WASHINGTON, D.C. – Every three years, local TV stations are required to elect either “retransmission consent” or mandatory “must-carry” of their broadcast signal on pay-TV systems. Under the Federal Communications Commission’s current rules, broadcasters must provide notice of these elections to each cable system and satellite provider via certified mail every three years.
Today, the FCC approved an order that will greatly streamline and modernize this process. Broadcasters will still be required to make an election every three years, but they will only need to provide notification of their election to pay-TV providers in the event they change their election. Any required notice will be sent via email, rather than by certified mail. In response to the FCC’s vote, the following statement can be attributed to NAB Vice President of Media Relations Zamir Ahmed:
“NAB applauds the FCC for updating the notification process for carriage of local TV stations’ signals on pay-TV systems. Allowing for a more limited set of carriage notices to be sent electronically rather than by outdated and expensive certified mail represents a smart approach to streamlining bureaucracy that has outlived its usefulness. We appreciate NCTA’s willingness to work with NAB to alleviate this regulatory relic and thank the FCC for its flexible approach to carriage elections.”
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