Sec. 76.60  Compensation for carriage.

    A cable operator is prohibited from accepting or requesting monetary 
payment or other valuable consideration in exchange either for carriage 
or channel positioning of any broadcast television station carried in 
fulfillment of the must-carry requirements, except that
    (a) Any such station may be required to bear the costs associated 
with delivering a good quality signal or a baseband video signal to the 
principal headend of the cable system; or
    (b) A cable operator may accept payments from stations which would 
be considered distant signals under the cable compulsory copyright 
license, 17 U.S.C. 111, as indemnification for any increased copyright 
liability resulting from carriage of such signal.

    Note: A cable operator may continue to accept monetary payment or 
other valuable consideration in exchange for carriage or channel 
positioning of the signal of any local commercial television station 
carried in fulfillment of the must-carry requirements, through, but not 
beyond, the date of expiration of an agreement between a cable operator 
and a local commercial television station entered into prior to June 26, 
1990.

    (c) A cable operator may accept payments from stations pursuant to a 
retransmission consent agreement, even if such station will be counted 
towards the must-carry complement, as long as all other applicable rules 
are adhered to.

[ 58 FR 17362 , Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at  59 FR 62345 , Dec. 5, 1994]