Cable and Satellite carriage Election by local TV: To Consent or Must-Carry
Most cable-TV and satellite customers experience local TV black-outs from time to time because of breakdowns of contract negotiations between their providers and the local television stations carried on pay-TV channel lineups. To be clear, the blackouts are the direct result of a deliberate choice. Viewers and advertisers are made to suffer. The rhetoric you see is often along the lines of "(insert name cable or satellite provider) is taking away your access to your favorite (network) programming," as though the it's all the provider's fault. But here's the truth. Broadcasters always have the option of carriage on cable & satellite systems The FCC instructs broadcast television station owners to assert carriage election status every 3 years. Their choices are either Consent Agreement or Must-Carry. If the station elects for Must-Carry status, the cable & satellite providers are forced by the FCC to carry that station on the channel lineups. On the other h