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 PUBLIC  NOTICE  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  St.,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 DA  05-  2534 
 Released:  September  28,  2005 


 MEDIA  BUREAU  EXTENDS  DEADLINE  FOR  TELEVISION  BROADCAST  STATIONS  TO  MAKE  RETRANSMISSION  CONSENT/  MUST  CARRY  ELECTIONS 
 ON  CABLE  AND  SATELLITE  SYSTEMS  IN  CERTAIN  DESIGNATED  MARKET  AREAS  EFFECTED  BY  HURRICANE  RITA 


 Pursuant  to  Sections  76.64  and  76.66  of  the  Commission’s  rules,  television  broadcast  stations  seeking  cable  television  or  satellite  carriage  are  required  to  elect  between  retransmission  consent 
 or  must  carry  status  by  October  1,  2005  in  their  designated  market  areas  (DMAs). 
 Because  of  the  impact  of  Hurricane  Rita  and  pursuant  to  section  1.3  of  the  Commission’s  rules,  the  Media  Bureau  finds  good  cause  to  extend  this  deadline  until  November  15,  2005  in  the 


 Alexandria,  Lake  Charles,  and  Lafayette,  Louisiana  and  Beaumont-  Port  Arthur,  Texas  designated  market  areas  (DMAs).  For  the  same  reason,  those  portions  of  Commission 
 rules  76.64(  f)  and  76.66(  c),(  d)  that  affect  broadcast  stations’  default  carriage  status  in  the  absence  of  an  affirmative  carriage  election  by  October  1,  2005  are  waived  for  covered 
 broadcasters  that  make  an  election  by  November  15,  2005.  Although  subject  to  review  at  a  later  date,  at  this  time,  the  January  1,  2006  deadline  for  cable  and  satellite  operators  to  commence 
 carriage  of  television  stations  located  in  the  above  DMAs  pursuant  to  this  election  is  not  being  extended. 


 This  extension  does  not  affect  the  rights  of  any  stations  who  have  already  exercised  their  carriage  elections  or  of  any  cable  or  satellite  operators  who  have  already  entered  into  carriage 
 agreements.  We  remind  broadcasters,  cable  operators  and  satellite  carriers  of  their  obligation  to  negotiate  retransmission  consent  in  good  faith  in  accordance  with  Section  325(  b)(  3)(  C)  of  the 
 Communications  Act  and  Section  76.65  of  the  Commission’s  rules.  Lastly,  we  strongly  encourage  the  parties  to  expiring  retransmission  consent  agreements  in  these  DMAs  to  agree  to 
 extensions  during  the  emergency’s  aftermath  to  maintain  the  flow  of  vital  information  to  the  public. 


 For  additional  information  on  this  matter,  please  contact  Ronald  Parver  at  (202)  418-  7200. 
 Action  by  the  Acting  Chief,  Media  Bureau. 
 -  FCC  - 
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