In the United States, must-carry is a regulation by the FCC requiring that cable TV systems must carry all locally-licensed television stations. This was done to prevent cable from destroying free over-the-air television.
There are a few exceptions, most notably:
- Must-carry may only be applied if the television station has made the request to be carried under this provision.
- A station does not have distribution under must-carry legislation until a certain number of days after it provides usable signal to the headend for the cable or satellite provider; the station must pay the expense of leased lines to reach providers such as Colorado-based Dish Network or California-based DirecTV.
- Foreign signals, such as Windsor locals or Tijuana's FOX affiliate, are not required to be carried.
- Low-power broadcasts are not required to be carried.
There is also another option called rebroadcast consent. This option allows stations to charge cable or satellite providers for signals such as CBS, NBC and ABC but there is no obligation for the provider to carry the signal on these terms.
Sometimes, these channels have been temporarily removed from distribution by systems who felt broadcasters were asking too steep a price for their signal. In one incident, all CBS-owned local stations plus MTV/VH1 and Nickelodeon were removed from DiSH Network for two days in 2004.
Digital must-carry, also called dual must-carry, is the potential requirement that cable companies carry both the analog and digital transmissions of local stations. This is being fought against by numerous television networks, who might be bumped off of digital cable were this to happen, and fought for by TV stations and the National Association of Broadcasters, whom it would benefit by passing their HDTV or multichannel DTV signals through to their cable viewers.
Must-carry also applies somewhat to DBS services like DirecTV and DiSH Network, who are not required to carry every metro area's stations, but must carry all of an area's stations if they do carry any at all.
Sometimes, these will be placed on spotbeams : narrowly-directed satellite signals targeted to an area of no more than a few hundred miles diameter, in order to allow the transponder frequencies to be re-used in other markets. In some cases, stations of lower perceived importance are placed on "side satellites" which require a second antenna. This practice has raised some controversy within the industry, leading to the requirement that the satellite provider offer to install any extra dish antenna hardware for free and place a notice to this effect in place of any missing channels.
External links
Last updated: 10-10-2005 00:53:29
