47 C.F.R. Subpart T—Notices
Title 47 - Telecommunication
Source: 65 FR 53617, Sept. 5, 2000, unless otherwise noted.
Effective April 2, 1993, a cable operator shall provide written notice to any broadcast television station at least 30 days prior to either deleting from carriage or repositioning that station. Such notification shall also be provided to subscribers of the cable system. Note 1 to §76.1601: No deletion or repositioning of a local commercial television station shall occur during a period in which major television ratings services measure the size of audiences of local television stations. For this purpose, such periods are the four national four-week ratings periods—generally including February, May, July and November—commonly known as audience sweeps.
Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 76—MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE
Subpart T—Notices
§ 76.1601 Deletion or repositioning of broadcast signals.
§ 76.1602 Customer service—general information.
(a) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in paragraph (b) of this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators 90 days written notice of its intent to enforce standards.
(b) Effective July 1, 1993, the cable operator shall provide written information on each of the following areas at the time of installation of service, at least annually to all subscribers, and at any time upon request:
(1) Products and services offered;
(2) Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services;
(3) Installation and service maintenance policies;
(4) Instructions on how to use the cable service;
(5) Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and
(6) Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the local franchise authority's cable office.
(c) Subscribers shall be advised of the procedures for resolution of complaints about the quality of the television signal delivered by the cable system operator, including the address of the responsible officer of the local franchising authority.
§ 76.1603 Customer service—rate and service changes.
(a) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in paragraph (b) of this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators 90 days written notice of its intent to enforce standards.
(b) Customers will be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions as soon as possible in writing. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of thirty (30) days in advance of such changes if the change is within the control of the cable operator. In addition, the cable operator shall notify subscribers 30 days in advance of any significant changes in the other information required by §76.1602.
(c) In addition to the requirement of paragraph (b) of this section regarding advance notification to customers of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions, cable systems shall give 30 days written notice to both subscribers and local franchising authorities before implementing any rate or service change. Such notice shall state the precise amount of any rate change and briefly explain in readily understandable fashion the cause of the rate change (e.g., inflation, change in external costs or the addition/deletion of channels). When the change involves the addition or deletion of channels, each channel added or deleted must be separately identified. For purposes of the carriage of digital broadcast signals, the operator need only identify for subscribers, the television signal added and not whether that signal may be multiplexed during certain dayparts.
(d) A cable operator shall provide written notice to a subscriber of any increase in the price to be charged for the basic service tier or associated equipment at least 30 days before any proposed increase is effective. The notice should include the name and address of the local franchising authority.
(e) To the extent the operator is required to provide notice of service and rate changes to subscribers, the operator may provide such notice using any reasonable written means at its sole discretion.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of part 76 of this chapter, a cable operator shall not be required to provide prior notice of any rate change that is the result of a regulatory fee, franchise fee, or any other fee, tax, assessment, or charge of any kind imposed by any Federal agency, State, or franchising authority on the transaction between the operator and the subscriber.
Note 1 to §76.1603: Section 624(h) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 544(h), contains additional notification requirements which a franchising authority may enforce.
Note 2 to §76.1603: Section 624(d)(3) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 544(d)(3), contains additional notification provisions pertaining to cable operators who offer a premium channel without charge to cable subscribers who do not subscribe to such premium channel.
Note 3 to §76.1603: Section 631 of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 551, contains additional notification requirements pertaining to the protection of subscriber privacy.
[65 FR 53617, Sept. 5, 2000, as amended at 66 FR 16554, Mar. 26, 2001]
§ 76.1604 Charges for customer service changes.
If a cable operator establishes a higher charge for changes effected solely by coded entry on a computer terminal or by other similarly simple methods, as provided in §76.980(d), the cable system must notify all subscribers in writing that they may be subject to such a charge for changing service tiers more than the specified number of times in any 12 month period.
§ 76.1605 New product tier.
(a) Within 30 days of the offering of an NPT, operators shall file with the Commission a copy of the new rate card that contains the following information on their BSTs, CPSTs and NPTs:
(1) The names of the programming services contained on each tier; and
(2) The price of each tier.
