57'
0" 12"
Billings.................................... 45 deg.47'0 108 deg.30'
0" 04"
Butte....................................... 46 deg.01'0 112 deg.32'
6" 11"
Glendive.................................... 47 deg.06'4 104 deg.43'
2" 02"
Great Falls................................. 47 deg.29'3 111 deg.18'
3" 23"
Helena...................................... 46 deg.35'3 112 deg.02'
3" 24"
Kalispell................................... 48 deg.11'4 114 deg.18'
5" 44"
Miles City.................................. 46 deg.24'3 105 deg.50'
4" 30"
Missoula.................................... 46 deg.52'2 113 deg.59'
3" 29"
Nebraska:
Albion...................................... 41 deg.41'2 97 deg.59'5
3" 3"
Alliance.................................... 42 deg.06'0 102 deg.52'
4" 08"
Bassett..................................... 42 deg.35'0 99 deg.32'1
0" 0"
Grand Island................................ 40 deg.55'3 98 deg.20'2
3" 3"
Hastings.................................... 40 deg.35'2 98 deg.23'2
1" 0"
Hayes Center................................ 40 deg.30'3 101 deg.01'
6" 18"
Hay Springs................................. 42 deg.41'0 102 deg.41'
3" 22"
Kearney..................................... 40 deg.41'5 99 deg.04'5
8" 3"
Lexington................................... 40 deg.46'3 99 deg.44'4
0" 1"
Lincoln..................................... 40 deg.48'5 96 deg.42'1
9" 5"
McCook...................................... 40 deg.12'0 100 deg.37'
2" 32"
Merriman.................................... 42 deg.55'0 101 deg.42'
7" 02"
Norfolk..................................... 42 deg.01'5 97 deg.24'4
6" 2"
North Platte................................ 41 deg.08'1 100 deg.45'
4" 43"
Omaha....................................... 41 deg.15'4 95 deg.56'1
2" 4"
Scottsbluff................................. 41 deg.51'4 103 deg.39'
0" 00"
Superior.................................... 40 deg.01'1 98 deg.04'0
2" 0"
Nevada:
Elko........................................ 40 deg.50'0 115 deg.45'
0" 41"
Henderson................................... 36 deg.02'0 114 deg.58'
0" 57"
Las Vegas................................... 36 deg.10'2 115 deg.08'
0" 37"
Reno........................................ 39 deg.31'2 119 deg.48'
7" 40"
New Hampshire:
Berlin...................................... 44 deg.28'2 71 deg.10'4
0" 3"
Durham...................................... 43 deg.08'0 70 deg.55'3
2" 5"
Hanover..................................... 43 deg.42'0 72 deg.17'2
3" 4"
Keene....................................... 42 deg.56'0 72 deg.16'4
2" 4"
Lebanon..................................... 43 deg.38'3 72 deg.15'1
4" 2"
Littleton................................... 44 deg.18'2 71 deg.46'1
2" 3"
Manchester.................................. 42 deg.59'2 71 deg.27'4
8" 1"
New Jersey:
Atlantic City............................... 39 deg.21'3 74 deg.25'5
2" 3"
Burlington.................................. 40 deg.04'2 74 deg.51'4
1" 7"
Camden...................................... 39 deg.56'4 75 deg.07'2
5" 0"
Glen Ridge.................................. 40 deg.48'1 74 deg.12'1
6" 4"
Linden...................................... 40 deg.37'5 74 deg.15'2
7" 2"
Newark...................................... 40 deg.44'1 74 deg.10'1
4" 9"
New Brunswick............................... 40 deg.29'3 74 deg.26'4
8" 9"
Paterson.................................... 40 deg.54'5 74 deg.09'5
1" 1"
Trenton..................................... 40 deg.13'1 74 deg.45'2
6" 8"
Vineland.................................... 39 deg.29'1 75 deg.01'1
3" 7"
Wildwood.................................... 38 deg.59'1 74 deg.48'4
8" 3"
New Mexico:
Albuquerque................................. 35 deg.05'0 106 deg.39'
1" 05"
Carlsbad.................................... 32 deg.25'0 104 deg.13'
9" 47"
Clovis...................................... 34 deg.24'1 103 deg.12'
1" 08"
Portales.................................... 34 deg.10'5 103 deg.20'
8" 10"
Roswell..................................... 33 deg.23'4 104 deg.31'
7" 26"
New York:
Albany...................................... 42 deg.39'0 73 deg.45'0
1" 1"
Binghamton.................................. 42 deg.06'0 75 deg.54'4
3" 7"
Buffalo..................................... 42 deg.52'5 78 deg.52'2
2" 1"
