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market based on audience share as of the date an application for approval of an acquisition is filed with the
FCC and at least eight independently owned and operating full-power broadcast television stations remain in
the market following the acquisition. Further, without regard to the number of remaining independently owned
television stations, the rule permits the ownership of more than one television station within the same DMA so
long as certain signal contours of the stations involved do not overlap. The 2011 Media Ownership Notice
proposes minor modifications to the local television ownership rule. It also raises questions regarding whether
local news-sharing agreements and shared services agreements should count toward the FCC’s ownership
limitations.
National Television Ownership
The Communications Act and FCC regulations limit the number of television stations one entity may own or
control nationally. Under the rule, no entity may have an attributable interest in broadcast television stations
that reach, in the aggregate, more than 39% of all U.S. television households. Our owned local television sta-
tion reach does not exceed this limit.
Foreign Ownership
The Communications Act generally limits foreign ownership in a broadcast station to 20% direct ownership
and 25% indirect ownership (i.e., through one or more subsidiaries), although the limit on indirect ownership
can be waived if the FCC finds it to be in the public interest. These limits have been held to apply to both
voting control and equity, as well as to ownership by any form of entity, including corporations, partnerships
and limited liability companies.
Dual Network Rule
The dual network rule prohibits any of the four major television broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox and
NBC, from being under common ownership or control with another of the four.
Must-Carry/Retransmission Consent
Every 3 years, each commercial television station must elect for each cable system in its DMA either must-
carry or retransmission consent. Federal law and FCC regulations also establish a must-carry/retransmission
consent election regime for carriage of commercial television stations by satellite providers. Through the
period ending December 31, 2011, all of the NBC network owned local television stations elected retrans-
mission consent and the Telemundo network owned local television stations elected must-carry or
retransmission consent depending on circumstances within their respective DMAs. For the period beginning
on January 1, 2012 and ending on December 31, 2014, all of the NBC network and Telemundo network
owned local television stations elected retransmission consent.
In enacting STELA in 2010, Congress modified certain aspects of the compulsory copyright licenses under
which satellite providers and cable operators retransmit broadcast stations. STELA expressly extended to
January 1, 2015 an existing prohibition against commercial television stations entering into exclusive retrans-
mission consent agreements with multichannel video providers and also extended a requirement that
commercial television stations and multichannel video providers negotiate retransmission consent agreements
in good faith. Several other multichannel video providers and third parties filed a petition asking the FCC to
initiate a rulemaking to consider changes to the current retransmission consent regulations and also asked
Congress to review the issue. The FCC launched a rulemaking in 2011 that, among other things, seeks
comment on proposals to modify the good faith negotiating standard and to eliminate regulations providing
local television stations with exclusivity protections in their markets for network and syndicated programming.
Legislation has been introduced that would eliminate both must-carry and retransmission consent as well as
more narrow legislation that would establish an arbitration mechanism to resolve impasses in retransmission
consent negotiations. We cannot predict what new laws or regulations, if any, may be adopted or how any
23 Comcast 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K