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File pnmc5021 (.txt & .wp) is in directory \pub\Public_Notices\Miscellaneous. ************************************************************************* $//Grant of KJCT-TV's ADI Modification Petition, DA-95-769//$ $/76.7 Special Relief and must-carry complaint procedures/$ $/76.59 Modification of television markets/$ $/300.534 Carriage of local commercial television signals/$ ///newjob/// $///DA 95-769,4/12/95///$ Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington D.C. 20554 DA-95-769 In re: ) ) PIKES PEAK BROADCASTING COMPANY ) CSR-3819-A Grand Junction, Colorado ) ) For Modification of Station ) KJCT-TV's ADI ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: April 6, 1995 Released: April 17, 1995 By the Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. 1. On April 22, 1993, Pikes Peak Broadcasting Company ["KJCT-TV"], licensee of Station KJCT-TV (ABC, Channel 8), Grand Junction, Colorado, filed a petition for special relief that seeks to include within the Grand Junction-Durango, Colorado "area of dominant influence" the communities of Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Parachute, Rifle, and Silt, Colorado, as well as certain surrounding unincorporated areas of Garfield County, Colorado. KJCT-TV's petition is unopposed. BACKGROUND 2. Pursuant to 4 of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 ("1992 Cable Act") and implementing rules adopted by the Commission in its Report and Order in MM Docket 92-259, a commercial television broadcast station is entitled to assert mandatory carriage rights 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. For purposes of this calculation, both over-the-air and cable television viewing are included. 3. Under the Act, however, the Commission is also directed to consider changes in ADI areas. Section 614(h)(1)(C) 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 effectuate the purposes of this section. In considering such requests, the 1992 Cable Act provides that: the Commission shall afford particular attention to the value of localism by taking into account such factors as: (I) whether the station, or other stations located in the same area, have been historically carried on the cable system or systems within such community; (II) whether the television station provides coverage or other local service to such community; (III) whether any other television station that is eligible to be carried by a cable system in such community in fulfillment of the requirements of this section provides news coverage of issues of concern to such community or provides carriage or coverage of sporting and other events of interest to the community; and (IV) evidence of viewing patterns in cable and noncable households within the areas served by the cable system or systems in such community. 4. The legislative history of this provision indicates that: where the presumption in favor of ADI carriage would result in cable subscribers losing access to local stations because they are outside the ADI in which a local cable system operates, the FCC may make an adjustment to include or exclude particular communities from a television station's market consistent with Congress' objective to ensure that television stations be carried in the areas which they serve and which form their economic market. * * * * * [This subsection] establishes certain criteria which the Commission shall consider in acting on requests to modify the geographic area in which stations have signal carriage rights. These factors are not intended to be exclusive, but may be used to demonstrate that a community is part of a particular station's market. 5. The Commission provided the following guidance in the Report and Order to aid decision making in these matters: For example, the historical carriage of the station could be illustrated by the submission of documents listing the cable system's channel line-up (e.g., rate cards) for a period of years. To show that the station provides coverage or other local service to the cable community (factor 2), parties may demonstrate that the station places at least a Grade B coverage contour over the cable community or is located close to the community in terms of mileage. Coverage of news or other programming of interest to the community could be demonstrated by program logs or other descriptions of local program offerings. The final factor concerns viewing patterns in the cable community in cable and noncable homes. Audience data clearly provide appropriate evidence about this factor. In this regard, we note that surveys such as those used to demonstrate significantly viewed status could be useful. However, since this factor requires us to evaluate viewing on a community basis for cable and noncable homes, and significantly viewed surveys typically measure viewing only in noncable households, such surveys may need to be supplemented with additional data concerning viewing in cable homes. 6. In adopting rules to implement this provision, the Commission indicated that requested changes should be considered on a community-by-community basis rather than on a county-by-county basis, and that they should be treated as specific to particular stations rather than applicable in common to all stations in the market. The rules further provide, in accordance with the requirements of the 1992 Cable Act, that a station not be deleted from carriage during the pendency of an ADI change request. 7. Adding communities to a station's ADI generally entitles that station to insist on cable carriage in those communities. However, this right is subject to several conditions: 1) a cable system operator is generally required to devote no more than one-third of the system's activated channel capacity to compliance with the mandatory signal carriage obligations; 2) the station is responsible for delivering a good quality signal to the principal headend of the system; 3) indemnification may be required for any increase in copyright liability resulting from carriage; and 4) the system operator is not required to carry the signal of any station whose signal substantially duplicates the signal of any other local signal carried, or the signal of more than one local station affiliated with a particular broadcast network. If, pursuant to these requirements, a system operator elects to carry the signal of only one such duplicating signal, the operator is obliged to carry the station from the ADI whose city of license is closest to the principal headend of the cable system. Accordingly, based on the specific circumstances involved, the addition of communities to a station's ADI may guarantee it cable carriage and specific channel position rights, or may simply provide the system operator with an expanded list of must-carry signals from which to choose (i.e., when the system has used up its channel capacity mandated for broadcast signal carriage, or determined which of duplicating network affiliated stations are entitled to carriage priority). MARKET FACTS AND ARGUMENTS OF THE PARTIES 8. The communities here in question are all in Garfield County, Colorado, which is assigned by Arbitron to the Denver, Colorado ADI. The Grand Junction-Durango, Colorado ADI borders Garfield County to the south. The communities are located between Grand Junction and Denver. 