Explain the must-carry and retransmission consent rules.

What will be an ideal response?

From the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, it applies to the carriage of broadcast stations on cable, DBS, and all MVPD systems. The 1992 law prohibits cable, DBS, and MVPDs from retransmitting a broadcast station without the broadcaster’s explicit permission. Instead, broadcasters have the ability to negotiate with the MVPD for carriage. The 1992 law allows broadcasters to negotiate with cable systems to permit retransmission of their content generally for a fee and did not give the FCC authority to force broadcasters to consent to carriage. This is retransmission consent.
Because not all broadcast channels were popular enough to be sought after by an MVPD, the law also granted broadcasters the option to require MVPDs to carry their programming rather than negotiating for retransmission. Must carry, also called the cable carriage requirement, means that if a broadcast station chooses must-carry status it will not be dropped from an MVPD’s channel lineup. By asserting its must-carry rights, the broadcaster cannot demand payment for its content from the system operator.