Sec. 76.57  Channel positioning.

    (a) At the election of the licensee of a local commercial broadcast 
television station, and for the purpose of this section, a qualified low 
power television station, carried in fulfillment of the must-carry 
obligations, a cable operator shall carry such signal on the cable 
system channel number on which the local commercial television station 
is broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on 
July 19, 1985, or on the channel on which it was carried on January 1, 
1992.
    (b) At the election of the licensee of a qualified local NCE 
broadcast television station carried in fulfillment of the must-carry 
obligations, a cable operator shall carry such signal on the cable 
system channel number on which the qualified NCE television station is 
broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was carried on 
July 19, 1985.
    (c) Any signal carried in fulfillment of the must-carry obligations 
may be carried on such other channel number as is mutually agreed upon 
by the station and the cable operator.
    (d) At the time a local commercial station elects must-carry status 
pursuant to Sec. 76.64, such station shall notify the cable system of 
its choice of channel position as specified in paragraphs (a)-(c) of 
this section. A qualified NCE stations shall notify the cable system of 
its choice of channel position when it requests carriage. Channel 
positioning requests from local commercial stations shall be fulfilled 
by the cable operator no later than October 6, 1993.

    Note: Any existing agreement for channel position between a local 
commercial station entitled to must-carry status and a cable operator 
entered into prior to June 26, 1990, may continue through the expiration 
of such agreement.

    (e) Pursuant to Sec. 76.64(f)(3), a local commercial broadcast 
television station that fails to make an election is deemed a must-carry 
station. A cable operator shall carry such a television station on the 
cable system channel number on which the local commercial television 
station is broadcast over the air, or on the channel on which it was 
carried on July 19, 1985, or on the channel on which it was carried on 
January 1, 1992. In the event that none of these specified channel 
positions is available due to a channel positioning request from a 
commercial television station affirmatively asserting its must-carry 
rights or such a request from a qualified local noncommercial 
educational station, the cable operator shall place the signal of such a 
television station on a channel of the cable system's choice, so long as 
that channel is included on the basic service tier.

[ 58 FR 17361 , Apr. 2, 1993, as amended at  58 FR 40368 , July 28, 1993;  59 FR 62345 , Dec. 5, 1994]