(b) Operators also must file with the Commission, copies of notifications that were sent to subscribers regarding the initial offering of NPTs. After this initial filing, cable operators must file updated rate cards and copies of customer notifications with the Commission within 30 days of rate or service changes affecting the NPT.
§ 76.1606 Rate change while complaint pending.
A regulated cable operator that proposes to change any rate while a cable service tier complaint is pending before the Commission shall provide the Commission at least 30 days notice of the proposed change.
§ 76.1607 Principal headend.
A cable operator shall provide written notice by certified mail to all stations carried on its system pursuant to the must-carry rules at least 60 days prior to any change in the designation of its principal headend.
§ 76.1608 System technical integration requiring uniform election of must-carry or retransmission consent status.
A cable system that changes its technical configuration in such a way as to integrate two formerly separate cable systems must give 90 days notice of its intention to do so to any television broadcast stations that have elected must-carry status with respect to one system and retransmission consent status with respect to the other. If the system and the station do not agree on a uniform election 45 days prior to integration, the cable system may require the station to make such a uniform election 30 days prior to integration.
§ 76.1609 Non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity.
Within 60 days following the provision of service to 1,000 subscribers, the operator of each such system shall file a notice to that effect with the Commission, and serve a copy of that notice on every television station that would be entitled to exercise network non-duplication protection or syndicated exclusivity protection against it.
§ 76.1610 Change of operational information.
The Operator shall inform the Commission on FCC Form 324 whenever there is a change of cable television system operator; change of legal name, change of the operator's mailing address or FCC Registration Number (FRN); or change in the operational status of a cable television system. Notification must be done within 30 days from the date the change occurs and must include the following information, as appropriate:
(a) The legal name of the operator and whether the operator is an individual, private association, partnership, corporation, or government entity. See §76.5(cc). If the operator is a partnership, the legal name of the partner responsible for communications with the Commission shall be supplied;
(b) The assumed name (if any) used for doing business in each community;
(c) The physical address, including zip code, and e-mail address, if applicable, to which all communications are to be directed;
(d) The nature of the operational status change (e.g., operation terminated, merged with another system, inactive, deleted, etc.);
(e) The names and FCC identifiers (e.g., CA 0001) of the system communities affected.
(f) The operator's FCC Registration Number (FRN) as required under part 1, subpart W of this chapter.
(g) The FCC Registration Number (FRN).
Note 1 to §76.1610: FCC system community identifiers are routinely assigned upon registration. They have been assigned to all reported system communities based on previous Form 325 data. If a system community in operation prior to March 31, 1972, has not previously been assigned a system community identifier, the operator shall provide the following information in lieu of the identifier: Community Name, Community Type (i.e., incorporated town, unincorporated settlement, etc.), County Name, State, Operator Legal Name, Operator Assumed Name for Doing Business in the Community, Operator Mail Address, and Year and Month service was first provided by the physical system.
[65 FR 53617, Sept. 5, 2000, as amended at 66 FR 47897, Sept. 14, 2001; 68 FR 27003, May 19, 2003]
§ 76.1611 Political cable rates and classes of time.
If a system permits a candidate to use its cablecast facilities, the system shall disclose to all candidates information about rates, terms, conditions and all value-enhancing discount privileges offered to commercial advertisers. Systems may use reasonable discretion in making the disclosure; provided, however, that the disclosure includes, at a minimum, the following information:
(a) A description and definition of each class of time available to commercial advertisers sufficiently complete enough to allow candidates to identify and understand what specific attributes differentiate each class;
(b) A description of the lowest unit charge and related privileges (such as priorities against preemption and make goods prior to specific deadlines) for each class of time offered to commercial advertisers;
(c) A description of the system's method of selling preemptible time based upon advertiser demand, commonly known as the “current selling level,” with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase at these demand-generated rates in the same manner as commercial advertisers;
(d) An approximation of the likelihood of preemption for each kind of preemptible time; and
(e) An explanation of the system's sales practices, if any, that are based on audience delivery, with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase this kind of time, if available to commercial advertisers.
§ 76.1612 Personal attack.
