§ 76.59   Modification of television markets.

   Link to an amendment published at  80 FR 59663 , October 2, 2015.

   (a) The Commission, following a written request from a broadcast station or
   a  cable  system,  may deem that the television market of a particular
   commercial  television  broadcast  station  should  include additional
   communities within its television market or exclude communities from such
   station's television market. In this respect, communities may be considered
   part of more than one television market.

   (b) Such requests for modification of a television market shall be submitted
   in accordance with § 76.7, petitions for special relief, and shall include
   the following evidence:

   (1)  A  map  or maps illustrating the relevant community locations and
   geographic  features,  station transmitter sites, cable system headend
   locations, terrain features that would affect station reception, mileage
   between  the  community  and  the television station transmitter site,
   transportation routes and any other evidence contributing to the scope of
   the market.

   (2) Grade B contour maps delineating the station's technical service area
   and showing the location of the cable system headends and communities in
   relation to the service areas.

   Note to paragraph (b)(2): Service area maps using Longley-Rice (version
   1.2.2)  propagation curves may also be included to support a technical
   service exhibit.

   (3) Available data on shopping and labor patterns in the local market.

   (4) Television station programming information derived from station logs or
   the local edition of the television guide.

   (5)  Cable system channel line-up cards or other exhibits establishing
   historic carriage, such as television guide listings.

   (6) Published audience data for the relevant station showing its average all
   day audience (i.e., the reported audience averaged over Sunday-Saturday, 7
   a.m.-1 a.m., or an equivalent time period) for both cable and noncable
   households or other specific audience indicia, such as station advertising
   and sales data or viewer contribution records.

   (c) Petitions for Special Relief to modify television markets that do not
   include  such evidence shall be dismissed without prejudice and may be
   refiled at a later date with the appropriate filing fee.

   (d)  A  cable  operator shall not delete from carriage the signal of a
   commercial television station during the pendency of any proceeding pursuant
   to this section.

   [ 58 FR 17361 , Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at  64 FR 33796 , June 24, 1999;  67 FR 53892 , Aug. 22, 2002]

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