§342 Process for issuing qualified carrier certification

Summary

The Commission must give a special certification to a satellite company when two things are true. First, the company already provides local TV service under the statutory license in every designated market area (DMA). Second, for any DMA where it did not provide local service on the date the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 passed, the company’s satellites were designed and shown in pre‑launch tests to give a good signal to at least 90% of the households in that DMA (using the latest Census numbers), and there is no important proof of a satellite or subsystem failure after launch that would stop the satellite from meeting that 90% coverage. To apply, the company must file an affidavit saying where it already provided local service as of that 2010 date. For each new DMA it must identify the DMA and its local receive site, give household counts and maps from the latest Census, provide pre‑launch signal‑power maps showing at least 90% household coverage, file an affidavit saying there have been no post‑launch failures that would prevent meeting the 90% test, and supply any other technical or market information the Commission asks for. The public gets 30 days to comment on an application. The Commission must decide to grant or deny the request within 90 days of filing. A company that receives qualified carrier status must file an affidavit 30 months later saying it still meets the rules. Defined terms: “designated market area” — the market definition used in section 122; “good quality satellite signal” — a signal designed to achieve at least 99.7% availability using typical subscriber antennas and the same prediction method used for the top 100 DMAs, while treating broadcast stations the same for multiplexer prioritization and keeping the number of video streams per transponder no higher than the largest equivalent transponder serving the top 100 DMAs. The top 100 DMAs are the ones listed by Nielsen at the time of the application.