Opinion ID: 2506
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 1992 Cable Act and Its Must-Carry Provisions

Text: The must-carry provisions of the 1992 Cable Act require cable operators, such as Cablevision, to carry the signals of a number of local commercial television stations. 47 U.S.C. § 534(a). The statute caps the number of such stations that a cable operator must carry at up to one-third of the aggregate number of usable activated channels on that operator's system. Id. § 534(b)(1)(B). For our purposes, a local commercial television station is a broadcast station ( i.e., a station that transmits its signal over the airwaves) that, with respect to a particular cable system, is within the same television market as the cable system. Id. § 534(h)(1)(A). A broadcast station's market shall be determined by the Commission by regulation or order using, where available, commercial publications which delineate television markets based on viewing patterns. Id. § 534(h)(1)(C)(i). Currently, the Commission relies on the commercial publications of Nielsen Media Research that divide the nation into a series of coterminous geographic Designated Market Areas (DMAs) based on viewership patterns. 47 C.F.R. § 76.55(e)(2). For example, the New York City DMA contains not only the five boroughs of the city, but also neighboring areas of Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and upstate New York, as well as limited areas of Pennsylvania, because people in those areas, in the aggregate, watch the same television channels. The upshot of the must-carry provisions is that, in general, each cable operator is required to carry the signal of every broadcast station in its DMA, until it has dedicated one-third of the aggregate number of usable activated channels on its system to such channels. 47 U.S.C. § 534(b)(1)(B); see also id. § 534(a)-(b), (h)(1)(C). Both Cablevision and WRNN are located within the New York City DMA, and Cablevision currently has fewer than one-third of its channels dedicated to must-carry stations. The only relevant exception to this must-carry rule occurs under the statute's market modification provision. Pursuant to this provision, the FCC may, on written request, add certain communities to, or exclude certain communities from, a given broadcast station's market to better effectuate the purposes of the statute. § 534(h)(1)(C)(i). If a given community is excluded from a station's market, cable operators in that community are no longer required to carry that station. If a given community is added, cable operators in that community must commence carriage of that station's signal unless they already devote one-third of their channels to local broadcast stations. See id. In considering market modification requests, the statute instructs the FCC to afford particular attention to the value of localism by taking into account such factors as (I) whether the station, or other stations located in the same area, have been historically carried on the cable system or systems within such community; [the historical carriage factor] (II) whether the television station provides coverage or other local service to such community; [the local service factor] (III) whether any other television station that is eligible to be carried by a cable system in such community in fulfillment of the requirements of this section provides news coverage of issues of concern to such community or provides carriage or coverage of sporting and other events of interest to the community; [the other stations factor] and (IV) evidence of viewing patterns in cable and noncable households within the areas served by the cable system or systems in such community [the viewing patterns factor]. 47 U.S.C. § 534(h)(1)(C)(ii)(I)-(IV). The FCC's interpretation and application of this provision lies at the heart of this dispute.