FCC Requires MVPDs to Submit Reports of Broadcast Station Blackouts

The FCC adopted rules on January 3 that require Multichannel Video Programming Distributors, including cable or satellite providers (“MVPDs” or “Reporting Entities”) to report certain broadcast station blackouts.  The rules will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, but MVPDs will not be required to comply until the FCC develops a reporting portal.

Under the new rules, Reporting Entities must report qualifying blackouts (“Broadcast Station Blackouts”).  Broadcast Station Blackouts are blackouts in which:  (1) an MVPD ceases retransmission of a commercial television broadcast station’s signal due to a lapse in the broadcast station’s retransmission consent; and (2) the blackout lasts longer than 24 hours.  The rule applies to retransmission of full power, Class A, and LPTV stations.

Under the new rules, Reporting Entities are required to submit an Initial Blackout Notification and a Final Blackout Notification.

Reporting Entities must submit an Initial Blackout Notification no later than two business days after a blackout has become reportable.  In effect, the initial notification is due two business days after the blackout enters its 24th hour.  An Initial Blackout Notification must include:

(1) the name of the reporting entity;

(2) a list of all commercial stations no longer being retransmitted (including, for every primary and multicast stream, the call sign, Facility ID and network affiliation);

(3) identification of the DMA in which affected subscribers reside;

(4) the time and date of the initial interruption to programming; and

(5) a good faith estimate of the number of subscribers affected.

Reporting Entities must submit a Final Blackout Notification no later than two business days after the MVPD resumes carriage of the station.  The Final Blackout Notification must state, for each station identified in the initial notification, the date on which retransmission resumed.  If no final notification is filed within three years of the initial notification, the FCC will consider the station(s) as no longer carried by the MVPD.

If a broadcaster named in an MVPD’s notifications believes that any substantive information in the reports is incomplete or incorrect, the broadcaster may voluntarily submit a supplemental notice.  Broadcasters must identify the exact fields of the MVPD report that contain errors and provide information that the broadcaster considers to be complete and correct.  The MVPD will be notified of the broadcaster’s submission.  All reporters are required to correct information that they believe to be incorrect.

The FCC will establish an online reporting portal modeled after the Commission’s Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) through which reporters will file electronically.  Although information in notifications submitted through the portal will become publicly available on the FCC’s website, the FCC will treat estimated subscriber counts as presumptively confidential.

The FCC will release further details and instructions via Public Notice at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the requirements.