Re: No Fox affilate for Bangor after all

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Sat, 6 Oct 2001 12:08:08 -0400, Paul Anderson <plandrsn@ma.ultranet.com> said:

> If a cable system close to Boston wanted to carry an out-of-town ABC 
> affiliate, for example, would they be allowed to?

Yes and no.  Consider a system in Mansfield or Foxboro, for example;
those systems could be must-carry for both WLNE and WCVB.  I know that
'CVB has elected for retrans consent rather than must-carry, so
whether they appear on the system depends on whether Hearst-Argyle and
the local cable operator have reached an agreement on conditions of
carriage.  They could not force WLNE off the system, however, should
the New Bedford station elect must-carry.  (The analogous situation
would also hold in Lowell between WMUR and WCVB, but now that the
stations are commonly-owned Hearst can simply pick and choose which
station(s) it wants to be carried on which cable systems.)  Here in
Framingham, only WCVB has must-carry rights, but if the cable operator
were unable to reach an agreement with channel 5, they might choose to
carry channel 6 (with the consent thereof).

-GAWollman