NEWS
Report No. CS 96-21               CABLE SERVICES ACTION           
       May 31, 1996

                 CABLE SERVICES BUREAU COMPLETES ACTION ON
                    ADI AND MUST CARRY CASES SUBJECT TO
                     120 DAY STATUTORY DEADLINE SET BY
                    THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996

 "Congress gave us a deadline of 120 days to complete action
on our ADI cases and we have beaten that deadline by more than a
week," said Meredith J. Jones, Chief of the Cable Service Bureau.

 The Cable Services Bureau has completed action on all Area
of Dominate Influence (ADI) change petitions that were pending on
the date the 1996 Act became law (Feb. 8, 1996).  Since 1993 the
Bureau has acted on 515 ADI and must carry cases. The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 required the Commission to dispose
of all pending ADI cases by the 120th day following enactment,
which was June 7th.  Must carry cases were already subject to an
existing 120 day deadline.

 Under Commission rules, commercial television broadcast
stations are entitled to assert mandatory carriage rights ("must
carry") on cable systems located within the station's market.  A
station's market for this purpose is its "area of dominant
influence," or ADI, as defined by the Arbitron audience research
organization.  An ADI is a geographic market designation that
defines each television market exclusive of others, based on
measured viewing patterns.  Essentially, each county in the
United States is allocated to a market based on which home-market
stations receive a preponderance of total viewing hours in the
county.

 The Communications Act also provides that the Commission
may, with respect to a particular television broadcast station,
include additional communities within its television market or
exclude communities from such station's television market to
better serve the interests of the community.  Where the absence
of carriage rights outside of an ADI, or the existence of
carriage rights inside an ADI, would not be consistent with
Congress' objective to ensure that television stations have
carriage rights in the areas that they serve and that form their
economic market, the Commission may make an adjustment to include
or exclude particular communities from a television station's
market in those situations.

 Of the 515 cases filed since 1993, 375 were must carry cases
(both original filings and those on reconsideration) and 140 were
ADI cases (all original filings).  

                                  (over)

 Bureau Chief Jones added, "The resolution of more than 500
ADI and must carry cases is a tremendous accomplishment for the
Bureau.  Deputy Bureau Chief Bill Johnson, Consumer Protection
and Competition Assistant Division Chief Ronald Parver and the
many staff people who worked on these cases are to be
congratulated for getting these often difficult cases decided. 
The outcome of these cases is of vital importance to cable
operators as well as broadcasters."

                                  - FCC -

News Media Contact: Morgan Broman at (202) 418-2358
Cable Services Bureau Contact: William Johnson at (202) 418-7200