Do cable operators have to pay for multicast streams?
Yes. Subject to certain limitations, cable operators must now pay royalties to retransmit a distant multicast stream carried for the first time on or after February 27, 2010. The DSE values assigned to distant multicasts are the same as the DSE values assigned a station’s primary stream: 1.0 for a multicast that is an “independent station” and .25 for a multicast that is either a “network station” or a “noncommercial educational station.” Cable operators are not required to pay any royalties in the 2010/1 accounting period for the retransmission of a multicast stream carried in the first accounting period of 2010, provided that carriage of the stream began before February 27, 2010. Moreover, cable operators do not have to pay royalties to retransmit a multicast stream that is the subject of a written agreement entered into on or before June 30, 2009, between a cable system or an association representing a cable system and a primary transmitter or an association representing a primary t
