The FCC recently granted a must-carry complaint filed by broadcast station KEYT against Time Warner Cable and ordered Time Warner to carry KEYT in high-definition (HD) in in-market communities. 

Background. Under the Cable Act, a broadcast station may assert must-carry rights on cable systems within its market. Further, under FCC rules, broadcast signals delivered to a cable system in HD must be carried on the system in HD, unless the “small system exemption” applies. 

Time Warner operates a system that straddles market boundaries in Ventura County, California. KEYT delivers its signal to Time Warner’s system in HD. Time Warner retransmits the signal in standard definition (SD) to both in-market and out-of-market communities in Ventura County. Citing the must-carry rules, KEYT demanded HD carriage for the in-market communities. Time Warner did not respond. 

Complaint. KEYT argued that, because it is a must-carry station delivering its signal to Time Warner in HD, Time Warner must retransmit the signal in HD to in-market communities. Time Warner challenged KEYT’s status as a must-carry station, countering that KEYT elected retransmission consent status for all in-market and out-of-market communities. 

The FCC agreed with KEYT, finding that (i) the station is a must-carry station in the in-market communities and (ii) the retransmission consent election applied only to out-of-market communities. Accordingly, the FCC granted KEYT’s complaint and ordered Time Warner to carry KEYT in HD in the in-market communities. 

Note: The small system exemption allows a system to carry a must-carry signal in SD digital or analog format, even if it is broadcast in HD, so long as all subscribers can view the signal. The exemption applies if a system either (i) serves fewer than 2,501 subscribers and is not affiliated with a large operator, or (ii) has an activated capacity of less than 553 MHz. The exemption sunsets June 12, 2015. 

If you have any questions about broadcast carriage rights or the small system exemption, please contact Bruce Beard at (314) 394-1535 or bbeard@cm-chi.com or Scott Friedman at (312) 372-3930 or sfriedman@cm-chi.com.