§  73.3700   Channel sharing.

   (a) Channel sharing generally. For purposes of this subsection,
   "reverse auction" shall mean the reverse auction set forth in section
   6403(a) of the See Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of
   2012. Subject to the provisions of this section, qualified television
   stations may voluntarily seek Commission approval to share a single six
   megahertz channel in conjunction with a proposal submitted in the
   reverse auction. Each station sharing a single channel shall continue
   to be licensed and operated separately, have its own call sign and be
   separately subject to all of the Commission's obligations, rules, and
   policies.

   (b) Basic qualifications. (1) Any full power television station or
   Class A television station permittee or licensee, as well as any
   applicant for an original construction permit may execute a channel
   sharing agreement to be considered in conjunction with the reverse
   auction.

   (2) The party relinquishing spectrum pursuant to a channel sharing
   agreement must hold a license prior to the commencement of the reverse
   auction wherein its channel sharing agreement shall be considered.

   (3) Channel sharing agreements shall contain a provision requiring that
   each channel sharing licensee shall retain spectrum usage rights
   adequate to ensure a sufficient amount of the shared channel capacity
   to allow it to provide at least one Standard Definition (SD) program
   stream at all times.

   (4) Channel sharing is permissible between commercial and noncommercial
   educational television stations.

   (5) Channel sharing is permissible between full power television
   stations, between Class A television stations and between full power
   and Class A television stations.

   (c) Preservation of carriage rights. A broadcast television station
   that voluntarily relinquishes spectrum usage rights under this section
   in order to share a television channel and that possessed carriage
   rights under section 338, 614, or 615 of the Communications Act of 1934
   (47 U.S.C. 338; 534; 535) on November 30, 2010, shall have, at its
   shared location, the carriage rights under such section that would
   apply to such station at such location if it were not sharing a
   channel.

   [ 77 FR 30426 , May 23, 2012]

   return arrow Back to Top