ABSTRACT
This chapter uses a unique historical United States General Accounting Office data set and count models to empirically examine the factors affecting cable operators' local television station carriage decisions in 1989, a period in which the Federal Communications Commission had no must carry rules in place. It focuses on the impact of cable operator horizontal concentration and vertical integration on local station carriage. The battle of signal carriage between the broadcasting and cable industries started as early as the 1950s when broadcasters began to push for the implementation of various forms of signal carriage rules to limit cable's impact on broadcasting. Cable's signal carriage choices are determined by a range of factors that represent demand, cost, and market structure conditions in cable television. In trying to explain cable's local signal carriage behaviors, the chapter emphasizes the effects of two factors: vertical integration and horizontal concentration.