9. In support of its petition, KJCT-TV notes that its Grade B contour covers most of Garfield County, and that the station conducts outreach to and also supports area civic and community groups and public service organizations. KJCT-TV further notes that Garfield County is immediately adjacent to Mesa County, in which the station's city of license is located, and that the station was granted significantly viewed status in Garfield County by the Commission in 1991, citing Pikes Peak Broadcasting Co. (KJCT-TV), Cable Television Actions Report No. 3372, Mimeo No. 21281 (released January 3, 1992). KJCT-TV submits a list of news stories it aired from January 1, 1992 to April 14, 1993 concerning issues and events affecting Garfield County, and notes that the station's sports coverage "includes sports and highlights from prep-school teams including Rifle, Glenwood Springs, and Basalt," and that the station provides weather forecasts and information for Rifle/Glenwood three times daily. KJCT-TV also states that its city of license, Grand Junction, is only 74.2 miles from Glenwood Springs, and the major population center of Garfield County, while Denver is 125.4 miles from Glenwood Springs. ANALYSIS AND DECISION 10. The inclusion of the communities in question within the market area of KJCT-TV for purposes of the cable television broadcast mandatory signal carriage rules is, considering all of the circumstances presented, consistent with the purposes specified in 614(h)(1)(C), and its petition will accordingly be granted. KJCT-TV is licensed to Grand Junction, Colorado within the Rocky Mountain area to the west of Denver on the far side of the continental divide. Television reception patterns in the Grand Junction and Denver ADI areas reflect the mountainous terrain, the relatively sparse population within the region, and the widespread use of translators, cable, and satellite stations to improve station coverage. Grand Junction is only 74.2 miles from Glenwood Springs, which is the major population center of Garfield County, while Denver, the core population area of the Denver ADI, is 125.4 miles from Glenwood Springs. KJCT-TV, based on contour prediction calculations, is shown to place a Grade B contour over most of Garfield County whereas the stations licensed in Denver, whose signals are more distant and are generally oriented in a easterly direction, do not. 11. Denver stations, since they are more numerous and are widely circulated in the area, receive the preponderance of the audience in the County (cable and non-cable), but KJCT-TV has been shown to be accessible to viewers in the area in its significantly viewed filing, and, based on the audience survey data, does receive some cable carriage in the area. For a network station to be deemed to be significantly viewed in a community or a county, it must achieve in noncable homes a share of viewing hours of at lease 3 percent (total week hours) and a net weekly circulation of at least 25 percent. KJCT-TV's share in Garfield County was found to be 22%, and its net weekly circulation was 26%, based on county-wide data from 1981-1982. Although the growth of competition in the intervening period has reduced its share, KJCT-TV more recently has achieved a share of 3% and a net weekly circulation of 24% in Garfield County. Although these data do not reflect high levels of viewing, they do, when the difficult terrain in the area is taken into account, reflect KJCT- TV's association with this portion of the market and the difficult competitive situation it faces. 12. KJCT-TV's submissions show that, on average, it covers a Garfield County news story every three days, in addition to local sports and weather information. KJCT-TV has submitted testimonials from civic, community, and government groups from throughout its service area attesting to the value of its service in general and to the existence of some programming specifically directed to Garfield County. This evidence demonstrates that KJCT-TV has a local presence in the communities at issue and provides service to them. 13. The portion of the Cable Act allowing for modification of ADIs "is intended to permit the modification of a station's market to reflect its individual situation." In this case, taking into account the totality of the circumstances involved, including in particular the market and viewing patterns associated with the rugged terrain in this area, we conclude that given KJCT-TV's "individual situation," inclusion of the communities in question is consistent with "value of localism" and will better effectuate the purposes of the carriage rules. ORDER 14. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 534), and 76.59 of the Commission's Rules (47 C.F.R. 76.59), that the petition for special relief (CSR-3819-A) filed April 22, 1993, by Pikes Peak Broadcasting Company IS GRANTED. This change shall be effective in accordance with the following schedule: Pikes Peak Broadcasting Company shall notify the cable systems in question in writing of its carriage and channel position election (76.56, 76.57, and 76.64(f) of the Commission's Rules) within 30 days of the release date of this Memorandum Opinion and Order. The affected cable systems shall come into compliance with the applicable rules within 60 days of the above notice. 15. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by 0.321 of the Commission's rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION William H. Johnson Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau