(a) Subsidiary communications services are those transmitted within the TV aural baseband signal, but do not include services which enhance the main program broadcast service or exclusively relate to station operations (see §73.665(a), (b), and (c)). Subsidiary communications include, but are not limited to, services such as functional music, specialized foreign language programs, radio reading services, utility load management, market and financial data and news, paging and calling, traffic control signal switching, and point-to-point or multipoint messages.

(b) TV subsidiary communications services that are common carrier or private radio in nature are subject to common carrier or private radio regulation. Licensees operating such services are required to apply to the FCC for the appropriate authorization and to comply with all policies and rules applicable to the service. Responsibility for making the initial determinations of whether a particular activity requires separate authority rests with the TV station licensee or permittee. Initial determinations by licensees or permittees are subject to FCC examination and may be reviewed at the FCC's discretion.

(c) Subsidiary communications services are of a secondary nature under the authority of the TV station authorization, and the authority to provide such communications services may not be retained or transferred in any manner separate from the station's authorization. The grant or renewal of a TV station permit or license is not furthered or promoted by proposed or past subsidiary communications services. The permittee or licensee must establish that the broadcast operation is in the public interest wholly apart from the subsidiary communications services provided.

(d) The station identification, delayed recording, and sponsor identification announcement required by §§73.1201, 73.1208, and 73.1212 are not applicable to leased communications services transmitted via services that are not of a general broadcast nature.

(e) The licensee or permittee must retain control over all material transmitted in a broadcast mode via the station's facilities, with the right to reject any material that it deems inappropriate or undesirable.

[49 FR 18105, Apr. 27, 1984, as amended at 49 FR 27147, July 2, 1984; 56 FR 49707, Oct. 1, 1991]