Explain a must carry

[andy_horton]

In layman's terms, can someone explain to me what a must carry station is? For instance, I know the .1 are carried on cable and satellite and I know many .2 are carried on cable, but not all. May be a dumb question but I'm not clear on it. Thanks, Andy

 

[harshness]

The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 mandated that local channels must be carried by cable companies and that the cable companies couldn't charge the stations unless the stations entered into a formal carriage contract; most of which involve the cable companies paying the stations. Must carry does not apply to organizations that have carriage contracts. It seems likely to me that the subchannels that are carried are carried as a condition of the contract.

Because the Act was long before the advent of subchannels, it didn't contemplate them. In 2002, the broadcasters tried to force the issue but the FCC decided not to discuss the issue of what constituted "primary video".

There may have been activity since but this seems to jibe with what's going on today.

 

[Tank]

andy_horton

a must carry means if it asks for carriage on a cable or satellite company the provider has to carry it as along as they reach an agreement on compensation. all full powered .1 stations qualify for must carry regardless of programming. now there may be situatinos where a .1 is not on cable or satellite due to the station being in a remote area of the market and the provider (mainly satellite) not being able to pick it up so the station has to find ways to get a signal to the main spot where the locals are for that particular market before it is carried.

low powered stations do not qualify for must carry but can ask for carriage. The provider can say no and there is really nothing the owner of that station can do. now there are examples where a low powered station is carried. cable and satellite have different "rules" that it seems like they adhere by. if the station is associated with a "big 4" network it pretty much would be carried by satellite or cable. if it is associated with a "lesser" network like cw or my network, cable in most cases will carry it. satellite not so much. cable has more room for locals due to not having as much limited space or bandwidth

as for the .2 stations this is where it can get convoluted as they technically do not qualify for must carry. now what is carried again depends on the programming. if it is a big 4 network, it will be carried on both satellite or cable. if it is with my or cw it is up to the provider. cable more often than not will carry it. satellite usually will carry it. directv seems to carry more .2 cw or my than dish does. now lets say the satellite provider doesn't carry it. the owner of the "main" station could throw a fit and say something like "if you don't carry our My network subchannel then you cant carry our FOX network either".

satellite won't carry the diginets like AntennaTV, MeTV etc due to not enough room on the satellite (again bandwidth). cable will carry them but the owner of the station that has it on their subchannel has to reach an agreement. that is why you will see some subchannels not on cable for a while. again low powered stations are kinda in the dark with both providers.

hope i didn't try and confuse you more

 

[Tank]

here is some info from wikipedia on must carry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Must-carry#United_States

 

[ejb1980]

In layman's terms, can someone explain to me what a must carry station is? For instance, I know the .1 are carried on cable and satellite and I know many .2 are carried on cable, but not all. May be a dumb question but I'm not clear on it. Thanks, Andy

Harsh and tank did well. I have nothing to add to their descriptions but I do want to ask if there is a specific station and provider you are curious about?

 

[harshness]

all full powered .1 stations qualify for must carry regardless of programming.

This is false. If the station demands a contract and fails to come to an agreement, they do NOT have to be carried. This is how stations get pulled.

now lets say the satellite provider doesn't carry it. the owner of the "main" station could throw a fit and say something like "if you don't carry our My network subchannel then you cant carry our FOX network either".

A back-handed example of what I was talking about.

 

[Tank]

This is false. If the station demands a contract and fails to come to an agreement, they do NOT have to be carried. This is how stations get pulled.

but the previous sentence i clearly stated
a must carry means if it asks for carriage on a cable or satellite company the provider has to carry it as along as they reach an agreement on compensation

guess you neglected to read that part before making your incorrect response

 

[ejb1980]

You were both right, when the entire posts are read, just written in different ways. I guess it could be said simply that the primary video of all full power stations are required to to be carried on cable/satellite UNLESS they enter into contracts for money, then the contract takes over. If you own mom and pop independent station and it's full power, you can be on satellite or cable without payment and all is good. If you want money, you enter into a contract. When contract is over and if the provider doesn't find the value in paying you, no more carriage or payment.

 

[andy_horton]

Harsh and tank did well. I have nothing to add to their descriptions but I do want to ask if there is a specific station and provider you are curious about?

