Incable television, many governments, including the ones of theUnited Kingdom, theUnited States, and Canada, apply amust-carry regulation stating that forces a cable TV provider to carry thepublic interest programming, like locally licensedtelevision stations, on a provider's system. In some countries, this "traditional" approach had been extended to the Internet information sources. Similar approach in other sectors, liketelecommunications, is calleduniversal service.[1]
Under currentCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations, the lowest tier of service on all Canadian television providers may not be priced higher than $25 a month, and must include all local Canadian broadcast television channels, local legislative and educational services, and all specialty services that have9(1)(h) must-carry status.[2] All specialty channels licensed by the CRTC as a mainstreamnews channel must also be offered by all television providers, although they need not be on the lowest tier of service.[3][4]
In the mid-to-late 1970s, the CRTC implemented a rule that a cable system must carry a broadcast television station at no cost to the broadcaster if the transmitter emitted anequivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of at least 5 watts. This CRTC rule may have changed over the years, but in principle, a broadcast television station transmitting at 1 kilowatt EIRP must be carried. The status of terrestrialdigital only channels with respect to the must-carry requirement is untested, because, unlike those in the U.S., some television stations inCanada did not operatedigital signals until thedigital television transition in Canada in August 2011. The digital broadcasters that were active before then were merelyhigh-definition simulcasts of those stations' existing analog signals in major centres, such asToronto andVancouver, with no additionaldigital subchannels offered. This was because broadcasters declined to carry subchannels, for which CRTC rules required separate licenses.
For many years, the Canadian must-carry rules created very little friction between terrestrial broadcasters and cable systems, as providers are allowed to more aggressively implement other digital telecommunications services (like cable internet services andIP telephony) with less overall regulation than their U.S. counterparts. However, in 2008, Canada's two largest commercial television networks,CTV andGlobal, began to demand that the CRTC permit them to charge afee for cable carriage, even alleging that some smaller market stations would be forced to cease operations if this was not allowed.[citation needed] The CRTC initially rejected these demands,[5] but later re-opened discussion with Canadian broadcasters to allow charging carriage fees.[6] In 2012, a 5–4 decision from theSupreme Court of Canada ultimately ruled the CRTC did not have the authority to permit broadcasters to charge carriage fees from cable and satellite providers.[7]
In theUnited States, theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)regulates this area of business and public policy pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Part II.[8] These rules were upheld in a 5–4 decision by theSupreme Court of the United States in 1994 in the caseTurner Broadcasting v. FCC (95-992).
Although cable television service providers routinely carriedlocal affiliates of the major broadcast networks, independent stations and affiliates of minor networks were sometimes not carried, on the premise it would allow cable providers to instead carry non-local programming which they believed would attract more customers to their service.
Many cable operators were also equity owners in thesecable channels, especiallyTele-Communications Inc., then the nation's largestmultiple system operator (MSO), and had moved to replace local channels with equity-owned programming (at the time, TCI held a large stake inDiscovery Communications). This pressure was especially strong on cable systems with limitedbandwidth for channels.
The smaller local broadcasters argued that by hampering their access to this increasing segment of the local television audience, this posed a threat to the viability of free-to-view broadcast television, which they argued was a worthypublic good.
Local broadcast stations also argued cable systems were attempting to serve as a "gatekeeper" in competing unfairly for advertising revenue. Some affiliates of major networks also feared that non-local affiliates might negotiate to providetelevision programming to local cable services to expand their advertising market, taking away this audience from local stations, with similar adverse impact on free broadcast television.
Although cable providers argued that such regulation would impose an undue burden on their flexibility in selecting which services would be most appealing to their customers, the current "must-carry" rules were enacted by theUnited States Congress in 1992 (via theCable Television Protection and Competition Act), and theU.S. Supreme Court upheld the rules in rejecting the arguments of the cable industry and programmers in the majority decision authored by JusticeAnthony Kennedy. That decision also held that MSOs were functioning as avertically integrated monopoly.
A side effect of the must-carry rules is that a broadcast station cannot charge a cable television provider license fees for the program content retransmitted on the cable network under the rule. But note that must-carry is an option of the station and the station may, in lieu of must-carry, negotiate license fees as part of aretransmission consent agreement.
