Must-carry
In the United States, must-carry is a regulation by the FCC requiring that cable TV systems must carry all locally-licensed television stations. This was done to prevent cable from destroying free over-the-air television. There is also another option, called rebroadcast consent.
Digital must-carry, also called dual must-carry, is the potential requirement that cable companies carry both the analog and digital transmissions of local stations. This is being fought against by numerous television networks, who might be bumped off of digital cable were this to happen, and fought for by TV stations and the National Association of Broadcasters, whom it would benefit by passing their HDTV or multichannel DTV signals through to their cable viewers.
Must-carry also applies somewhat to DBS services like DirecTV and DISH Network, who are not required to carry every metro area's stations, but must carry all of an area's stations if they do carry any at all.
