There’s a big deadline looming for every commercial and noncommercial television station in the U.S.: do you want “must carry” status for your broadcast channel, or are you willing to wade into the murky waters of retransmission consent and risk a tough negotiation with a multichannel video programming distributor?
You have until October 1 to make your election known to the FCC.
That’s the date every licensed TV station must place a carriage election statement stating whether they elect retransmission consent or must carry on cable and satellite in their online public files (OPIF).
Stations that wish to change their elections with respect to a MVPD must also e-mail the affected cable or satellite program delivery service and the Commission and attach that email to the statement they upload into the OPIF.
To aid its members, the NAB has created a Must Carry/Retransmission Consent Counsel Memo. It can be accessed here with member credentials.
