St. Joe will luaunch a Fox Channel

[ding12]

No, that's not required. At least not directly.

Must-carry requires the carriage of most *full-power* stations that deliver an adequate signal to the head-end and are located in the same market as the cable system/viewer. They do not require the carriage of two affiliates of the same network.

You responded to LPs and must-carry. I wasn't discussing must-carry but discussing network retransmission:
The cable system still has to carry the closest of the network affiliate, even if two affiliates (say 2 NBCs) cover the area. It is the responsibility of that affiliate to provide the quality signal though. Whether its Low Power, Full Power, or digital subchannel, in DMA or out of DMA, SV or not SV, historic cable carriage or not, it doesn't matter. The closest affiliate rule trumps.

This stemmed from retransmission consent giving the network affiliates leverage so that the cable system couldn't do a "oh, we'll pick up the Denver network affiliate of NBC from C-Band, and provide our own local news via a cable newschannel" or we'll find another affiliate from the city 60 miles away rather than taking your station. Otherwise, stations like the South Bend, IN WBND-LP would be out of business.

WWSB in Sarasota would be wiped out having no leverage with cable, because cable could just strike a large exclusive deal with larger WFTS.

This is clause makes it so that while the LP can't exercise must-carry, it can have leverage being the closest network affiliate to get on cable.

The introduction of WBOC digital subchannel originally carrying UPN, but gaining Fox affiliation, allowed WBOC to push the Fox channel (which met network status) on both Comcast and Fios in Kent County, DE. You can't say that was SV because it was a new affiliate from out of the DMA. As the crow flies, Dover is closer to Salisbury than Philly. It wasn't retrans because their retrans applies within its own DMA but not within the Philly market. WNEP in Scranton runs a LP station in Allentown that helps preserve it's cable system coverage in the Lehigh Valley. Also it helps keep an ABC signal OTA there, gets Scranton news on cable there, while not introducing a local ABC affiliate that would otherwise harm WPVI.

Note: this only applies to cable and not satellite. Satellite only has to carry full power stations within DMA that elect must-carry.

 

[ding12]

I can't edit the above post, but this is what I found:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2011-title47-vol4-sec76-56.xml

(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.

While there is debate if the station has to must-carry electable (e.g. full power status), the above is part of 76.56 under Signal carriage obligations, while must-carry is addressed elsewhere.

 

[w9wi]

I can't edit the above post, but this is what I found:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2011-title47-vol4-sec76-56.xml

(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.

While there is debate if the station has to must-carry electable (e.g. full power status), the above is part of 76.56 under Signal carriage obligations, while must-carry is addressed elsewhere.

What I get from that (and I am an engineer, not a lawyer) is that if two or more affiliates of the same network are must-carry eligible, the cable system only needs carry one of them, but must carry the closest one. (and I will admit I was not aware of the regulation you quoted)

I still don't see where it establishes a must-carry requirement for a LPTV where it wouldn't exist otherwise. IOW, if K16KF-D was otherwise eligible for must-carry (under the criteria I cited in my earlier post), and it held a Fox affiliation, and WDAF was also eligible for must-carry in St. Joe -- the St. Joe cable system would only be required to carry WDAF *or* K16KF -- and since K16KF was the closest affiliate, it would be K16KF the system would be required to carry.

But if K16KF was *not* otherwise eligible for must-carry in St. Joe (and it isn't, because there are two full-power stations licensed to St. Joseph) then the mere fact that it's the closest Fox affiliate would *not* require the cable system to carry it.

Again, I'm certainly not the final authority on this though!

 

[Kent]

As I understand it, there is no must-carry right for an LPTV, even if it's a network affiliate. Besides, even if the must-carry rule applied to an LPTV, a cable company cannot be forced to black out a significantly viewed channel, which WDAF-TV certainly is in St. Joe. As I mentioned previously, the cable company is under no obligation to carry said significantly viewed channel; the FCC simply can't force the cable company to black it out. A commonplace situation is for an LPTV to get on cable via part of the compensation package for carrying a full-power station while another part of that same compensation package is that the significantly viewed out of market channel gets blacked out, at least during network programming. It's a back way to force a blackout, but the FCC rules don't dictate it. Of course, with this new Fox affiliate being an LPTV with no companion full-power channel (unless NPG buys KQTV), I'm not sure it's going to have any leverage with Suddenlink.

By the way, when it comes to whether or not WDAF-TV cares about St. Joe, it might a little more than you think. I can think of at least one large company that has operations in St. Joe but none in KC (unless things have changed recently, anyway). The KC area Menards is in St. Joseph, and it advertises on KC stations. There are other businesses in Clay and Platte Counties that mostly target viewers in downtown KC and north but also get St. Joe customers. Hy-Vee's northland location used to draw a small but significant portion of their business from people in southern Buchanan and northern Platte Counties until they finally opened up a St. Joe location.

 

[azumanga]

...if two or more affiliates of the same network are must-carry eligible, the cable system only needs carry one of them, but must carry the closest one.

One such situation is in Lansing, Michigan, which is within range of two Ion Television stations -- WPXD in Ann Arbor, which serves Detroit and has its transmitter in northwestern Washtenaw County; and WZPX in Battle Creek, which serves Grand Rapids and western Michigan. The Comcast system in the Lansing area gets its Ion programming from WZPX, as it's not only the closest, but its transmitter is not only closer to Lansing, but is located in western Eaton County, part of the Lansing market, which qualifies it for must-carry.

...with this new Fox affiliate being an LPTV with no companion full-power channel (unless NPG buys KQTV), I'm not sure it's going to have any leverage with Suddenlink.

Under current FCC rules, as NPG owns the News-Press in St. Joe, they can't own KQTV. (Or KTAJ, should TBN ever put that station up for sale.)

