Telecom law primer: Retransmission consent and must carry rules

[Commentary] The 1992 Cable Act, passed over the veto of President George H.W. Bush, contained two major provisions regarding the carriage of broadcast stations on cable and satellite systems.

First, the Act prohibits these systems from retransmitting a commercial broadcaster’s signal without the broadcaster’s explicit permission. This is known as “retransmission consent.”

However, not all broadcast channels are popular enough to warrant inclusion on a cable system. As more Americans ditched their antennas for cable, these stations found themselves reaching smaller and smaller audiences. To protect them, the Cable Act granted broadcasters the second provision, the so-called “must carry” rights. Generally, cable companies are required to carry a broadcaster’s signal upon request on cable systems within the broadcaster’s local market, without charge. If requested, the cable company must give a must-carry station the channel number corresponding to its over-the-air channel designation. These two provisions are designed to work together. However, in recent years, retransmission consent has become much more lucrative for major broadcasters. [Lyons is an assistant professor at Boston College Law School]