Title 47

SECTION 74.682

74.682 Station identification.

§ 74.682 Station identification.

(a) Each television broadcast auxiliary station operating with a transmitter output power of 1 watt or more must, when actually transmitting programs, transmit station identification at the beginning and end of each period of operation, and hourly, as close to the hour as feasible, at a natural break in program offerings by one of the following means:

(1) Transmission of its own call sign by visual or aural means or by automatic transmission in international Morse telegraphy.

(2) Visual or aural transmission of the call sign of the TV broadcast station with which it is licensed as an auxiliary.

(3) Visual or aural transmission of the call sign of the TV broadcast station whose signals are being relayed or, where programs are obtained directly from network lines and relayed, the network identification.

(b) Identification transmissions during operation need not be made when to make such transmission would interrupt a single consecutive speech, play, religious service, symphony concert, or any type of production. In such cases, the identification transmission shall be made at the first interruption of the entertainment continuity and at the conclusion thereof.

(c) During occasions when a television pickup station is being used to deliver program material for network distribution it may transmit the network identification in lieu of its own or associated TV station call sign during the actual program pickup. However, if it is providing the network feed through its own associated TV broadcast station it shall perform the station identification required by paragraph (a) of this section at the beginning and end of each period of operation.

(d) A period of operation is defined as a single uninterrupted transmission or a series of intermittent transmissions from a single location or continuous or intermittent transmission from a television pickup station covering a single event from various locations, within a single broadcast day.

(e) Regardless of the method used for station identification it shall be performed in a manner conducive to prompt association of the signal source with the responsible licensee. In exercising the discretion provided by this rule, licensees are expected to act in a responsible manner to assure that result.

(f) TV microwave boosters stations will be assigned individual call signs. However, station identification will be accomplished by the retransmission of identification as provided in paragraph (a) of this section.

[31 FR 15488, Dec. 8, 1966; 32 FR 452, Jan. 17, 1967, as amended at 42 FR 36830, July 18, 1977; 43 FR 1951, Jan. 13, 1978; 44 FR 36041, June 20, 1979; 49 FR 7131, Feb. 27, 1984]