Carthage.................................... 43 deg.58'5 75 deg.36'2
0" 6"
Elmira...................................... 42 deg.05'2 76 deg.48'2
6" 2"
Garden City................................. 40 deg.43'2 73 deg.38'0
6" 3"
Ithaca...................................... 42 deg.26'3 76 deg.29'4
3" 2"
Jamestown................................... 42 deg.05'4 79 deg.14'4
5" 0"
New York.................................... 40 deg.45'0 73 deg.59'3
6" 9"
North Pole.................................. 44 deg.23'5 73 deg.51'0
9" 0"
Norwood..................................... 44 deg.45'0 75 deg.59'3
0" 9"
Oneonta..................................... 42 deg.27'2 75 deg.03'4
1" 2"
Patchogue................................... 40 deg.45'5 73 deg.00'4
6" 2"
Plattsburgh................................. 44 deg.42'0 73 deg.27'0
3" 7"
Riverhead................................... 40 deg.55'0 72 deg.39'5
6" 1"
Rochester................................... 43 deg.09'4 77 deg.36'2
1" 1"
Schenectady................................. 42 deg.48'5 73 deg.56'2
2" 4"
Syracuse.................................... 43 deg.03'0 76 deg.09'1
4" 4"
Utica....................................... 43 deg.06'1 75 deg.13'3
2" 3"
Watertown................................... 43 deg.58'3 75 deg.54'4
0" 8"
North Carolina:
Asheville................................... 35 deg.35'4 82 deg.33'2
2" 6"
Chapel Hill................................. 35 deg.54'5 79 deg.03'1
1" 1"
Charlotte................................... 35 deg.13'4 80 deg.50'4
4" 5"
Columbia.................................... 35 deg.55'0 76 deg.15'0
6" 4"
Concord..................................... 35 deg.24'2 80 deg.34'4
9" 5"
Durham...................................... 35 deg.59'4 78 deg.54'0
8" 0"
Fayetteville................................ 35 deg.03'1 78 deg.52'5
2" 4"
Greensboro.................................. 36 deg.04'1 79 deg.47'2
7" 5"
Greenville.................................. 35 deg.36'4 77 deg.22'2
9" 2"
Hickory..................................... 35 deg.43'5 81 deg.20'2
4" 0"
High Point.................................. 35 deg.57'1 80 deg.00'1
4" 5"
Jacksonville................................ 34 deg.45'0 77 deg.25'5
0" 4"
Linville.................................... 36 deg.04'0 81 deg.52'1
6" 6"
New Bern.................................... 35 deg.06'3 77 deg.02'2
3" 3"
Raleigh..................................... 35 deg.46'3 78 deg.38'2
8" 1"
Washington.................................. 35 deg.32'3 77 deg.03'1
5" 6"
Wilmington.................................. 34 deg.14'1 77 deg.56'5
4" 8"
Winston-Salem............................... 36 deg.05'5 80 deg.14'4
2" 2"
North Dakota:
Bismark..................................... 46 deg.48'2 100 deg.47'
3" 17"
Devils Lake................................. 48 deg.06'4 98 deg.51'2
2" 9"
Dickinson................................... 46 deg.52'5 102 deg.47'
5" 06"
Fargo....................................... 46 deg.52'3 96 deg.47'1
0" 8"
Minot....................................... 48 deg.14'0 101 deg.17'
9" 38"
Pembina..................................... 48 deg.58'0 97 deg.14'3
0" 7"
Valley City................................. 46 deg.55'3 98 deg.00'0
1" 4"
Williston................................... 48 deg.08'4 103 deg.36'
7" 59"
Ohio:
Akron....................................... 41 deg.05'0 81 deg.30'4
0" 4"
Athens...................................... 39 deg.19'3 82 deg.06'0
8" 9"
Bowling Green............................... 41 deg.22'3 83 deg.39'0
7" 3"
Canton...................................... 40 deg.47'5 81 deg.22'3
0" 7"
Cincinnati.................................. 39 deg.06'0 84 deg.30'3
7" 5"
Cleveland................................... 41 deg.29'5 81 deg.41'5
1" 0"
Columbus.................................... 39 deg.57'4 83 deg.00'1
7" 7"
Dayton...................................... 39 deg.45'3 84 deg.11'4
2" 3"
Kettering................................... 39 deg.41'2 84 deg.10'0
2" 7"
Lima........................................ 40 deg.44'2 84 deg.06'3
9" 4"
Lorain...................................... 41 deg.27'4 82 deg.10'2
8" 3"
Marion...................................... 40 deg.35'1 83 deg.07'3
4" 6"
Newark...................................... 40 deg.03'3 82 deg.24'1
5" 5"
