Sec. 73.295  FM subsidiary communications services.

    (a) Subsidiary communication services are those transmitted on a 
subcarrier within the FM baseband signal, but do not include services 
which enhance the main program broadcast service, or exclusively relate 
to station operations (see Sec. 73.293). 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, bilingual television audio, and point 
to point or multipoint messages.
    (b) FM subsidiary communications services that are common carrier in 
nature are subject to common carrier 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 is common carriage rests with the FM 
station licensee. Initial determinations by licensees 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 FM 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 an FM station permit or license is not furthered or 
promoted by proposed or past services. The permittee or licensee

[[Page 128]]

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 announcements required by Secs. 73.1201, 73.1208, and 
73.1212 are not applicable to material transmitted under an SCA.
    (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.

[ 48 FR 28454 , June 22, 1983, as amended at  48 FR 44805 , Sept. 30, 1983; 
 49 FR 33663 , Aug. 15, 1984;  50 FR 32416 , Aug. 12, 1985;  57 FR 48333 , 
Oct. 23, 1992]