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In
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
s must be carried on a cable provider's system.


North America


Canada

Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on all Canadian television providers may not be priced higher than $25 per-month, and must include all local Canadian broadcast television channels, local legislative and educational services, and all specialty services that have 9(1)(h) must-carry status. All specialty channels licensed by the CRTC as a mainstream
news channel News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tele ...
must also be offered by all television providers, although they do not necessarily have to be on the lowest tier of service. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the CRTC implemented a rule that a cable system must carry a broadcast television station at no cost to the broadcaster so long as the transmitter emitted an equivalent isotropically radiated power of at least 5 watts. This CRTC rule may have changed over the years, but in principle, a broadcast television station transmitting at 1 kW EIRP must be carried. The status of terrestrial ''digital only'' channels with respect to the must-carry requirement is untested as, unlike the U.S., some television stations in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
did not operate digital signals until the August 2011 and the digital broadcasters that were active prior to then were merely high definition simulcasts of those stations' existing analog signals in major centres such as
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
and
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
with no additional
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compres ...
s offered due to broadcasters opting not to carry any due to CRTC rules that require subchannels to be licensed separately. CITY-TV in Toronto (according to its own website and annual reports) owes its financial success as an
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
to this CRTC must-carry rule. It is assumed that this must-carry rule was aimed at smaller television stations in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
, many of which are not carried by
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna com ...
providers. For many years, the Canadian must-carry rules created very little friction between terrestrial broadcasters and cable systems, as providers are allowed to more aggressively implement other digital telecommunications services (like cable internet services and IP telephony) with less overall regulation than their U.S. counterparts. However, in 2008, Canada's two largest commercial television networks,
CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
and Global, began to demand that the CRTC permit them to charge a fee for cable carriage, even alleging that some smaller market stations would be forced to cease operations if this was not allowed.


United States

In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) regulates this area of business and public policy pursuant to 47 U.S.C. Part II. These rules were upheld in a 5–4 decision by the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
in 1997 in the case '' Turner Broadcasting v. FCC'' (95-992). Although cable television service providers routinely carried local affiliates of the major broadcast networks, independent stations and affiliates of minor networks were sometimes not carried, on the premise it would allow cable providers to instead carry non-
local programming The terms local programme, local programming, local content or local television refers to a television program made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or televisio ...
which they believed would attract more customers to their service. Many cable operators were also equity owners in these
cable channel Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
s, especially Tele-Communications Inc., then the nation's largest multiple system operator (MSO), and had moved to replace local channels with equity-owned programming (at the time, TCI held a large stake in
Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...
). This pressure was especially strong on cable systems with limited bandwidth for channels. The smaller local broadcasters argued that by hampering their access to this increasing segment of the local television audience, this posed a threat to the viability of free-to-view broadcast television, which they argued was a worthy public good. Local broadcast stations also argued cable systems were attempting to serve as a " gatekeeper" in competing unfairly for advertising revenue. Some affiliates of major networks also feared that non-local affiliates might negotiate to provide
television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
ming to local cable services to expand their advertising market, taking away this audience from local stations, with similar adverse impact on free broadcast television. Although cable providers argued that such regulation would impose an undue burden on their flexibility in selecting which services would be most appealing to their customers, the current "must-carry" rules were enacted by the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
in 1992 (via the
Cable Television Protection and Competition Act The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (also known as the 1992 Cable Act) is a United States federal law which required cable television systems to carry most local broadcast television channels and prohibited cable ...
), and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rules in rejecting the arguments of the cable industry and programmers in the majority decision authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy. That decision also held that MSOs were functioning as a
vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...
monopoly. A side effect of the must-carry rules is that a broadcast station cannot charge a cable television provider license fees for the program content retransmitted on the cable network under the rule. But note that must-carry is an option of the station and the station may, in lieu of must-carry, negotiate license fees as part of a retransmission consent agreement.


Applicability

There are a few exceptions to must-carry, most notably: * Must-carry is the default assumption even if a station does not make a formal request ee US Code Title 47, Section 76.64(f)3 * Must-carry does not apply if the
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...
does not want to be carried under the retransmission consent provisions. This applies only to
non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements ( TV ads or radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was o ...
(NCE) stations. Station operators are allowed to demand payment from cable operators, or negotiate private agreements for carriage, or threaten revocation against the cable operator (see
Sinclair Sinclair may refer to: Places * Lake Sinclair, near Milledgeville, Georgia * Sinclair, Iowa * Sinclair, West Virginia * Sinclair, Wyoming * Sinclair Mills, British Columbia * Sinclair Township, Minnesota * Sinclair, Manitoba People * Sin ...
,
Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...
). Must-carry is a privilege given to television stations, not a cable company. A cable company cannot use must-carry to demand the right to carry an over-the-air station against the station's wishes. * A station is not entitled to distribution under must-carry legislation until a certain time after it provides usable signal to the headend for the cable or satellite provider; the station must pay the expense of leased lines to reach providers such as
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
-based
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling ...
or
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
-based
DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...
. * Foreign signals, such as
Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...
stations CBET-DT and CICO, or McAllen, Texas's former CW affiliate ( XHRIO-TV), are not required to be carried, but are often carried on border-area cable systems close to the foreign stations. * Most low-power broadcast stations are not required to be carried, although often in these cases they are bundled to be carried as part of a retransmission consent agreement with a full-power sister station.


