Title 47 — Telegraphs, Telephones, and RadiotelegraphsRelease 119-73

§341 Carriage of television signals to certain subscribers

Title 47 › Chapter CHAPTER 5— - WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO RADIO › Part Part I— - General Provisions › § 341

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

A cable or satellite company may choose to send certain in‑state broadcast TV stations to subscribers who live in a specially defined "eligible county." The company can keep carrying any in‑state stations it was carrying there on January 1, 2004. If that would give them fewer than three stations, they may instead carry up to 2 in‑state stations. Any station carried this way is treated as "significantly viewed" under FCC rule 47 CFR 76.54. An eligible county is one of four counties in the same State that, on January 1, 2004, were each in DMAs mostly in other States and that together had 41,340 TV households per Nielsen 2003–2004. Carrying a station under these rules is optional for the provider. A satellite carrier may not send a station into a neighboring local market that covers only part of a county, except to serve households in that part of the county that do not get service.

Full Legal Text

Title 47, §341

Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)A cable operator or satellite carrier may elect to retransmit, to subscribers in an eligible county—

(A)any television broadcast stations that are located in the State in which the county is located and that any cable operator or satellite carrier was retransmitting to subscribers in the county on January 1, 2004; or

(B)up to 2 television broadcast stations located in the State in which the county is located, if the number of television broadcast stations that the cable operator or satellite carrier is authorized to carry under paragraph (1) is less than 3.

(2)A station described in subsection (a) is deemed to be significantly viewed in the eligible county within the meaning of section 76.54 of the Commission’s regulations (47 CFR 76.54).

(3)For purposes of this section, the term “eligible county” means any 1 of 4 counties that—

(A)are all in a single State;

(B)on January 1, 2004, were each in designated market areas in which the majority of counties were located in another State or States; and

(C)as a group had a combined total of 41,340 television households according to the U.S. Television Household Estimates by Nielsen Media Research for 2003–2004.

(4)Carriage of a station under this section shall be at the option of the cable operator or satellite carrier.

(b)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a satellite carrier may not carry the signal of a television station into an adjacent local market that is comprised of only a portion of a county, other than to unserved households located in that county.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

47 U.S.C. § 341

Title 47 — Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73