A cable operator or satellite carrier may elect to retransmit, to subscribers in an eligible county—

A cable operator or satellite carrier may elect to retransmit, to subscribers in an eligible county—

(A) any television broadcast stations that are located in the State in which the county is located and that any cable operator or satellite carrier was retransmitting to subscribers in the county on January 1, 2004; or

(B) up to 2 television broadcast stations located in the State in which the county is located, if the number of television broadcast stations that the cable operator or satellite carrier is authorized to carry under paragraph (1) is less than 3.

(2) Deemed Significantly Viewed.— A station described in subsection (a) is deemed to be significantly viewed in the eligible county within the meaning of section 76.54 of the Commission’s regulations (47 CFR 76.54).

For purposes of this section, the term “eligible county” means any 1 of 4 counties that—

(A) are all in a single State;

(B) on January 1, 2004, were each in designated market areas in which the majority of counties were located in another State or States; and

(C) as a group had a combined total of 41,340 television households according to the U.S. Television Household Estimates by Nielsen Media Research for 2003–2004.

(4) Limitation.— Carriage of a station under this section shall be at the option of the cable operator or satellite carrier.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a satellite carrier may not carry the signal of a television station into an adjacent local market that is comprised of only a portion of a county, other than to unserved households located in that county.

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, § 341, as added Pub. L. 108–447, div. J, title IX [title II, § 211], Dec. 8, 2004, 118 Stat. 3430.)