§  76.57   Channel positioning.

   (a) At the election of the licensee of a local commercial broadcast
   television station, and for the purpose of this section, a qualified
   low power television station, carried in fulfillment of the must-carry
   obligations, a cable operator shall carry such signal on the cable
   system channel number on which the local commercial television station
   is broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on
   July 19, 1985, or on the channel on which it was carried on January 1,
   1992.

   (b) At the election of the licensee of a qualified local NCE broadcast
   television station carried in fulfillment of the must-carry
   obligations, a cable operator shall carry such signal on the cable
   system channel number on which the qualified NCE television station is
   broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on
   July 19, 1985.

   (c) With respect to digital signals of a television station carried in
   fulfillment of the must-carry obligations, a cable operator shall carry
   the information necessary to identify and tune to the broadcast
   television signal.

   (d) Any signal carried in fulfillment of the must-carry obligations may
   be carried on such other channel number as is mutually agreed upon by
   the station and the cable operator.

   (e) At the time a local commercial station elects must-carry status
   pursuant to § 76.64, such station shall notify the cable system of its
   choice of channel position as specified in paragraphs (a), (b), and (d)
   of this section. A qualified NCE stations shall notify the cable system
   of its choice of channel position when it requests carriage. Channel
   positioning requests from local commercial stations shall be fulfilled
   by the cable operator no later than October 6, 1993.

   (f) Pursuant to § 76.64(f)(3), a local commercial broadcast television
   station that fails to make an election is deemed a must-carry station.
   A cable operator shall carry such a television station on the cable
   system channel number on which the local commercial television station
   is broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on
   July 19, 1985, or on the channel on which it was carried on January 1,
   1992. In the event that none of these specified channel positions is
   available due to a channel positioning request from a commercial
   television station affirmatively asserting its must-carry rights or
   such a request from a qualified local noncommercial educational
   station, the cable operator shall place the signal of such a television
   station on a channel of the cable system's choice, so long as that
   channel is included on the basic service tier.

   Note to § 76.57: Any existing agreement for channel position between a
   local commercial station entitled to must-carry status and a cable
   operator entered into prior to June 26, 1990, may continue through the
   expiration of such agreement.

   [ 58 FR 17361 , Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at  58 FR 40368 , July 28, 1993;
    59 FR 62345 , Dec. 5, 1994;  66 FR 16553 , Mar. 26, 2001]