(a) When, during origination cablecasting of issues of public importance, an attack is made upon the honesty, character, integrity, or like personal qualities of an identified person or group, the cable television system operator shall, within a reasonable time and in no event later than one (1) week after the attack, transmit to the person or group attacked:
(1) Notification of the date, time, and identification of the cablecast;
(2) A script or tape (or an accurate summary if a script or tape is not available) of the attack; and
(3) An offer of a reasonable opportunity to respond over the system's facilities.
(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this section shall not apply to cablecast material which falls within one or more of the following categories:
(1) Personal attacks on foreign groups or foreign public figures;
(2) Personal attacks occurring during uses by legally qualified candidates;
(3) Personal attacks made during cablecasts not included in paragraph (a)(2) of this section and made by legally qualified candidates, their authorized spokespersons or those associated with them in the campaign, on other such candidates, their authorized spokespersons or persons associated with the candidates in the campaign; and
(4) Bona fide newscasts, bona fide news interviews, and on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events (including commentary or analysis contained in the foregoing programs, but, the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section shall be applicable to editorials of the cable television system operator).
§ 76.1613 Political editorials.
Where a cable television system operator, in an editorial endorses or opposes a legally qualified candidate or candidates, the system operator shall, within 24 hours of the editorial, transmit the following to the other qualified candidate or candidates for the same office or the candidate opposed in the editorial:
(a) Notification of the date, time, and channel of the editorial;
(b) A script or tape of the editorial; and
(c) An offer of a reasonable opportunity for a candidate or a spokesman of the candidate to respond over the system's facilities: Provided, however, that where such editorials are cablecast within 72 hours prior to the day of the election, the system operator shall comply with the provisions of this paragraph sufficiently far in advance of the broadcast to enable the candidate or candidates to have a reasonable opportunity to prepare a response and to present it in a timely fashion.
§ 76.1614 Identification of must-carry signals.
A cable operator shall respond in writing within 30 days to any written request by any person for the identification of the signals carried on its system in fulfillment of the must-carry requirements of §76.56.
§ 76.1615 Sponsorship identification.
(a) When a cable television system operator engaged in origination cablecasting presents any matter for which money, service, or other valuable consideration is either directly or indirectly paid or promised to, or charged or accepted by such cable television system operator, the cable television system operator, at the time of the cablecast, shall announce that such matter is sponsored, paid for, or furnished, either in whole or in part, and by whom or on whose behalf such consideration was supplied: Provided, however, that “service or other valuable consideration” shall not include any service or property furnished either without or at a nominal charge for use on, or in connection with, a cablecast unless it is so furnished in consideration for an identification of any person, product, service, trademark, or brand name beyond an identification reasonably related to the use of such service or property on the cablecast. For the purposes of this section, the term “sponsored” shall be deemed to have the same meaning as “paid for.” In the case of any political advertisement cablecast under this paragraph that concerns candidates for public office, the sponsor shall be identified with letters equal to or greater than four (4) percent of the vertical picture height that air for not less than four (4) seconds.
(b) Each cable television system operator engaged in origination cablecasting shall exercise reasonable diligence to obtain from employees, and from other persons with whom the system operator deals directly in connection with any matter for cablecasting, information to enable such system operator to make the announcement required by this section.
(c) In the case of any political origination cablecast matter or any origination cablecast matter involving the discussion of public controversial issues for which any film, record, transcription, talent, script, or other material or service of any kind is furnished, either directly or indirectly, to a cable television system operator as an inducement for cablecasting such matter, an announcement shall be made both at the beginning and conclusion of such cablecast on which such material or service is used that such film, record, transcription, talent, script, or other material or service has been furnished to such cable television system operator in connection with the transmission of such cablecast matter: Provided, however, that in the case of any cablecast of 5 minutes' duration or less, only one such announcement need be made either at the beginning or conclusion of the cablecast.
