RE: No Fox affilate for Bangor after all

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Sat, 6 Oct 2001 11:51:32 -0400, "Paul Hopfgarten" <hopfgapr@sprynet.com> said:

> Isn't WCKD an -LP station?
> I don't think the must-carry rules apply to -LP stations.

Must-carry does apply to LPTVs, but only in very small markets.  Quoting
47 USC 534:

(c) Low power station carriage obligation 
         (1) Requirement 
         If there are not sufficient signals of full power local 
         commercial television stations to fill the channels set aside

         under subsection (b) of this section - 
              (A) a cable operator of a cable system with a capacity of 35 
              or fewer usable activated channels shall be required to carry 
              one qualified low power station; and 
              (B) a cable operator of a cable system with a capacity of 
              more than 35 usable activated channels shall be required to 
              carry two qualified low power stations. 

The requirement for any modern (more than 12-channel) cable system is
to reserve one-third of its capacity for local broadcast stations.
So, a 110-channel system is required to carry as many as 36 local
stations (and no market has that many), including as many as two LPTVs
should the licenseees thereof assert that right.

-GAWollman