Which agreement is used when an MVPD agrees to carry a network program?

• A. Syndication Agreement
• B. Subscription Agreement
• C. Carriage Agreement
• D. Licensing Agreement

Answer: (C)

Carriage agreements are the contracts that set the terms for a network’s channel to be carried by an MVPD. They establish what channel is included, where it appears in the lineup, and the financial and legal terms tied to distribution (such as fees and retransmission consent). This is the mechanism specifically about distributing a network’s content to subscribers through the MVPD, rather than about obtaining rights to the program itself.

Licensing agreements, by contrast, focus on the rights to the content (what can be shown, in which territories, for how long). Syndication deals with distributing a program after its initial run to other outlets, not the initial carriage on a particular MVPD. Subscription agreements concern consumer billing and access terms with subscribers. So, for the act of an MVPD agreeing to carry a network program, the appropriate term is a carriage agreement.