(d) The announcement required by this section shall, in addition to stating the fact that the origination cablecasting matter was sponsored, paid for or furnished, fully and fairly disclose the true identity of the person or persons, or corporation, committee, association or other unincorporated group, or other entity by whom or on whose behalf such payment is made or promised, or from whom or on whose behalf such services or other valuable consideration is received, or by whom the material or services referred to in paragraph (c) of this section are furnished. Where an agent or other person or entity contracts or otherwise makes arrangements with a cable television system operator on behalf of another, and such fact is known or by the exercise of reasonable diligence, as specified in paragraph (b) of this section, could be known to the system operator, the announcement shall disclose the identity of the person or persons or entity on whose behalf such agent is acting instead of the name of such agent.
(e) In the case of an origination cablecast advertising commercial products or services, an announcement stating the sponsor's corporate or trade name, or the name of the sponsor's product, when it is clear that the mention of the name of the product constitutes a sponsorship identification, shall be deemed sufficient for the purposes of this section and only one such announcement need be made at any time during the course of the cablecast.
(f) The announcement otherwise required by this section is waived with respect to the origination cablecast of “want ad” or classified advertisements sponsored by an individual. The waiver granted in this paragraph shall not extend to a classified advertisement or want ad sponsorship by any form of business enterprise, corporate or otherwise.
(g) The announcements required by this section are waived with respect to feature motion picture film produced initially and primarily for theatre exhibition.
Note to §
(h) Commission interpretations in connection with the provisions of the sponsorship identification rules for the broadcasting services are contained in the Commission's Public Notice, entitled “Applicability of Sponsorship Identification Rules,” dated May 6, 1963 (40 FCC 141), as modified by Public Notice, dated April 21, 1975 (FCC 75–418). Further interpretations are printed in full in various volumes of the Federal Communications Commission Reports. The interpretations made for the broadcasting services are equally applicable to origination cablecasting.
§ 76.1616 Contracts with local exchange carriers.
Within 10 days of final execution of a contract permitting a local exchange carrier to use that part of the transmission facilities of a cable system extending from the last multi-user terminal to the premises of the end use, the parties shall submit a copy of such contract, along with an explanation of how such contract is reasonably limited in scope and duration, to the Commission for review. The parties shall serve a copy of this submission on the local franchising authority, along with a notice of the local franchising authority's right to file comments with the Commission consistent with §76.7.
§ 76.1617 Initial must-carry notice.
(a) Within 60 days of activation of a cable system, a cable operator must notify all qualified NCE stations of its designated principal headend by certified mail.
(b) Within 60 days of activation of a cable system, a cable operator must notify all local commercial and NCE stations that may not be entitled to carriage because they either:
(1) Fail to meet the standards for delivery of a good quality signal to the cable system's principal headend, or
(2) May cause an increased copyright liability to the cable system.
(c) Within 60 days of activation of a cable system, a cable operator must send by certified mail a copy of a list of all broadcast television stations carried by its system and their channel positions to all local commercial and noncommercial television stations, including those not designated as must-carry stations and those not carried on the system.
§ 76.1618 Basic tier availability.
A cable operator shall provide written notification to subscribers of the availability of basic tier service to new subscribers at the time of installation. This notification shall include the following information:
(a) That basic tier service is available;
(b) The cost per month for basic tier service;
(c) A list of all services included in the basic service tier.
§ 76.1619 Information on subscriber bills.
(a) Effective July 1, 1993, bills must be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, basic and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills will also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits.
(b) In case of a billing dispute, the cable operator must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within 30 days.
(c) A cable franchise authority may enforce the customer service standards set forth in this section against cable operators. The franchise authority must provide affected cable operators 90 days written notice of its intent to enforce standards.
§ 76.1620 Availability of signals.
If a cable operator authorizes subscribers to install additional receiver connections, but does not provide the subscriber with such connections, or with the equipment and materials for such connections, the operator shall notify such subscribers of all broadcast stations carried on the cable system which cannot be viewed via cable without a converter box and shall offer to sell or lease such a converter box to such subscribers. Such notification must be provided by June 2, 1993, and annually thereafter and to each new subscriber upon initial installation. The notice, which may be included in routine billing statements, shall identify the signals that are unavailable without an additional connection, the manner for obtaining such additional connection and instructions for installation.
