The Federal Communications Commission April 29 adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that initiates new satellite broadcast carriage requirements to the noncontiguous United States.

The NPRM requests comment on rules that would require satellite carriers with more than five million subscribers to carry both the analog and digital signals of television broadcast stations in local markets to noncontiguous states. The Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004 (SHVERA) requires satellite carriers to provide these signals to substantially all of their subscribers in each station’s local market by Dec. 8 for analog signals and by June 8, 2007 for digital signals.

The NPRM also seeks public comment on a number of other issues, including whether the term “noncontiguous states” includes territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, and the interpretation that satellite carriers’ obligation to carry local stations’ signals extends to the whole broadcast signal, including multicast digital signals and high-definition signals.

The proposed rule also establishes tow deadlines for location stations to elect mandatory carriage or retransmission consent: Oct. 1 for analog signals and April 1, 2007 for digital signals.