18. Must-Carry

Must-Carry or Retransmission Consent Election. There are two ways that a broadcast TV station can choose to be carried on a cable TV system: “must-carry” and “retransmission consent.”

Must-Carry. All TV stations are generally entitled to be carried on cable television systems in their local markets. A station that chooses to exercise this right receives no compensation from the cable system.

Retransmission. Instead of exercising their “must-carry” rights, commercial TV stations may choose to receive compensation from a cable system in return for granting permission to the cable system to carry the station. This option is available only to commercial TV stations.

Every three years, commercial TV stations must decide whether their relationship with each local cable system will be governed by must-carry or by retransmission consent agreements. Each commercial station must keep a copy of its decision in the public file for the three-year period to which it pertains. Noncommercial stations are not entitled to compensation in return for carriage on a cable system, but they may request mandatory carriage on the system. A noncommercial station making this request must keep a copy of the request in the public file for the duration of the period to which it applies.

Documents in File:

• Comcast Demand Lettter
• COX Demand Letter
• Independent Demand Letter
• Must Carry Adelphia Guise Letter
• Must Carry KVMD DBS
• Must Carry Letter Adelphia
• Must Carry Letter Charter 08-15-05
• Must Carry Letter Charter 09-01-05
• Must Carry Letter Comcast
• Must Carry Letter Cox
• Must Carry Letter DBS
• Must Carry Letter Independents
• Must Carry Letter Time Warner
• Response to Charter Rasmussen
• Time Warner - CARRIED
• Time Warner - NOT CARRIED
• Time Warner Demand Letter

• KVMD Must Carry 2008