§ 76.1621 Equipment compatibility offer.
Cable system operators that use scrambling, encryption or similar technologies in conjunction with cable system terminal devices, as defined in §15.3(e) of this chapter, that may affect subscribers' reception of signals shall offer to supply each subscriber with special equipment that will enable the simultaneous reception of multiple signals. The equipment offered shall include a single terminal device with dual descramblers/decoders and/or timers and bypass switches. Other equipment, such as two independent set-top terminal devices may be offered at the same time that the single terminal device with dual tuners/descramblers is offered. For purposes of this rule, two set-top devices linked by a control system that provides functionality equivalent to that of a single device with dual descramblers is considered to be the same as a terminal device with dual descramblers/decoders.
(a) The offer of special equipment shall be made to new subscribers at the time they subscribe and to all subscribers at least once each year.
(b) Such special equipment shall, at a minimum, have the capability:
(1) To allow simultaneous reception of any two scrambled or encrypted signals and to provide for tuning to alternative channels on a pre-programmed schedule; and
(2) To allow direct reception of all other signals that do not need to be processed through descrambling or decryption circuitry (this capability can generally be provided through a separate by-pass switch or through internal by-pass circuitry in a cable system terminal device).
(c) Cable system operators shall determine the specific equipment needed by individual subscribers on a case-by-case basis, in consultation with the subscriber. Cable system operators are required to make a good faith effort to provide subscribers with the amount and types of special equipment needed to resolve their individual compatibility problems.
(d) Cable operators shall provide such equipment at the request of individual subscribers and may charge for purchase or lease of the equipment and its installation in accordance with the provisions of the rate regulation rules for customer premises equipment used to receive the basic service tier, as set forth in §76.923. Notwithstanding the required annual offering, cable operators shall respond to subscriber requests for special equipment for reception of multiple signals that are made at any time.
§ 76.1622 Consumer education program on compatibility.
Cable system operators shall provide a consumer education program on compatibility matters to their subscribers in writing, as follows:
(a) The consumer information program shall be provided to subscribers at the time they first subscribe and at least once a year thereafter. Cable operators may choose the time and means by which they comply with the annual consumer information requirement. This requirement may be satisfied by a once-a-year mailing to all subscribers. The information may be included in one of the cable system's regular subscriber billings.
(b) The consumer information program shall include the following information:
(1) Cable system operators shall inform their subscribers that some models of TV receivers and videocassette recorders may not be able to receive all of the channels offered by the cable system when connected directly to the cable system. In conjunction with this information, cable system operators shall briefly explain, the types of channel compatibility problems that could occur if subscribers connected their equipment directly to the cable system and offer suggestions for resolving those problems. Such suggestions could include, for example, the use of a cable system terminal device such as a set-top channel converter. Cable system operators shall also indicate that channel compatibility problems associated with reception of programming that is not scrambled or encrypted programming could be resolved through use of simple converter devices without descrambling or decryption capabilities that can be obtained from either the cable system or a third party retail vendor.
(2) In cases where service is received through a cable system terminal device, cable system operators shall indicate that subscribers may not be able to use special features and functions of their TV receivers and videocassette recorders, including features that allow the subscriber to: view a program on one channel while simultaneously recording a program on another channel; record two or more consecutive programs that appear on different channels; and, use advanced picture generation and display features such as “Picture-in-Picture,” channel review and other functions that necessitate channel selection by the consumer device.
(3) In cases where cable system operators offer remote control capability with cable system terminal devices and other customer premises equipment that is provided to subscribers, they shall advise their subscribers that remote control units that are compatible with that equipment may be obtained from other sources, such as retail outlets. Cable system operators shall also provide a representative list of the models of remote control units currently available from retailers that are compatible with the customer premises equipment they employ. Cable system operators are required to make a good faith effort in compiling this list and will not be liable for inadvertent omissions. This list shall be current as of no more than six months before the date the consumer education program is distributed to subscribers. Cable operators are also required to encourage subscribers to contact the cable operator to inquire about whether a particular remote control unit the subscriber might be considering for purchase would be compatible with the subscriber's customer premises equipment.
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