§ 76.109   Requirements for invocation of protection.

   For a station licensee to be eligible to invoke the provisions of
   § 76.101, it must have a contract or other written indicia that it holds
   syndicated exclusivity rights for the exhibition of the program in
   question. Contracts entered on or after August 18, 1988, must contain
   the following words: “the licensee [or substitute name] shall, by the
   terms of this contract, be entitled to invoke the protection against
   duplication of programming imported under the Compulsory Copyright
   License, as provided in § 76.101 of the FCC rules [or ‘as provided in
   the FCC's syndicated exclusivity rules’].” Contracts entered into prior
   to August 18, 1988, must contain either the foregoing language or a
   clear and specific reference to the licensee's authority to exercise
   exclusivity rights as to the specific programming against cable
   television broadcast signal carriage by the cable system in question
   upon the contingency that the government reimposed syndicated
   exclusivity protection. In the absence of such a specific reference in
   contracts entered into prior to August 18, 1988, the provisions of
   these rules may be invoked only if the contract is amended to include
   the specific language referenced in this section or a specific written
   acknowledgment is obtained from the party from whom the broadcast
   exhibition rights were obtained that the existing contract was
   intended, or should now be construed by agreement of the parties, to
   include such rights. A general acknowledgment by a supplier of
   exhibition rights that specific contract language was intended to
   convey rights under these rules will be accepted with respect to all
   contracts containing that specific language. Nothing in this section
   shall be construed as a grant of exclusive rights to a broadcaster
   where such rights are not agreed to by the parties.

   return arrow Back to Top