Digital must-carry

Digital must-carry (also incorrectly called "dual must-carry") is the requirement that cable companies carry either the analog (over a hybrid analog/digital cable system) or
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...
(over a digital-only pay television system like AT&T U-verse or Verizon FiOS) signal. They must still meet the every-subscriber/television receiver laws, i.e. "Pursuant to Section 614(b)(7) and 615(h), the operator of a cable system is required to ensure that signals carried in fulfillment of the must-carry requirements are provided to EVERY subscriber of the system", of local stations. This has been opposed by numerous
cable network Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, o ...
s, which might be bumped off of
digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previ ...
were this to happen, and promoted by television stations and the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...
, whom it would benefit by passing their high definition or digital multicast signals through to their cable viewers. In June 2006, the FCC was poised to pass new digital must-carry rules, but the item was pulled before a vote actually took place, apparently due to insufficient support for the chairman's position. In September 2007, the Commission approved a regulation that requires cable systems to carry the analog signals if the cable system uses both types of transmission. The FCC left the decision to also retransmit the digital signal up to the cable provider. Digital-only operators are not required to provide an analog signal for their customers (AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS). Small cable operators were allowed to request a waiver. The regulation ended three years after the date of the
digital television transition The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is con ...
(which occurred on June 12, 2009), and applies only to stations not opting for retransmission consent. Cable operators (analog and digital) that transmit more than 12 channels need only provide a maximum of their total channel size to this must-carry requirement. Thus with about 150 channels available to a 1 GHz operator, they are only required to support up to 50 analog channels (42 for 850 MHz, 36 for 750 MHz). Cable providers that decide to scale back their analog selection merely need provide written notification on their bill (or equivalent) for 30 days prior to their change. Customers already using digital cable set-top boxes will usually be unaffected (if anything after the change, they may get a large number of additional channels because each analog channel can be replaced by 2–51 digital channels). The requirement only applies to must-carry stations; most metro providers carry many more analog stations by choice, not law.


Other networks

A variation of "must-carry" also applies to DBS services like DirecTV and Dish Network, as first mandated by the Satellite Home Viewer Act. These providers are not required to carry local stations in ''every''
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...
in which they provide service, but must carry ''all'' of an area's local stations if they carry any at all. Sometimes, these will be placed on
spot beam A spot beam, in telecommunications parlance, is a satellite signal that is specially concentrated in power (i.e. sent by a high-gain antenna) so that it will cover only a limited geographic area on Earth. Spot beams are used so that only Earth stati ...
s: narrowly directed satellite signals targeted to an area of no more than a few hundred miles diameter, in order to allow the transponder frequencies to be re-used in other
markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...
. In some cases, stations of lower perceived importance are placed on "side satellites" which require a second antenna. This practice has raised some controversy within the industry, leading to the requirement that the satellite provider offer to install any extra dish antenna hardware for free and place a notice to this effect in place of any missing channels.


Retransmission consent

If a broadcaster elects retransmission consent, there is no obligation for the cable/satellite system to carry the signal. This option allows broadcasters who own stations, including those affiliated with major networks such as CBS, NBC and ABC or Fox to request cash or other compensation from cable/satellite providers for signals. Initially, stations usually attempted to gain further distribution of cable/satellite services and/or co-owned low-power television stations in which they also hold an equity position rather than direct cash compensation, which cable/satellite systems had almost universally balked at paying. However, in the mid 2000s the stations succeeded in earning carriage fees from cable/satellite systems. In some cases, these channels have been temporarily removed from distribution by systems who felt broadcasters were asking too steep a
price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...
for their signal. Examples include the removal of all CBS-owned local stations as well as
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
, VH1 and
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
from
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling ...
for two days in 2004, the removal of ABC-owned stations from
Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...
for a little under a day in 2000, and the removal of all Hearst Television local stations from Time Warner for more than a week in 2012. In August 2013,
Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...
and
CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...
reached an impasse in negotiations over retransmission fees, forcing a one-month blackout of CBS-owned broadcast and cable networks similar to the 2004 Dish Network blackout. It was the longest such blackout to date, and has produced calls for Congress to revisit the issue of retransmission consent. TWC had offered affected customers a $20 credit on their bill for the inconvenience, but the blackout caused at least one class-action lawsuit against the cable operator, and others are pending. In the U.S., retransmission consent has often been chosen over must-carry by the major commercial television networks. Under the present rules, a new agreement is negotiated every three years, and stations must choose must-carry or retransmission consent for each cable system they wish their signal to be carried on. Non-commercial stations (such as local PBS stations) may not seek retransmission consent and may only invoke must-carry status.