 

[w9wi]

As I understand it, there is no must-carry right for an LPTV, even if it's a network affiliate. Besides, even if the must-carry rule applied to an LPTV, a cable company cannot be forced to black out a significantly viewed channel, which WDAF-TV certainly is in St. Joe. As I mentioned previously, the cable company is under no obligation to carry said significantly viewed channel; the FCC simply can't force the cable company to black it out. A commonplace situation is for an LPTV to get on cable via part of the compensation package for carrying a full-power station while another part of that same compensation package is that the significantly viewed out of market channel gets blacked out, at least during network programming. It's a back way to force a blackout, but the FCC rules don't dictate it. Of course, with this new Fox affiliate being an LPTV with no companion full-power channel (unless NPG buys KQTV), I'm not sure it's going to have any leverage with Suddenlink.

That's not entirely true -- see my earlier post -- there are circumstances under which LPTVs have must-carry rights. But it's very rare, and not applicable in this case. (because one of the requirements for a LPTV to have must-carry rights, is that there must be no full-power station licensed to the same county as the cable system. KQTV & KTAJ ensure that no LPTV will have must-carry in St. Joseph.)

A cable operator cannot be forced *by the FCC* to blank out a significantly viewed channel. However, a cable operator must have permission to carry a station. If WDAF were to deny the St. Joseph cable system permission, it could no longer be carried there. Again, I am very much just speculating, but WDAF might deny that permission if their Fox affiliation contract required them to deny carriage permission in a market with its own Fox affiliate.


I strongly suspect NPG has some kind of negotiations going on with Suddenlink. NPG is not a stupid company -- they're not going to spend the $$$ to launch a Fox affiliate knowing that station is going to be unavailable to what, 60-70% of the audience? I think you can probably assume this station *will* be on cable. It won't be there because of must-carry, but they will have made some other arrangement. Maybe they've agreed to lease a channel? Maybe carriage of the St. Joe LPTV will be part of the retransmission consent agreement for a NPG full-power station in some other Suddenlink market?


azumanga: Transmitter location in the Lansing market doesn't in itself qualify WZPX for must-carry. However, one of the criteria is adequate signal strength, and of course a transmitter location closer to Lansing helps guarantee that. The case there is probably made a bit easier by the fact the two stations are co-owned. (and because they're nearly 100% simulcast, chances are literally *nobody* cares which one is carried!)

 

[nomadcowatbk]

As I understand it, there is no must-carry right for an LPTV, even if it's a network affiliate. Besides, even if the must-carry rule applied to an LPTV, a cable company cannot be forced to black out a significantly viewed channel, which WDAF-TV certainly is in St. Joe. As I mentioned previously, the cable company is under no obligation to carry said significantly viewed channel; the FCC simply can't force the cable company to black it out. A commonplace situation is for an LPTV to get on cable via part of the compensation package for carrying a full-power station while another part of that same compensation package is that the significantly viewed out of market channel gets blacked out, at least during network programming. It's a back way to force a blackout, but the FCC rules don't dictate it. Of course, with this new Fox affiliate being an LPTV with no companion full-power channel (unless NPG buys KQTV), I'm not sure it's going to have any leverage with Suddenlink.

That's not entirely true -- see my earlier post -- there are circumstances under which LPTVs have must-carry rights. But it's very rare, and not applicable in this case. (because one of the requirements for a LPTV to have must-carry rights, is that there must be no full-power station licensed to the same county as the cable system. KQTV & KTAJ ensure that no LPTV will have must-carry in St. Joseph.)

A cable operator cannot be forced *by the FCC* to blank out a significantly viewed channel. However, a cable operator must have permission to carry a station. If WDAF were to deny the St. Joseph cable system permission, it could no longer be carried there. Again, I am very much just speculating, but WDAF might deny that permission if their Fox affiliation contract required them to deny carriage permission in a market with its own Fox affiliate.

I think WDAF asked to be taken off cable systems in the Topeka DMA. Maybe Fox made them do that as part of it's agreement with the Topeka Fox affiliate.

 

[mgsports]

Menards is coming to KC area and then the fox in Topeka showed be shown in St. Joesph.

 

[azumanga]

Menards is coming to KC area and then the fox in Topeka showed be shown in St. Joesph.

The Fox affiliate in Topeka, KTMJ-CA, is also low-powered, and uses its stater station, NBC affiliate KSNT, for HD transmission. On that note, there's a chance that KTMJ won't be offered on cable in St. Joseph without KSNT.

 

[ding12]

As I understand it, there is no must-carry right for an LPTV, even if it's a network affiliate.

It won't be there because of must-carry, but they will have made some other arrangement.

This doesn't fall into must-carry. I'm not sure why must-carry is continued to being discussed here.

Under Title 47 Signal Carriage Obligations, The station has assurance that if a cable system wants to carry a broadcast network affiliate, the law gives favor so that the closest network affiliate has claim to be carried (if it exercises so). It doesn't say closest network affiliate that happens to be capable of electing must-carry. A low powered station can certainly be a network affiliate, and many network affiliates anyway choose retransmission consent over must-carry. They can't choose both.
--
A similar deal was Fox granting an affiliation here:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/475528-Hattiesburg_Gets_Fox_Affiliate.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHPM-LD

WHPM is a low power Fox station and has no co-owned full powered sister station within the same market. So no retrans from another station in the same market that may have bundled it together.

Cable in Hattiesburg carries both WHPM as well as WXXV, which is a full powered Fox station from another market and different owner.

In St.Joseph, I doubt WDAF will be deleted, but this new Fox station should be able to get on cable on the basis that WDAF will be now the duplicative Fox station while it is the closest Fox station.

 

[mgsports]

Okay KS side of Metro Topeka Stations and MO side St. Joesph stations.