San Diego
San Diego area cable systems must black out the programming of Los Angeles station KNBC whenever it is carrying the same network shows being seen on San Diego’s KCST, the Federal Communications Commission in Washington said on Wednesday.
The FCC had allowed the duplication because KCST had not shown that it was being harmed economically by the practice.
A U.S. Court of Appeals judge ruled in 1983 that there was no need to prove economic harm if the station could show that the out-of-town signal was not “significantly viewed” in the area.
The FCC accepted KCST’s recent argument that KNBC no longer met the viewing standard.
KCST broadcasts on Channel 39. KNBC is on Channel 4. Both are affiliated with the NBC television network.
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