Oxford...................................... 39 deg.30'2 84 deg.44'2
8" 6"
Portsmouth.................................. 38 deg.44'0 82 deg.59'3
6" 9"
Springfield................................. 39 deg.55'3 83 deg.48'2
8" 9"
Steubenville................................ 40 deg.21'4 80 deg.36'5
2" 3"
Toledo...................................... 41 deg.39'1 83 deg.32'3
4" 9"
Youngstown.................................. 41 deg.05'5 80 deg.39'0
7" 2"
Zanesville.................................. 39 deg.56'5 82 deg.00'5
9" 6"
Oklahoma:
Ada......................................... 34 deg.46'2 96 deg.40'3
4" 6"
Ardmore..................................... 34 deg.10'1 97 deg.07'5
8" 0"
Lawton...................................... 34 deg.36'2 98 deg.23'4
7" 1"
Oklahoma City............................... 35 deg.28'2 97 deg.31'0
6" 4"
Sayre....................................... 35 deg.17'3 99 deg.38'2
4" 3"
Tulsa....................................... 36 deg.09'1 95 deg.59'3
2" 4"
Oregon:
Coos Bay.................................... 43 deg.22'0 124 deg.13'
2" 09"
Corvallis................................... 44 deg.34'1 123 deg.16'
0" 12"
Eugene...................................... 44 deg.03'1 123 deg.05'
6" 30"
Klamath Falls............................... 42 deg.13'3 121 deg.46'
2" 32"
La Grande................................... 45 deg.19'4 118 deg.05'
7" 45"
Medford..................................... 42 deg.19'3 122 deg.52'
3" 31"
Portland.................................... 45 deg.31'0 122 deg.40'
6" 35"
Roseburg.................................... 43 deg.12'3 123 deg.20'
4" 26"
Salem....................................... 44 deg.56'2 123 deg.01'
1" 59"
Pennsylvania:
Allentown................................... 40 deg.36'1 75 deg.28'0
1" 6"
Altoona..................................... 40 deg.30'5 78 deg.24'0
5" 3"
Bethlehem................................... 40 deg.37'5 75 deg.21'3
7" 6"
Clearfield.................................. 41 deg.01'2 78 deg.26'1
0" 0"
Erie........................................ 42 deg.07'1 80 deg.04'5
5" 7"
Harrisburg.................................. 40 deg.15'4 76 deg.52'5
3" 9"
Hershey..................................... 40 deg.17'0 76 deg.39'0
4" 1"
Johnstown................................... 40 deg.19'3 78 deg.55'0
5" 3"
Lancaster................................... 40 deg.02'2 76 deg.18'2
5" 9"
Philadelphia................................ 39 deg.56'5 75 deg.09'2
8" 1"
Pittsburgh.................................. 40 deg.26'1 80 deg.00'0
9" 0"
Reading..................................... 40 deg.20'0 75 deg.55'4
9" 0"
Scranton.................................... 41 deg.24'3 75 deg.39'4
2" 6"
Wilkes-Barre................................ 41 deg.14'3 75 deg.53'1
2" 7"
York........................................ 39 deg.57'3 76 deg.43'3
5" 6"
Puerto Rico:
Aguadilla................................... 18 deg.25'5 67 deg.09'1
3" 8"
Arecibo..................................... 18 deg.28'2 66 deg.43'3
6" 9"
Caguas...................................... 18 deg.13'5 66 deg.02'0
9" 6"
Fajardo..................................... 18 deg.19'3 65 deg.39'2
5" 1"
Mayaguez.................................... 18 deg.12'1 67 deg.08'3
6" 6"
Ponce....................................... 18 deg.00'5 66 deg.36'5
1" 8"
San Juan.................................... 18 deg.26'5 66 deg.03'5
5" 5"
Rhode Island:
Providence.................................. 41 deg.49'3 71 deg.24'4
2" 1"
South Carolina:
Allendale................................... 33 deg.00'3 81 deg.18'2
0" 6"
Anderson.................................... 34 deg.30'0 82 deg.38'5
6" 4"
Charleston.................................. 32 deg.46'3 79 deg.55'5
5" 3"
Columbia.................................... 34 deg.00'0 81 deg.02'0
2" 0"
Florence.................................... 34 deg.11'4 79 deg.46'0
9" 6"
Greenville.................................. 34 deg.50'5 82 deg.24'0
0" 1"
Spartanburg................................. 34 deg.57'0 81 deg.56'0
3" 6"
South Dakota:
Aberdeen.................................... 45 deg.27'3 98 deg.29'0
1" 3"
Brookings................................... 44 deg.18'3 96 deg.47'5
8" 3"
Florence.................................... 45 deg.03'1 97 deg.19'3
4" 5"
Lead........................................ 44 deg.21'0 103 deg.46'
