Sec. 73.127  Use of multiplex transmission.

    The licensee of an AM broadcast station may use its AM carrier to 
transmit signals not audible on ordinary consumer receivers, for both 
broadcast and non-broadcast purposes subject to the following 
requirements:
    (a) Such use does not disrupt or degrade the station's own programs 
or the programs of other broadcast stations.
    (b) AM carrier services that are common carrier in nature are 
subject to common carrier regulation. Licensees operating such services 
are required to apply to the FCC for the appropriate authorization and 
to comply with all policies and rules applicable to the service. 
Responsibility for making the initial determinations of whether a 
particular activity is common carriage rests with the AM station 
licensee. Initial determinations by licensees are subject to FCC 
examination and may be reviewed at the FCC's discretion. AM carrier 
services that are private carrier in nature must notify the Licensing 
Division of the Private Radio Bureau at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania 17325, 
by letter, prior to initiating service certifying compliance with 47 CFR 
parts 90 and 94.
    (c) AM carrier services are of a secondary nature under the 
authority of the AM station authorization, and the authority to provide 
such communications services may not be retained or transferred in any 
manner separate from the station's authorization. The grant or renewal 
of an AM station permit or license is not furthered or promoted by 
proposed or past service. The permittee or licensee must establish that 
the broadcast operation is in the public interest wholly apart from the 
subsidiary communications services provided.
    (d) The station identification, delayed recording, and sponsor 
identification announcements required by Secs. 73.1201, 73.1208, and 
73.1212 are not applicable to leased communications

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services transmitted via services that are not of a general broadcast 
program nature.
    (e) The licensee or permittee must retain control over all material 
transmitted in a broadcast mode via the station's facilities, with the 
right to reject any material that it deems inappropriate or undesirable.
    (f) Installation of the multiplex transmitting equipment must 
conform with the requirements of Sec. 73.1690(e).

[47 1997 FR 25345 , June 11, 1982, as amended at  49 FR 34015 , Aug. 28, 1984; 
 51 FR 41629 , Nov. 18, 1986;  51 FR 44478 , Dec. 10, 1986]