FOR FCC RECORD ONLY
$//Letter, Mr. Michael Ruger, DA 95-191//$
$/76.964 Advance written notification of rate increases/$                     FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                           WASHINGTON, DC 20554


                                                         IN REPLY REFER TO:

                             February 2, 1995                     DA 95-191
                                              Released:   February 10, 1995





Mr. Michael Ruger
Baker and Hostetler
1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-5304

Dear Mr. Ruger:

This letter is in response to your inquiry of January 3, 1994 on behalf of Home and Garden
Television Network ("HGTV") requesting clarification of the new "going forward" rules as
they relate to new product tiers ("NPTs").  You note that, subject to certain conditions, the
Cable Services Bureau has waived the notice requirements contained in Sections 76.964 and
76.309(c)(3)(i)(B) of the Commission's rules for new programming channels added to cable
programming service tiers ("CPSTs") in the first quarter of 1995.  You ask whether that
waiver is applicable to channels added to NPTs during the same period.

You suggest that extending the waiver to NPTs would be justified because Section 76.987(a)
of the Commission's rules defines an NPT as a type of CPST.  You also suggest that since
Section 76.987(c) expressly contemplates offering a programming service on both a CPST
and an NPT, it would be incongruous for an operator to be able to utilize the above-
described waiver for channels added to CPSTs, but not when the same channels are added to
NPTs.  We find these arguments persuasive.  




We therefore waive the notice requirements contained in Sections 76.964 and
76.309(c)(3)(i)(B) of the Commission's rules with respect to the addition of new
programming channels to NPTs in the first quarter of 1995.  We condition this waiver,
however, on the company providing notice through alternative means substantially similar to
those described in the Disney Letter, which incorporates by reference conditions in the
November 23 letter from Disney to Cable Services Bureau, and no less likely to come to the
attention of a substantial number of viewers.  Those conditions are weekly newspaper
advertisements in a major newspaper or newspapers with circulation throughout each affected
cable community, on-screen messages on a daily basis, notifying local franchising authorities
as soon as practicable, and written notice to subscribers beginning no later than 15 days after
the channel addition.  Our notification rules are intended in part to provide subscribers with
the opportunity to cancel any service they no longer wish to receive due to a rate or service
change.  Therefore as a further condition of the waiver, we require that if any subscriber
cancels his or her subscription to the relevant NPT within thirty days after the date of the
first bill reflecting the increased rate, the operator must refund to that subscriber the
incremental dollar amount attributable to the addition of new programming channel(s) to the
NPT added pursuant to this waiver through the date the subscriber cancels the NPT.  This
waiver applies to new channels added to a system's offerings, as well as to channels
previously offered on the system on an a la carte basis.  This is a blanket waiver which is
applicable to all similarly situated operators seeking to add services to NPTs as described
above.

     Finally, we note that this waiver does not affect obligations of cable operators other
than those specifically included in this letter.  Thus, for example, operators adding channels
to NPTs remain obligated (a) to affirmatively market the NPTs where required pursuant to 




Section 76.987(b)(3) of the Commission's rules and (b) to file rate cards and copies of
customer notifications with the Commission pursuant to Section 76.987(g).

                              Sincerely,



                              Meredith J. Jones
                              Chief
                              Cable Services Bureau