[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 9, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 17015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-8558]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 76

[CS Docket No. 98-120, CS Docket No. 00-96; CS Docket No. 00-2, FCC 01-
22]


Carriage of Digital Television Broadcast Signals

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Correcting amendments.

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SUMMARY: This document makes a number of minor corrections to the 
Commission rules pertaining to retransmission consent which were 
published in the Federal Register of Monday March 26, 2001 (66 FR 
16533) regarding carriage of digital television broadcast signals.

DATES: Effective April 9, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth Lewis, Media Bureau, (202) 
418-2622.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The First Report and Order, FCC 01-22, 
adopted January 18, 2001; released January 23, 2001, approved a final 
rule for carriage of digital television broadcast signals. In this 
document we make non-substantive rules changes to correct errors in the 
publication of Sec. 76.64 of the Commission's rules.

Need for Correction

    As published, the final regulations contain errors which may prove 
to be misleading and need to be clarified.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 76

    Retransmission consent.

Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.


    Accordingly, 47 CFR part 76 is corrected by making the following 
correcting amendments:

PART 76--MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE

    1.The authority citation for Part 76 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154, 301, 302, 303, 303a, 
307, 308, 309, 312, 315, 317, 325, 336, 338, 339, 503, 521, 522, 
531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 549, 
552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 571, 572, 573.
    2.Revise paragraphs (j), (k) and (l) of Sec. 76.64 to read as 
follows:


Sec. 76.64  Retransmission consent.

* * * * *
    (j) Retransmission consent agreements between a broadcast station 
and a multichannel video programming distributor shall be in writing 
and shall specify the extent of the consent being granted, whether for 
the entire signal or any portion of the signal. This rule applies for 
either the analog or the digital signal of a television station.
    (k) A cable system commencing new operation is required to notify 
all local commercial and noncommercial broadcast stations of its intent 
to commence service. The cable operator must send such notification, by 
certified mail, at least 60 days prior to commencing cable service. 
Commercial broadcast stations must notify the cable system within 30 
days of the receipt of such notice of their election for either must-
carry or retransmission consent with respect to such new cable system. 
If the commercial broadcast station elects must-carry, it must also 
indicate its channel position in its election statement to the cable 
system. Such election shall remain valid for the remainder of any 
three-year election interval, as established in Sec. 76.64(f)(2). 
Noncommercial educational broadcast stations should notify the cable 
operator of their request for carriage and their channel position. The 
new cable system must notify each station if its signal quality does 
not meet the standards for carriage and if any copyright liability 
would be incurred for the carriage of such signal. Pursuant to 
Sec. 76.57(e), a commercial broadcast station which fails to respond to 
such a notice shall be deemed to be a must-carry station for the 
remainder of the current three-year election period.
    (l) Exclusive retransmission consent agreements are prohibited. No 
television broadcast station shall make or negotiate any agreement with 
one multichannel video programming distributor for carriage to the 
exclusion of other multichannel video programming distributors. This 
paragraph shall terminate at midnight on December 31, 2005.
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[FR Doc. 02-8558 Filed 4-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P