47 U.S.C. § 341 — Carriage of television signals to certain subscribers

(a)(1) A cable operator or satellite carrier may choose to retransmit, to subscribers in an eligible county, either (A) any in-state television stations that a cable operator or satellite carrier was already retransmitting there on January 1, 2004, or (B) up to two in-state stations, if it's authorized to carry fewer than three stations under (A). (2) A station carried this way is treated as "significantly viewed" in that county under FCC rule 47 CFR 76.54. (3) An "eligible county" is one of a group of four counties that (A) are all in one State, (B) were, on January 1, 2004, each in TV market areas where most counties sat in a different State or States, and (C) together had 41,340 TV households, according to 2003–2004 Nielsen Media Research estimates. (4) Carrying a station under this section is always optional for the cable operator or satellite carrier. (b) Certain markets. No matter what other law says, a satellite carrier may not carry a station's signal into part of an adjacent local market that consists of only part of a county — except to households in that county that are otherwise unserved.