§  76.109   Requirements for invocation of protection.

   For a station licensee to be eligible to invoke the provisions of
   § 76.101, it must have a contract or other written indicia that it
   holds syndicated exclusivity rights for the exhibition of the program
   in question. Contracts entered on or after August 18, 1988, must
   contain the following words: "the licensee [or substitute name] shall,
   by the terms of this contract, be entitled to invoke the protection
   against duplication of programming imported under the Compulsory
   Copyright License, as provided in § 76.101 of the FCC rules [or `as
   provided in the FCC's syndicated exclusivity rules']." Contracts
   entered into prior to August 18, 1988, must contain either the
   foregoing language or a clear and specific reference to the licensee's
   authority to exercise exclusivity rights as to the specific programming
   against cable television broadcast signal carriage by the cable system
   in question upon the contingency that the government reimposed
   syndicated exclusivity protection. In the absence of such a specific
   reference in contracts entered into prior to August 18, 1988, the
   provisions of these rules may be invoked only if the contract is
   amended to include the specific language referenced in this section or
   a specific written acknowledgment is obtained from the party from whom
   the broadcast exhibition rights were obtained that the existing
   contract was intended, or should now be construed by agreement of the
   parties, to include such rights. A general acknowledgment by a supplier
   of exhibition rights that specific contract language was intended to
   convey rights under these rules will be accepted with respect to all
   contracts containing that specific language. Nothing in this section
   shall be construed as a grant of exclusive rights to a broadcaster
   where such rights are not agreed to by the parties.