• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Please Explain Cable's "Must-Carry" Rules

G

Gregg

The FCC requires cable systems to carry all the signals of local TV stations, even if those stations are shopping channels or religious channels. But where I live, some channels you'd think would be must-carry don't show up.

I have Time-Warner in North Jersey. They don't carry some of the stations that get carried on other nearby cable systems. For instance, we don't get Me-TV from WZME Bridgeport CT. I'm glad because TW takes Me-TV directly from the network. WZME runs infomercials and E/I kids shows instead of Me-TV several hour of the day. I also don't see Connecticut Public Television's Bridgeport station showing up on NY-area cable systems.

Other nearby cable systems also carry WRNN Kingston (including their subchannels running Al Jazeera English and NHK English). TW takes NHK English directly from the network but doesn't run Al Jazeera and even disconnected Current when they announced their Al Jazeera sale. I also see TW doesn't take WTBY Poughkeepsie, which runs several channels of Trinity religious shows. They're close enough that I get them over the air, but not on my cable system. WRNN and WZME are too far away for me to pick up over the air.

TW does run two distant NJ stations, WMBC Newton and WFME West Milford. But I guess Must Carry doesn't apply to North Jersey for those two Hudson Valley and one Connecticut station.
 
Here's how things get complicated:

In general, a cable system is required to carry any TV station located in the same DMA as the cable system, provided the station has elected must-carry instead of trying to negotiate for retransmission consent payments.

The reason some stations in the same DMA don't get carried in your case has to do with a loophole in the rules that allows a cable operator to challenge "must-carry" if the cable company can demonstrate that the station has no connection with the community. In the case of cable systems in New Jersey, they are often (but not always) able to make the case that Connecticut- and Hudson Valley-based stations such as WRNN and WZME don't put any over-the-air signal over their areas. The cable company can also demonstrate that there's no "pattern of historic viewership" of those stations - if they're not listed in the local paper, don't have any over-the-air ratings, and don't provide any local news or public-service programming relevant to the distant area, they can often get the FCC to rule that they're not "within the market" for must-carry purposes. These decisions are made on a town-by-town basis, so it's entirely possible that the systems in nearby areas may have some channels that you don't get, and vice versa.

In certain other cases, it appears that the station has simply failed to (or chosen not to) make a must-carry request. That's the only reason I can see for WTBY and WFME-TV having been absent from cable for a long time on many NYC-area systems.

The rules for PBS stations are a little different. I believe there's a cap on the number of signals systems are required to carry, which is why you get NJTV and WNET and WLIW but not CPTV, and vice versa in Connecticut and the Hudson Valley. And in Manhattan, I'm pretty sure NJN actually sold off its must-carry rights on cable some years back.
 
Scott Fybush said:
The rules for PBS stations are a little different. I believe there's a cap on the number of signals systems are required to carry, which is why you get NJTV and WNET and WLIW but not CPTV, and vice versa in Connecticut and the Hudson Valley. And in Manhattan, I'm pretty sure NJN actually sold off its must-carry rights on cable some years back.
Click to expand...

Right. That was how The Food Network got on to Time Warner Cable in Manhattan when it was launched back in the 1990s.

Here's a story about that: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/16/nyregion/new-jersey-daily-briefing-trading-rights-for-dollars.html
 
In addition, if a station fails to provide a quality signal, then it won't be carried.

Sometimes deals are done when the station is an outlying area and wanting coverage throughout market. One station KFTY in Santa Rosa struck a deal with Comcast. Comcast agreed to carry it all throughout the Bay Area. But, in exchange, on digital cable only, on a high number throughout the entire market, even in the immediate viewing area. So, it lost analog/low dial positioning and locals in North Bay in a way lost prime access to it. No longer found in hotel lineups in Santa Rosa. The station pretty much ceased being a local station to the North Bay area of SF DMA.

The channel ended up becoming KEMO and is now an Azteca America affiliate.
 
As I understand it, cable and satellite providers do not take terrestrial TV signals off the air. The station is required to provide a link (usually microwave) to the cable or satellite system's distribution center. No link, no carriage.
 
That's not the case, Fred. Most cable (and all satellite) providers still maintain a point of presence in each market where they receive signals, often over the air, and ingest them into their system. While some TV stations do provide fiber or microwave connections to those points of presence, they're not generally required to do so, and they go to that expense for one of two reasons: either they want to provide a redundant connection that will stay up even if a transmitter site loses power, or they're distant enough that they can't otherwise deliver a reliable signal to the point of presence. Some TV stations located in relatively remote parts of a market will go to great lengths to supply that signal to a distant headend, even using satellite uplinks in some cases.
 
Scott Fybush said:
That's not the case, Fred. Most cable (and all satellite) providers still maintain a point of presence in each market where they receive signals, often over the air, and ingest them into their system. While some TV stations do provide fiber or microwave connections to those points of presence, they're not generally required to do so, and they go to that expense for one of two reasons: either they want to provide a redundant connection that will stay up even if a transmitter site loses power, or they're distant enough that they can't otherwise deliver a reliable signal to the point of presence. Some TV stations located in relatively remote parts of a market will go to great lengths to supply that signal to a distant headend, even using satellite uplinks in some cases.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I can tell you that the station I work at has no such link, and I've seen the receive point feeding the Madison, Wis. stations.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom