47 CFR § 76.501 - Cross-ownership.
(a)-(c) [Reserved]
(d) No cable operator shall offer satellite master antenna television service (“SMATV”), as that service is defined in § 76.5(a)(2), separate and apart from any franchised cable service in any portion of the franchise area served by that cable operator's cable system, either directly or indirectly through an affiliate owned, operated, controlled, or under common control with the cable operator.
(e)
(1) A cable operator may directly or indirectly, through an affiliate owned, operated, controlled by, or under common control with the cable operator, offer SMATV service within its franchise area if the cable operator's SMATV system was owned, operated, controlled by or under common control with the cable operator as of October 5, 1992.
(2) A cable operator may directly or indirectly, through an affiliate owned, operated, controlled by, or under common control with the cable operator, offer service within its franchise area through SMATV facilities, provided such service is offered in accordance with the terms and conditions of a cable franchise agreement.
(f) The restrictions in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this section shall not apply to any cable operator in any franchise area in which a cable operator is subject to effective competition as determined under section 623(l) of the Communications Act.
Actual working control, in whatever manner exercised, shall be deemed a cognizable interest.
In applying the provisions of this section, ownership and other interests in an entity or entities covered by this rule will be attributed to their holders and deemed cognizable pursuant to the following criteria:
(a) Except as otherwise provided herein, partnership and direct ownership interests and any voting stock interest amounting to 5% or more of the outstanding voting stock of a corporation will be cognizable;
(b) Investment companies, as defined in 15 U.S.C. 80a-3, insurance companies and banks holding stock through their trust departments in trust accounts will be considered to have a cognizable interest only if they hold 20% or more of the outstanding voting stock of a corporation, or if any of the officers or directors of the corporation are representatives of the investment company, insurance company or bank concerned. Holdings by a bank or insurance company will be aggregated if the bank or insurance company has any right to determine how the stock will be voted. Holdings by investment companies will be aggregated if under common management.
(c) Attribution of ownership interests in an entity covered by this rule that are held indirectly by any party through one or more intervening corporations will be determined by successive multiplication of the ownership percentages for each link in the vertical ownership chain and application of the relevant attribution benchmark to the resulting product, except that wherever the ownership percentage for any link in the chain exceeds 50%, it shall not be included for purposes of this multiplication. [For example, if A owns 10% of company X, which owns 60% of company Y, which owns 25% of “Licensee,” then X's interest in “Licensee” would be 25% (the same as Y's interest since X's interest in Y exceeds 50%), and A's interest in “Licensee” would be 2.5% (0.1 × 0.25). Under the 5% attribution benchmark, X's interest in “Licensee” would be cognizable, while A's interest would not be cognizable.]
(d) Voting stock interests held in trust shall be attributed to any person who holds or shares the power to vote such stock, to any person who has the sole power to sell such stock, and to any person who has the right to revoke the trust at will or to replace the trustee at will. If the trustee has a familial, personal or extra-trust business relationship to the grantor or the beneficiary, the grantor or beneficiary, as appropriate, will be attributed with the stock interests held in trust. An otherwise qualified trust will be ineffective to insulate the grantor or beneficiary from attribution with the trust's assets unless all voting stock interests held by the grantor or beneficiary in the relevant entity covered by this rule are subject to said trust.
(e) Subject to paragraph (i) of this Note, holders of non-voting stock shall not be attributed an interest in the issuing entity. Subject to paragraph (i) of this Note, holders of debt and instruments such as warrants, convertible debentures, options or other non-voting interests with rights of conversion to voting interests shall not be attributed unless and until conversion is effected.
(f)
(1) Subject to paragraph (i) of this Note, a limited partnership interest shall be attributed to a limited partner unless that partner is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies. An interest in a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”) or Registered Limited Liability Partnership (“RLLP”) shall be attributed to the interest holder unless that interest holder is not materially involved, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media-related activities of the partnership and the relevant entity so certifies.
(2) In the case of a limited partnership, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (g)(1) of this section, it must verify that the partnership agreement or certificate of limited partnership, with respect to the particular limited partner exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt limited partner has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media activities of the partnership. In the case of an LLC or RLLP, in order for an entity to make the certification set forth in paragraph (g)(1) of this section, it must verify that the organizational document, with respect to the particular interest holder exempt from attribution, establishes that the exempt interest holder has no material involvement, directly or indirectly, in the management or operation of the media activities of the LLC or RLLP. The criteria which would assume adequate insulation for purposes of these certifications are described in the Memorandum Opinion and Order in MM Docket No. 83-46, FCC 85-252 (released June 24, 1985), as modified on reconsideration in the Memorandum Opinion and Order in MM Docket No. 83-46, FCC 86-410 (released November 28, 1986). Irrespective of the terms of the certificate of limited partnership or partnership agreement, or other organizational document in the case of an LLC or RLLP, however, no such certification shall be made if the individual or entity making the certification has actual knowledge of any material involvement of the limited partners, or other interest holders in the case of an LLC or RLLP, in the management or operation of the media businesses of the partnership or LLC or RLLP.