See also

*
Significantly viewed Significantly viewed signals permitted to be carried or Significantly Viewed list (SV) is a federal law permitting television stations as determined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to be carried by cable and other MVPD providers ...


Mexico

Before 2013, no regulation required cable or satellite providers to carry national television networks or, in the case of cable, local stations. Cable providers had to negotiate retransmission consent with
Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
and
TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two natio ...
; often, they were bundled with other pay channels. Local stations had to strike separate agreements. This meant that few providers had all of the local stations available in an area, and availability varied significantly among providers in the same city. As part of the telecommunications reform of 2013 and the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law (''Ley Federal de Telecomunicaciones y Radiodifusión'') of 2014, new "must-offer, must-carry" laws were introduced: * Satellite providers were required to carry national networks with a population reach of 50 percent or greater. Originally, four national networks were designated:
Las Estrellas Las Estrellas ("The Stars"; previously El Canal de las Estrellas, or "The Channel of the Stars") is one of the cornerstone networks of TelevisaUnivision, with affiliate stations all over Mexico, flagshipped at XEW-TDT in Mexico City. Many of ...
, Canal 5,
Azteca 7 Azteca 7 (also called El Siete) is a Mexican network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 main transmitters all over Mexico. Azteca 7 is available on all cable and satellite systems. A substantial portion of their purchased programming include ...
and
Azteca Uno Azteca Uno (previously Azteca Trece), is a Mexican national broadcast television network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 transmitters across the country. Azteca Uno broadcasts on virtual channel 1. Azteca Uno programming is available in ...
(formerly Azteca Trece). Since then, Azteca multicast channels a+ and ADN40, as well as new network Imagen Televisión, have also reached the coverage threshold. :* Satellite providers must black out programming on a national network, primarily sporting events, when it is blacked out on the local transmitter in a subscriber's area. * Cable providers are required to carry on their basic tiers the primary program streams of all stations in the area and place them on the lowest channel numbers on the system, corresponding to their
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
s. Additional subchannels can be carried in appropriate channel ranges for their content. * All providers must carry a series of channels from "federal public institutions":
Canal Once Once (Eleven; formerly Once TV México and Canal Once) is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by National Polytechnic Institute. The network's flagship station is XEIPN-TDT channel 11 in Mexico City. It broadcasts across ...
, Once Niños, Canal Catorce, Canal 22, TV UNAM and Ingenio TV. A separate, pre-existing provision requires carriage of
Canal del Congreso The Canal de Televisión del Congreso de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (''Television Channel of the Congress of the United Mexican States''), shortened to Canal del Congreso (''Congress Channel''), is a television channel in Mexico that broadcasts ...
. * All such channels shall be rebroadcast in the highest quality possible.


Reactions and conflicts

This new law provoked complaints from television companies
TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two natio ...
and
Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
, who argued that the action constituted
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...
and sought royalties for the transmission of channels. In addition, Televisa requested a right of ''amparo'' to declare that the IFT did not have constitutional power to decide on the television channels. This controversy was solved when the President of Mexico announced the filing of a constitutional controversy before the
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( es, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) is the Mexican institution serving as the country's federal high court and the spearhead organisation for the judiciary of the Mexican Federal Go ...
, to reaffirm the regulatory powers of the Institute, giving the agency legal and judicial power to make decisions on the matter.