7" 03"
Mitchell.................................... 43 deg.42'4 98 deg.01'3
8" 6"
Pierre...................................... 44 deg.22'0 100 deg.20'
6" 57"
Rapid City.................................. 44 deg.04'5 103 deg.13'
2" 11"
Reliance.................................... 43 deg.52'4 99 deg.36'1
5" 8"
Sioux Falls................................. 43 deg.32'3 96 deg.43'3
5" 5"
Vermillion.................................. 42 deg.46'5 96 deg.55'3
2" 5"
Tennessee:
Chattanooga................................. 35 deg.02'4 85 deg.18'3
1" 2"
Jackson..................................... 35 deg.36'4 88 deg.49'1
8" 5"
Johnson City................................ 36 deg.19'0 82 deg.20'5
4" 6"
Kingsport................................... 36 deg.32'5 82 deg.33'4
7" 4"
Knoxville................................... 35 deg.57'3 83 deg.55'0
9" 7"
Lexington................................... 35 deg.38'5 88 deg.23'3
8" 1"
Memphis..................................... 35 deg.08'4 90 deg.03'1
6" 3"
Nashville................................... 36 deg.09'3 86 deg.46'5
3" 5"
Sneedville.................................. 36 deg.31'4 83 deg.13'0
6" 4"
Texas:
Abilene..................................... 32 deg.27'0 99 deg.43'5
5" 1"
Amarillo.................................... 35 deg.12'2 101 deg.50'
7" 04"
Austin...................................... 30 deg.16'0 97 deg.44'3
9" 7"
Beaumont.................................... 30 deg.05'2 94 deg.06'0
0" 9"
Belton...................................... 31 deg.03'3 97 deg.27'3
1" 9"
Big Spring.................................. 32 deg.15'0 101 deg.28'
3" 38"
Bryan....................................... 30 deg.38'4 96 deg.21'3
8" 1"
College Station............................. 30 deg.37'0 96 deg.20'4
5" 1"
Corpus Christi.............................. 27 deg.47'5 97 deg.23'4
1" 5"
Dallas...................................... 32 deg.47'0 96 deg.47'3
9" 7"
El Paso..................................... 31 deg.45'3 106 deg.29'
6" 11"
Fort Worth.................................. 32 deg.44'5 97 deg.19'4
5" 4"
Galveston................................... 29 deg.18'1 94 deg.47'4
0" 3"
Harlingen................................... 26 deg.11'2 97 deg.41'3
9" 5"
Houston..................................... 29 deg.45'2 95 deg.21'3
6" 7"
Laredo...................................... 27 deg.30'2 99 deg.30'3
2" 0"
Longview.................................... 32 deg.28'2 94 deg.43'4
4" 5"
Lubbock..................................... 33 deg.35'0 101 deg.50'
5" 33"
Lufkin...................................... 31 deg.20'1 94 deg.43'2
4" 1"
Midland..................................... 31 deg.59'5 102 deg.04'
4" 31"
Monahans.................................... 31 deg.35'1 102 deg.53'
6" 26"
Nacogdoches................................. 31 deg.36'1 94 deg.39'2
3" 0"
Odessa...................................... 31 deg.50'4 102 deg.22'
9" 01"
Port Arthur................................. 29 deg.52'0 93 deg.56'0
9" 1"
Richardson.................................. 32 deg.57'0 96 deg.44'0
6" 5"
Rosenberg................................... 29 deg.33'3 95 deg.48'1
0" 5"
San Angelo.................................. 31 deg.27'3 100 deg.26'
9" 03"
San Antonio................................. 29 deg.25'3 98 deg.29'0
7" 6"
Sweetwater.................................. 32 deg.28'2 100 deg.24'
4" 18"
Temple...................................... 31 deg.06'0 97 deg.20'2
2" 2"
Texarkana................................... 33 deg.25'2 94 deg.02'3
9" 4"
Tyler....................................... 32 deg.21'2 95 deg.17'5
1" 2"
Victoria.................................... 28 deg.48'0 97 deg.00'0
1" 6"
Waco........................................ 31 deg.33'1 97 deg.08'0
2" 0"
Weslaco..................................... 26 deg.09'2 97 deg.59'3
4" 3"
Wichita Falls............................... 33 deg.54'3 98 deg.29'2
4" 8"
Utah:
Logan....................................... 41 deg.44'0 111 deg.50'
3" 11"
Ogden....................................... 41 deg.13'3 111 deg.58'
1" 21"
Provo....................................... 40 deg.14'0 111 deg.39'
7" 34"
Salt Lake City.............................. 40 deg.45'2 111 deg.53'
3" 26"
Vermont:
