Sec. 73.642  Subscription TV service.

    (a) Subscription TV service may be provided by:
    (1) Licensees and permittees of commercial TV stations, and
    (2) Licensees and permittees of low power TV stations.
    (b) A licensee or permittee of a commercial TV station or a low 
power TV station may begin subscription TV service upon installation of 
encoding equipment having advance FCC approval. However, the licensee or 
permittee of a TV broadcast station (not applicable to low power TV 
stations) must send a letter to the FCC in Washington, DC, that 
subscription TV service will commence at least 30 days prior to 
commencement of such service. In that letter, to be entitled ``Notice of 
Commencement of STV Operations,'' the licensee or permittee is to state 
that it will comply with the provisions of paragraphs (e)(1) through 
(e)(3) and Sec. 73.644(c) of this chapter and identify the make and type 
of encoding system to be used. A similar notice must be submitted if the 
licensee or permittee commences using another type of encoding system. 
(See section 644(h).) A notice must also be submitted to the FCC in 
Washington, DC, if encoded subscription TV service is to be 
discontinued, at least 30 days prior to such discontinuance.
    (c) The station proof of system compliance measurement data (see 
Sec. 73.644(c)) need not be submitted to the FCC, however, the 
measurement data must be available to the FCC upon request.
    (d) The use of the visual vertical blanking interval or an aural 
subcarrier for transmitting subscriber decoder control code signals 
during periods of normal non-encoded programming may be used only upon 
specific FCC authorization. Letter requests to use either the video 
blanking intervals or aural subcarriers during periods of non-
subscription programming are to be sent to the FCC in Washington, D.C.
    (e) A licensee or permittee of a commercial TV broadcast or low 
power TV station may not transmit a subscription service if it has a 
contract, arrangement, or understanding, expressed or implied, that:
    (1) Prevents or hinders it from rejecting or refusing any 
subscription TV broadcast program that it reasonably believes to be 
unsatisfactory or unsuitable or contrary to the public interests; or 
substituting a subscription or conventional program that, in its 
opinion, is of greater local or national importance; or

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    (2) Delegates to any other person the right to schedule the hours of 
transmission of subscription programs. However, this rule does not 
prevent a licensee or permittee from entering into an agreement or 
arrangement whereby it agrees to schedule a specific subscription TV 
broadcast program at a specific time or to schedule a specific number of 
hours of subscription programs during the broadcast day (or segments 
thereof) or weeks; or
    (3) Deprives it of the right of ultimate decision concerning the 
maximum amount of any subscription program charge or fee.
    (4) Has provisions that do not comply with the following policies of 
the FCC:
    (i) Unless a satifactory signal is unavailable at the location where 
service is desired, subscription TV service must be provided to all 
persons desiring it within the Grade A contour of the station 
broadcasting subscription programs. Geographic or other reasonable 
patterns of installation for new subscription services is permitted and, 
for good cause, service may be terminated.
    (ii) Charges, terms and conditions of service to subscribers must be 
applied uniformly. However, subscribers may be divided into reasonable 
classifications approved by the FCC, and the impositions of different 
sets of terms and conditions may be applied to subscribers in different 
classifications. Further, for good cause, within such classification, 
deposits may be required from some subscribers and not of others; and, 
also for good cause, if a subscription system generally uses a credit-
type decoder, cash operated decoders may be installed for some 
subscribers.

[ 48 FR 56392 , Dec. 21, 1983, as amended at  52 FR 6154 , Mar. 2, 1987]