106 STAT. 1482 PUBLIC LAW 102-385—OCT. 5, 1992 SEC. 6. RETRANSMISSION CONSENT FOR CABLE SYSTEMS. Section 325 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325) is amended— (1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections (c) and (d), respectively; and (2) by inserting immediately after subsection (a) the following new subsection: "(b)(1) Following the date that is one yesir after the date of enactment of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, no cable system or other multichannel video programming distributor shall retransmit the signal of a broadcasting station, or any part thereof, except— "(A) with the express authority of the originating station; or "(B) pursuant to section 614, in the case of a station electing, in accordance with this subsection, to assert the right to carriage under such section. "(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to— "(A) retransmission of the signal of a noncommercial broadcasting station; "(B) retransmission directly to a home sateUite antenna of the signal of a broadcasting station that is not owned or operated by, or affiliated with, a broadcasting network, if such signal was retransmitted by a satellite carrier on May 1, 1991; "(C) retransmission of the signal of a broadcasting station that is owned or operated by, or affiliated with, a broadcasting network directly to a home satellite antenna, if the household receiving the signal is an unserved household; or "(D) retransmission by a cable operator or other multichannel video programming distributor of the signal of a superstation if such signal was obtained from a satellite carrier and the originating station was a superstation on May 1, 1991. For purposes of this paragraph, the terms 'satellite carrier', 'superstation', and 'unserved household' have the meanings given those terms, respectively, in section 119(d) of title 17, United States Code, as in effect on the date of enactment of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. Regulations. "(3)(A) Within 45 days after the date of enactment of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, the Commission shall commence a rulemaking proceeding to establish regulations to govern the exercise by television broadcast stations of the right to grant retransmission consent under this subsection and of the right to signal carriage under section 614, and such other regulations as are necessary to administer the limitations contained in paragraph (2). The Commission shall consider in such proceeding the impact that the grant of retransmission consent by television stations may have on the rates for the basic service tier and shall ensure that the regulations prescribed under this subsection do not conflict with the Commission's obligation under section 623(b)(1) to ensure that the rates for the basic service tier are reasonable. Such rulemaking proceeding shall be completed within 180 days after the date of enactment of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. "(B) The regulations required by subparagraph (A) shall require that television stations, within one year after the date of enactment of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 and every three years thereafter, make an election between
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