Burlington.................................. 44 deg.28'3 73 deg.12'4
4" 6"
Rutland..................................... 43 deg.36'2 72 deg.58'5
9" 6"
St. Johnsbury............................... 44 deg.25'1 72 deg.01'1
6" 3"
Windsor..................................... 43 deg.28'3 72 deg.23'3
8" 2"
Virginia:
Bristol..................................... 36 deg.35'4 82 deg.11'0
8" 4"
Charlottesville............................. 38 deg.01'5 78 deg.28'5
2" 0"
Goldvein.................................... 38 deg.26'5 77 deg.39'1
4" 9"
Hampton..................................... 37 deg.01'3 76 deg.20'3
2" 2"
Harrisonburg................................ 38 deg.27'0 78 deg.52'0
1" 7"
Lynchburg................................... 37 deg.24'5 79 deg.08'3
1" 7"
Norfolk..................................... 36 deg.51'1 76 deg.17'2
0" 1"
Norton...................................... 36 deg.56'0 82 deg.37'3
5" 1"
Petersburg.................................. 37 deg.13'4 77 deg.24'1
0" 5"
Portsmouth.................................. 36 deg.50'1 76 deg.17'5
2" 4"
Richmond.................................... 37 deg.32'1 77 deg.26'0
5" 9"
Roanoke..................................... 37 deg.16'1 79 deg.56'4
3" 4"
Staunton.................................... 38 deg.09'0 79 deg.04'3
2" 4"
Virgin Islands:
Charlotte Amalie............................ 18 deg.20'3 64 deg.55'5
6" 3"
Christiansted............................... 17 deg.44'4 64 deg.42'2
4" 1"
Washington:
Bellingham.................................. 48 deg.45'0 122 deg.28'
2" 36"
Kennewick................................... 46 deg.12'2 119 deg.08'
8" 32"
Lakewood Center............................. 47 deg.07'3 122 deg.31'
7" 15"
Pasco....................................... 46 deg.13'5 119 deg.05'
0" 27"
Pullman..................................... 46 deg.43'4 117 deg.10'
2" 46"
Richland.................................... 46 deg.16'3 119 deg.16'
6" 21"
Seattle..................................... 47 deg.36'3 122 deg.20'
2" 12"
Spokane..................................... 47 deg.39'3 117 deg.25'
2" 33"
Tacoma...................................... 47 deg.14'5 122 deg.26'
9" 15"
Yakima...................................... 46 deg.36'0 120 deg.30'
9" 39"
West Virginia:
Bluefield................................... 37 deg.15'2 81 deg.13'2
9" 0"
Charleston.................................. 38 deg.21'0 81 deg.37'5
1" 2"
Clarksburg.................................. 39 deg.16'5 80 deg.20'3
0" 8"
Grandview................................... 37 deg.49'2 81 deg.04'2
8" 0"
Huntington.................................. 38 deg.25'1 82 deg.26'3
2" 3"
Morgantown.................................. 39 deg.37'4 79 deg.57'2
1" 8"
Oak Hill.................................... 37 deg.58'3 81 deg.08'4
1" 5"
Parkersburg................................. 39 deg.15'5 81 deg.33'4
7" 6"
Weston...................................... 39 deg.02'1 80 deg.28'0
9" 5"
Wheeling.................................... 40 deg.04'0 80 deg.43'2
3" 0"
Wisconsin:
Eau Claire.................................. 44 deg.48'3 91 deg.29'4
1" 9"
Fond Du Lac................................. 43 deg.46'3 88 deg.26'5
5" 2"
Green Bay................................... 44 deg.30'4 88 deg.00'5
8" 0"
Janesville.................................. 42 deg.40'5 89 deg.01'3
2" 9"
Kenosha..................................... 42 deg.35'0 87 deg.49'1
4" 4"
La Crosse................................... 43 deg.48'4 91 deg.15'0
8" 2"
Madison..................................... 43 deg.04'2 89 deg.22'5
3" 5"
Milwaukee................................... 43 deg.02'1 87 deg.54'1
9" 5"
Rhinelander................................. 45 deg.38'0 89 deg.24'5
9" 0"
Superior.................................... 46 deg.43'1 92 deg.06'0
4" 7"
Wausau...................................... 44 deg.57'3 89 deg.37'4
0" 0"
Wyoming:
Casper...................................... 42 deg.51'0 106 deg.19'
0" 22"
Cheyenne.................................... 41 deg.08'0 104 deg.49'
9" 07"
Rawlins..................................... 41 deg.47'2 107 deg.14'
3" 37"
Riverton.................................... 43 deg.01'2 108 deg.23'
9" 03"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[TOP]
§76.54
Significantly viewed signals; method to be followed for special showings.