There are a few exceptions to must-carry, most notably:
Digital must-carry (also incorrectly called "dual must-carry") is the requirement that cable companies carry either theanalog (over a hybrid analog/digital cable system) ordigital (over a digital-only pay television system likeAT&T U-verse orVerizon FiOS) signal. They must still meet the every-subscriber/television receiver laws, i.e. "Pursuant to Section 614(b)(7) and 615(h), the operator of a cable system is required to ensure that signals carried in fulfillment of the must-carry requirements are provided to EVERY subscriber of the system", of local stations. This has been opposed by numerouscable networks, which might be bumped off ofdigital cable were this to happen, and promoted by television stations and theNational Association of Broadcasters, whom it would benefit by passing theirhigh definition or digital multicast signals through to their cable viewers.[citation needed] In June 2006, the FCC was poised to pass new digital must-carry rules, but the item was pulled before a vote actually took place, apparently due to insufficient support for the chairman's position.[citation needed]
In September 2007, the Commission approved a regulation that requires cable systems to carry the analog signals if the cable system uses both types of transmission. The FCC left the decision to also retransmit the digital signal up to the cable provider. Digital-only operators are not required to provide an analog signal for their customers (AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS). Small cable operators were allowed to request a waiver. The regulation ended three years after the date of thedigital television transition (which occurred on June 12, 2009), and applies only to stations not opting for retransmission consent.
Cable operators (analog and digital) that transmit more than 12 channels need only provide a maximum1⁄3 of their total channel size to this must-carry requirement. Thus with about 150 channels available to a 1 GHz operator, they are only required to support up to 50 analog channels (42 for 850 MHz, 36 for 750 MHz). Cable providers that decide to scale back their analog selection merely need provide written notification on their bill (or equivalent) for 30 days prior to their change. Customers already using digital cable set-top boxes will usually be unaffected (if anything after the change, they may get a large number of additional channels because each analog channel can be replaced by 2–36 digital channels). The requirement only applies to must-carry stations; most metro providers carry many more analog stations by choice, not law.
A variation of "must-carry" also applies toDBS services like DirecTV and Dish Network, as first mandated by theSatellite Home Viewer Act. These providers are not required to carry local stations ineverymetropolitan area in which they provide service, but must carryall of an area's local stations if they carry any at all. Sometimes, these will be placed onspot beams: narrowly directed satellite signals targeted to an area of no more than a few hundred miles diameter, in order to allow the transponder frequencies to be re-used in othermarkets. In some cases, stations of lower perceived importance are placed on "side satellites" which require a second antenna. This practice has raised some controversy within the industry, leading to the requirement that the satellite provider offer to install any extra dish antenna hardware for free and place a notice to this effect in place of any missing channels.
If a broadcaster electsretransmission consent, there is no obligation for the cable/satellite system to carry the signal.[9] This option allows broadcasters who own stations, including those affiliated with major networks such asCBS,NBC andABC orFox to request cash or other compensation from cable/satellite providers for signals. Initially, stations usually attempted to gain further distribution of cable/satellite services and/or co-ownedlow-power television stations in which they also hold an equity position rather than direct cash compensation, which cable/satellite systems had almost universally balked at paying. However, in the mid 2000s the stations succeeded in earning carriage fees from cable/satellite systems.
In some cases, these channels have beentemporarily removed from distribution by systems who felt broadcasters were asking too steep aprice for their signal. Examples include the removal of all CBS-owned local stations as well asMTV,VH1 andNickelodeon fromDish Network for two days in 2004, the removal of ABC-owned stations fromTime Warner Cable for a little under a day in 2000, and the removal of allHearst Television local stations from Time Warner for more than a week in 2012.[10]
In August 2013,Time Warner Cable andCBS Corporation reached an impasse in negotiations over retransmission fees, forcing a one-month blackout of CBS-owned broadcast and cable networks similar to the 2004 Dish Network blackout. It was the longest such blackout to date, and has produced calls for Congress to revisit the issue of retransmission consent. TWC had offered affected customers a $20 credit on their bill for the inconvenience, but the blackout caused at least one class-action lawsuit against the cable operator, and others are pending.[11]
In the U.S., retransmission consent has often been chosen over must-carry by the major commercial television networks.[citation needed] Under the present rules, a new agreement is negotiated every three years, and stations must choose must-carry or retransmission consent for each cable system they wish their signal to be carried on. Non-commercial stations (such as local PBS stations) may not seek retransmission consent and may only invoke must-carry status.[12]
Before 2013, no regulation required cable or satellite providers to carry national television networks or, in the case of cable, local stations. Cable providers had to negotiate retransmission consent withTelevisa andTV Azteca; often, they were bundled with other pay channels. Local stations had to strike separate agreements. This meant that few providers had all of the local stations available in an area, and availability varied significantly among providers in the same city.