Europe


Czech Republic

In the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
, all television stations that have a terrestrial licence (analog or digital) are required to be placed in the lowest (cheapest) offer of all cable, IPTV and satellite companies. Must-carry regulations are applied to: * All channels of
Czech Television Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechos ...
- ČT1,
ČT2 ČT2 (ČT Dva, Česká televize 2, "''Dvojka''") is Czech public television channel, operated by Česká televize. ČT2 broadcasts documentaries nature-oriented shows, frequently showing foreign films in the original versions with Czech subtitles ...
, ČT24 and ČT4 (sport) * All channels of
TV Prima Prima televize (previously Prima family, originally Premiéra) is a Czech private television station. Its channel is broadcast from Prague. Its current owner is FTV Prima, spol. s. r. o., which is majority-owned by Czech investment firm GES, in ...
- Prima,
Prima Cool Prima Cool is a private Czech Republic, Czech television station. Prima Cool is TV Prima's second channel. It is targeted primarily at young male audiences. Prima Cool launched on 1 April 2009 as TV Prima's new digital channel. It is availab ...
and R1 TV * Two of three channels of TV Nova -
Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...
and Nova Cinema * New digital television stations - TV Barrandov and Z1 * Future television stations TV7 (regional news) and RTA (regional television) * Carriage of TV Pohoda and Febio TV was also mandated by must-carry regulations; however, as investments for these channels were pulled, these channels never commenced broadcasting.


Ireland

In
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
, cable, multichannel multipoint distribution services and satellite providers have
Comreg The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) ( ga, An Coimisiún um Rialáil Cumarsáide) is the general communications regulator for Ireland, covering almost all possible types of communications. Founded on 1 December 2002, ComReg to ...
regulated "must-carry" stations. For cable companies, this covers
RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...
,
RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...
,
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television * Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by E ...
and TG4. The same rules apply to digital MMDS systems. Analogue MMDS companies are required to carry only TV3 due to serious bandwidth limitations.


Netherlands

* NPO 1 * NPO 2 * NPO 3 *Regional ( provincial) broadcasters (when available) *Local broadcaster (when available)


Asia


India

The
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
n government has applied a must-carry rule for public broadcaster channels from
Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...
by cable, direct-to-home and IPTV network. Cable television operators must offer
DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television chann ...
, DD News, Lok Sabha TV, Rajya Sabha TV and regional channels to all subscribers. In addition,
DD Bharati DD Bharati is a state owned TV channel telecasting from Doordarshan Kendra, Delhi. It telecasts various cultural programmes and is dedicated to show India's vast culture and traditions. History DD-Bharati Channel was launched on 26 January 2002 ...
and DD Urdu must also be carried in their appropriate tiers.


Indonesia

As stipulated in the Broadcasting Act No. 32 of 2002, all "subscription broadcasting institutions" (pay satellite, cable, and IPTV providers) are required to provide at least 10% of their channel capacity for domestic channels, both public (i.e. TVRI and local public broadcasters) and private broadcasters. Furthermore, according to the act, they also must provide one domestic production-based channel in ten foreign production-based channels, with at least one domestic production-based channel. These rules were rooted from the previous 1997 Broadcasting Act. Because of the loose regulation, pay television providers are free to determine which network they would carry in their package as long as they reach the 10% minimum. Some providers carrying national private networks (unlike in terrestrial, they excluding local programming) and a number of local stations such as
JakTV Jak TV is an Indonesian capital regional free-to-air television channel broadcasting from the Jabodetabek area. It owned by Mahaka Media and launched in 31 October 2004. JakTV's programming is focused towards news, air magazines and soft news ...
from
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...
and JTV from
Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Java and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern border of Java island, on the M ...
, even if the carriage is intended for national subscribers. Some are opt to not including several private networks because they did not have an agreement with the respective networks. Also, out of three TVRI national channels and its local stations, only TVRI Nasional that carried by most providers (the exception is
Transvision Humanity+ (also Humanity Plus; formerly the World Transhumanist Association) is a non-profit international educational organization that advocates the ethical use of technologies and evidence-based science to improve the human condition. This cond ...
, who also carry TVRI Sport HD in its package). Unlike in terrestrial, the providers neither including local programming in TVRI Nasional feed as in analog nor carrying dedicated local station's channel as in digital.


Philippines

The
National Telecommunications Commission The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC; fil, Pambansang Komisyon sa Telekomunikasyon) is an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over a ...
(NTC) requires pay television operators to carry licensed free-to-air stations on their all their packages. The rule particularly forbids pay-TV operators from excluding such stations to places which ordinarily cannot receive a decent broadcast signal.


Thailand

In
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
, all terrestrial television channels are required to be carried on satellite and cable television platform as free-to-air channels and required to be placed on same EPG number as their terrestrial counterparts. Must-carry rule was applied to the analog terrestrial television channels and was dropped in 2014 replacing by digital terrestrial television channels. Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) said the must-carry rule will be used to guarantee Thais' basic right to watch free-TV programs via any platform such as antennas and cable and satellite receivers.


Vietnam

The Vietnamese government required 7 must-carry channels to be carried free-to-air on all television platform such as cable, satellite and the internet. These channels are designed to air news, information and propaganda for the public


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Must-Carry Broadcast law Television terminology United States communications regulation Cable television in the United States Cable television in Canada