[TOP]
§76.55
Definitions applicable to the must-carry rules.
[TOP]
§76.56
Signal carriage obligations.
[TOP]
§76.57
Channel positioning.
[TOP]
§76.59
Modification of television markets.
[TOP]
§76.60
Compensation for carriage.
[TOP]
§76.61
Disputes concerning carriage.
[TOP]
§76.62
Manner of carriage.
[TOP]
§76.64
Retransmission consent.
[TOP]
§76.65
Good faith and exclusive retransmission consent complaints.
[TOP]
§76.66
Satellite broadcast signal carriage.
[TOP]
§76.70
Exemption from input selector switch rules.
[TOP]
§76.71
Scope of application.
[TOP]
§76.73
General EEO policy.
[TOP]
§76.75
EEO program requirements.
[TOP]
§76.77
Reporting requirements.
[TOP]
§76.79
Records available for public inspection.
[TOP]
§76.92
Cable network non-duplication; extent of protection.
[TOP]
§76.93
Parties entitled to network non-duplication protection.
[TOP]
§76.94
Notification.
[TOP]
§76.95
Exceptions.
[TOP]
§76.101
Cable syndicated program exclusivity: extent of protection.
[TOP]
§76.103
Parties entitled to syndicated exclusivity.
[TOP]
§76.105
Notification.
[TOP]
§76.106
Exceptions.
[TOP]
§76.107
Exclusivity contracts.
[TOP]
§76.108
Indemnification contracts.
[TOP]
§76.109
Requirements for invocation of protection.
[TOP]
§76.110
Substitutions.
[TOP]
§76.111
Cable sports blackout.
[TOP]
§76.120
Network non-duplication protection, syndicated exclusivity and sports blackout rules for satellite carriers: Definitions.
[TOP]
§76.122
Satellite network non-duplication.
[TOP]
§76.123
Satellite syndicated program exclusivity.
[TOP]
§76.124
Requirements for invocation of protection.
[TOP]
§76.125
Indemnification contracts.
[TOP]
§76.127
Satellite sports blackout.
[TOP]
§76.128
Application of sports blackout rules.
[TOP]
§76.130
Substitutions.
[TOP]
§76.205
Origination cablecasts by legally qualified candidates for public office; equal opportunities.
[TOP]
§76.206
Candidate rates.
[TOP]
§76.209
Fairness doctrine; personal attacks; political editorials.
[TOP]
§76.213
Lotteries.
[TOP]
§76.225
Commercial limits in children's programs.
[TOP]
§76.227
[Resserved]
[TOP]
§76.309
Customer service obligations.
[TOP]
§76.403
Cable television system reports.
[TOP]
§76.501
Cross-ownership.
[TOP]
§76.502
Time limits applicable to franchise authority consideration of transfer applications.
[TOP]
§76.503
National subscriber limits.
[TOP]
§76.504
Limits on carriage of vertically integrated programming.
[TOP]
§76.505
Prohibition on buy outs.
[TOP]
§76.601
Performance tests.
[TOP]
§76.605
Technical standards.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Signal
leakage
Frequencies limit Distance in
(micro-volt/ meters (m)
meter)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Less than and including 54 MHz, and over 216 15 30
MHz..........................................
Over 54 up to and including 216 MHz........... 20 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[TOP]
§76.606
Closed captioning.
[TOP]
§76.609
Measurements.
[TOP]
§76.610
Operation in the frequency bands 108-137 and 225-400 MHz -- scope of application.
[TOP]
§76.611
Cable television basic signal leakage performance criteria.