WDSI Chattanooga Tennessee is THIS on .1, which is carried on Comcast. Comet, when it launched months ago on .2, is not carried. WDEF Chattanooga added .3 Escape and it is carried and it launched a month and a half ago. So I was wondering why Comet is not carried. No clear explanation from Comcast

 

[ejb1980]

WDSI Chattanooga Tennessee is THIS on .1, which is carried on Comcast. Comet, when it launched months ago on .2, is not carried. WDEF Chattanooga added .3 Escape and it is carried and it launched a month and a half ago. So I was wondering why Comet is not carried. No clear explanation from Comcast

Perhaps the contract only included 1 subchannel and they chose Escape. I would write to them often about it. There was a similar situation when I lived in NC. Bounce TV is on 40.3 and 26.3 but it was not carried by Time Warner Cable. Even the parent stations, WUVC and WTNC, which are Univision and Unimas, didn't seem to understand why. There were crawls on the -1 (Univ/Umas), -2 (UMas/Univ), -3 (Bounce) and -4 (I forget - but it was on TWC) in both languages to contact TWC to add Bounce. Sounds like a very similar situation.

And WTNC is a low power, but it is in the Raleigh DMA locals on Directv. Go figure!

 

[Tank]

its possible that the owner of the station that carries comet did not ask for carriage whereas the owner of the station that carries escape did

 

[andy_horton]

its possible that the owner of the station that carries comet did not ask for carriage whereas the owner of the station that carries escape did

WDEF and WDSI are owned by separate companies so that might explain it

 

[localclassictvfan]

Satellites do carry subchannels only if they are a full power and on the. 1
Direct TV carries the MeTV Acadiana KLWB 50.1

By the way no offense guys there is a cable and satellite forum for this discussion to be on.

 

[Tank]

Satellites do carry subchannels only if they are a full power and on the. 1
Direct TV carries the MeTV Acadiana KLWB 50.1

A .1 is not a subchannel. and since you claim that is full power then of course it would get must carry as long as they reach an agreement

 

[localclassictvfan]

A .1 is not a subchannel. and since you claim that is full power then of course it would get must carry as long as they reach an agreement

KLWB is a full power 480i dt station. It use to be our CW affiliate with ThisTV on 50.2, when we lost the CW to a subchannel of Cordilerra's KATC 3.2 it moved to channel 4 on directv. Jan 1, 2014 50 was added to directv lafayette louisiana. According to Facebook page TeeVee guyd, I was told that since KLWB is a full power station (regardles of its former affiliation with CBS's CW) and that whatever programming is on the .1 was added (ours being METV). There were some other channels that had like Heroes and Icons and the like on full power stations that were added. Another channel that will be in this situation is Hagerstown Maryland's WHAG 25.1 which was an NBC affiliate which will launch Heroes and Icons soon.

If you do not believe me go to rabbit ears and type KLWB or go to KLWB (TV) wikipedia page.
Its not a claim from me its the TRUTH.....

 

[localclassictvfan]

A .1 is not a subchannel. and since you claim that is full power then of course it would get must carry as long as they reach an agreement

So the .1 on an over the air antenna is not a subchannel.

Well that's funny cause a friend from Houston told me that he has nearly 80 catchable subchannels over the air and he counted the .1's too

 

[localclassictvfan]

In layman's terms, can someone explain to me what a must carry station is? For instance, I know the .1 are carried on cable and satellite and I know many .2 are carried on cable, but not all. May be a dumb question but I'm not clear on it. Thanks, Andy

The Full Power .1's are carried on Satellite. Ex 50 KLWB MeTV is carried on Directv

The Subchannel .2-whatever are carried on cable. Cox carries both KPLC's subchannels and WBXH subchannels which are bounce, grit, and excape in its areas.
The Subchannel KLFY 10.2 GetTv is carried on Laf. Utility System and Charter.

 

[Tank]

KLWB is a full power 480i dt station.

why so much hostility?

i was just confirming why your metv affiliate is on directv.

it is a .1
it is full powered station according to the fcc
the owner of the station reached an agreement with the provider to carry it

 

[Tank]

So the .1 on an over the air antenna is not a subchannel.

the .1 is considered the primary channel

like in my market we have 2 stations
KXGN 5.1 is the primary channel and carries CBS
KXGN 5.2 is the subchannel and carries NBC

subchannels are considered -2 and on. so a station that is just a .1 would be one with no subchannels.

 

[localclassictvfan]

why so much hostility?

i was just confirming why your metv affiliate is on directv.

it is a .1
it is full powered station according to the fcc
the owner of the station reached an agreement with the provider to carry it

I'm not being hostile I am just backing up my facts (if they're right). I accidently had my keyboard on caps when I typed truth.