§  76.59   Modification of television markets.

   (a) The Commission, following a written request from a broadcast
   station, cable system, satellite carrier or county government (only
   with respect to satellite modifications), may deem that the television
   market, as defined either by § 76.55(e) or § 76.66(e), 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 or
   satellite carrier local receive facility 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) Noise-limited service contour maps (for full-power digital
   stations) or protected contour maps (for Class A and low power
   television stations) delineating the station's technical service area
   and showing the location of the cable system headends or satellite
   carrier local receive facilities 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 or satellite carrier 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
   multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) and non-MVPD
   households or other specific audience indicia, such as station
   advertising and sales data or viewer contribution records.

   (7) If applicable, a statement that the station is licensed to a
   community within the same state as the relevant community.

   (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 or satellite carrier shall not delete from
   carriage the signal of a commercial television station during the
   pendency of any proceeding pursuant to this section.

   (e) A market determination under this section shall not create
   additional carriage obligations for a satellite carrier if it is not
   technically and economically feasible for such carrier to accomplish
   such carriage by means of its satellites in operation at the time of
   the determination.

   (f) No modification of a commercial television broadcast station's
   local market pursuant to this section shall have any effect on the
   eligibility of households in the community affected by such
   modification to receive distant signals from a satellite carrier
   pursuant to 47 U.S.C. 339.

   [ 58 FR 17361 , Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at  64 FR 33796 , June 24, 1999;
    67 FR 53892 , Aug. 22, 2002;  80 FR 59663 , Oct. 2, 2015]