As part of the telecommunications reform of 2013 and the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law (Ley Federal de Telecomunicaciones y Radiodifusión) of 2014, new "must-offer, must-carry" laws were introduced:[13]
This new law provoked complaints from television companiesTV Azteca andTelevisa, who argued that the action constitutedcopyright infringement and sought royalties for the transmission of channels. In addition, Televisa requested a right ofamparo to declare that the IFT did not have constitutional power to decide on the television channels. This controversy was solved when the President of Mexico announced the filing of a constitutional controversy before theSupreme Court of Justice of the Nation, to reaffirm the regulatory powers of the Institute, giving the agency legal and judicial power to make decisions on the matter.
In theCzech Republic, all television stations that have a terrestrial licence (analogue or digital) are required to be placed in the lowest (cheapest) offer of all cable, IPTV and satellite companies.
Must-carry regulations apply to:
InIreland, cable,multichannel multipoint distribution services and satellite providers haveComreg regulated "must-carry" stations. For cable companies, this coversRTÉ One,RTÉ Two,Virgin Media One andTG4.
The same rules apply to digital MMDS systems. Analogue MMDS companies were required to carry only TV3 due to serious bandwidth limitations.
One of the most crowded must-carry rules from Europe is the Romanian, which is compulsory only for cable networks and includes 10 public television stations like TVR1, TVR2, TVR Cultural, TVR News, etc.,TV5 Monde, 52 private Romanian TVs that do not require subscribers' tax, and at least two local and/or regional channels available in any area of cable networks operational territory unit. Erdely TV a Hungarian language television licensed in Romania is also compulsory in networks in Transylvania and Banat (western part of Romania close to the border with Hungary) where Hungarian speaking population is above 20% of any city or village. The huge number of private stations is though limited to a maximum of 25% of the total number of channels carried by any network, so the rule is to update every year the list based on audiences in the previous year. The audiovisual authority in Romania, CNA (Consiliul Național al Audiovizualului) publishes every year, at the beginning of February, the updated list.[14]
TheIndian government has applied a must-carry rule for public broadcaster channels fromDoordarshan by cable, direct-to-home and IPTV network. Cable television operators must offerDD National,DD News,Lok Sabha TV,Rajya Sabha TV and regional channels to all subscribers. In addition,DD Bharati andDD Urdu must also be carried in their appropriate tiers.
As stipulated in the Broadcasting Act No. 32 of 2002, all "subscription broadcasting institutions" (pay satellite, cable, and IPTV providers) are required to provide at least 10% of their channel capacity for domestic channels, both public (i.e.TVRI andlocal public broadcasters) and private broadcasters. Furthermore, according to the act, they also must provide one domestic production-based channel in ten foreign production-based channels, with at least one domestic production-based channel. These rules were rooted from the previous 1997 Broadcasting Act.
Because of the loose regulation, pay television providers are free to determine which network they would carry in their package as long as they reach the 10% minimum. Some providers carrying national private networks (unlike in terrestrial, they excluding local programming) and a number of local stations such asJakTV fromJakarta andJTV fromSurabaya, even if the carriage is intended for national subscribers. Some opt to not include several private networks because they do not have an agreement with the respective networks. Also, out of three TVRI national channels and its local stations, onlyTVRI Nasional is carried by most providers (the exception isTransvision, who also carryTVRI Sport HD in its package). Unlike in terrestrial, the providers neither include local programming from the TVRI Nasional feed like in analog nor carry a dedicated local station's channel as in digital.[citation needed]
TheNational Telecommunications Commission (NTC) requires all pay television operators to carry licensed free-to-air stations on all their packages. The rule particularly forbids pay-TV operators from excluding such stations in places which ordinarily cannot receive a decent broadcast signal.[15]
InThailand, all terrestrial television channels are required to be carried on satellite and cable television platforms as free-to-air channels and required to be placed on the same EPG number as their terrestrial counterparts. A must-carry rule was applied to the analog terrestrial television channels and was dropped in 2014 when digital terrestrial television channels replaced analog. Thailand'sNational Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) said the must-carry rule will be used to guarantee Thais' basic right to watch free-TV programs via any platform such as terrestrial, cable and satellite receivers.[16]
The Vietnamese government required 7 must-carry channels to be carried free-to-air on all television platforms such as cable, satellite and the internet. These channels are designed to air news, information and propaganda for the public.[17]