(3) In the case of an LLC or RLLP, the entity seeking insulation shall certify, in addition, that the relevant state statute authorizing LLCs permits an LLC member to insulate itself as required by our criteria.
(g) Officers and directors of an entity covered by this rule are considered to have a cognizable interest in the entity with which they are so associated. If any such entity engages in businesses in addition to its primary media business, it may request the Commission to waive attribution for any officer or director whose duties and responsibilities are wholly unrelated to its primary business. The officers and directors of a parent company of a media entity, with an attributable interest in any such subsidiary entity, shall be deemed to have a cognizable interest in the subsidiary unless the duties and responsibilities of the officer or director involved are wholly unrelated to the media subsidiary, and a certification properly documenting this fact is submitted to the Commission. The officers and directors of a sister corporation of a media entity shall not be attributed with ownership of that entity by virtue of such status.
(h) Discrete ownership interests held by the same individual or entity will be aggregated in determining whether or not an interest is cognizable under this section. An individual or entity will be deemed to have a cognizable investment if:
(1) The sum of the interests held by or through “passive investors” is equal to or exceeds 20 percent; or
(2) The sum of the interests other than those held by or through “passive investors” is equal to or exceeds 5 percent; or
(3) The sum of the interests computed under paragraph (i)(1) of this section plus the sum of the interests computed under paragraph (i)(2) of this section is equal to or exceeds 20 percent.
(i) Notwithstanding paragraphs (e) and (f) of this Note, the holder of an equity or debt interest or interests in an entity covered by this rule shall have that interest attributed if the equity (including all stockholdings, whether voting or nonvoting, common or preferred, and partnership interests) and debt interest or interests, in the aggregate, exceed 33 percent of the total asset value (all equity plus all debt) of that entity, provided however that:
(1) in applying the provisions of paragraph (i) of this note to §§ 76.501, 76.505 and 76.905(b)(2), the holder of an equity or debt interest or interests in a broadcast station, cable system, SMATV or multiple video distribution provider subject to § 76.501, § 76.505, or § 76.905(b)(2) (“interest holder”) shall have that interest attributed if the equity (including all stockholdings, whether voting or nonvoting, common or preferred, and partnership interests) and debt interest or interests, in the aggregate, exceed 33 percent of the total asset value (defined as the aggregate of all equity plus all debt) of that entity; and
(i) the interest holder also holds an interest in a broadcast station, cable system, SMATV, or multiple video distribution provider that operates in the same market, is subject to § 76.501, § 76.505, or § 76.905(b)(2) and is attributable without reference to this paragraph (i); or
(ii) the interest holder supplies over fifteen percent of the total weekly broadcast programming hours of the station in which the interest is held.
(2) For purposes of applying subparagraph (i)(1), the term “market” will be defined as it is defined under the rule that is being applied.
In cases where record and beneficial ownership of voting stock is not identical (e.g., bank nominees holding stock as record owners for the benefit of mutual funds, brokerage houses holding stock in street names for benefit of customers, investment advisors holding stock in their own names for the benefit of clients, and insurance companies holding stock), the party having the right to determine how the stock will be voted will be considered to own it for purposes of this subpart.
Paragraph (a) of this section will not be applied so as to require the divestiture of ownership interests proscribed herein solely because of the transfer of such interests to heirs or legatees by will or intestacy, provided that the degree or extent of the proscribed cross-ownership is not increased by such transfer.
Certifications pursuant to this section and these notes shall be sent to the attention of the Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, located at the address of the FCC's main office indicated in 47 CFR 0.401(a).
In applying paragraph (a) of § 76.501, for purposes of paragraph note 2(i) of this section, attribution of ownership interests in an entity covered by this rule that are held indirectly by any party through one or more intervening organizations will be determined by successive multiplication of the ownership percentages for each link in the vertical ownership chain and application of the relevant attribution benchmark to the resulting product. The ownership percentage for any link in the chain that exceeds 50% shall be included. [For example, if A owns 10% of company X, which owns 60% of company Y, which owns 25% of “Licensee,” then X's interest in “Licensee” would 15% (0.6 × 0.25), and A's interest in “Licensee” would be 1.5% (0.1 × 0.6 × 0.25).]