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FOR FCC RECORD ONLY
$//State Cable TV, Oakland, Maine, MO&O, DA-95-926//$
$/76.922 Rates for Cable Programming Service tiers/$
$/benchmark cable rates/$

                                Before the
                     Federal Communications Commission
                          Washington, D.C. 20554

                                                        DA 95-926 

In the Matter of                   )    
                              )
State Cable TV                     )    CUID No. ME0066, Oakland
                              )    
Withdrawal of FCC Form 329         )    
Rate Complaint                )


                       Memorandum Opinion and Order

          Adopted:  April 25, 1995                     Released: 
May 1, 1995  


By the Chief, Financial Analysis and Compliance Division, Cable
Services Bureau:

     1.  On February 24, 1994, the Town of Oakland, Maine (the
"Town") filed a
complaint alleging that the price charged by State Cable TV (then
known as Better Cable
TV) for its cable programming service ("CPS") tier in Oakland was
unreasonably high.  On
April 18, 1995, the Town withdrew its complaint.  The Town was the
only complainant that
filed a complaint with this Commission against the CPS price in
Oakland.  Our jurisdiction
to regulate CPS rates arises with the filing of a valid complaint
against those rates.  We will
allow the withdrawal of this complaint, and our review of this case
will therefore be
terminated. 

     2.  Under the Cable Television Consumer Protection and
Competition Act of 1992,
and our rules implementing it, 47 C.F.R. Part 76, Subpart N, the
Commission must review
CPS prices upon the filing of a valid complaint.  The filing of a
valid complaint triggers an
obligation on behalf of the cable operator to file a justification
of its CPS prices.  Under our
rules, an operator may attempt to justify its prices through either
a benchmark showing or a
cost-of-service showing.  In either case, the operator has the
burden of demonstrating that its
CPS prices are not unreasonable.
     
     3.  The Commission's original rate regulations took effect on
September 1, 1993. 
The Commission subsequently revised its rate regulations effective
May 15, 1994. 
Operators with valid CPS complaints filed against them prior to May
15, 1994 must
demonstrate that their CPS prices were in compliance with the
Commission's initial rules
from the time the complaint was filed through May 14, 1994, and
that their prices were in
compliance with the revised rules from May 15, 1994 forward.  
     
     4.  This Commission has now received a letter from the Town
stating that it wishes to
withdraw its CPS rate complaint against State Cable TV.  Under our
rules, this
Commission's authority to regulate CPS cable rates arises when a
valid complaint against
those rates is filed.  Our mandate is to "protect subscribers of
any cable system that is not
subject to effective competition from rates that exceed the rates
that would be charged if such
a system were subject to effective competition."  While our rules
forbid collusive
agreements between operators and local franchising authorities
regarding forebearance from
rate regulation, there is no evidence of such an agreement here. 
We will accordingly allow
the Town to withdraw its complaint.  Because our review of the rate
justification showing is
predicated on the existence of a rate complaint, and because State
Cable TV no longer faces
such a complaint, we are terminating our review for this community.

     5.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 0.321 of
the Commission's
rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.321, that permission to withdraw the FCC Form
329 rate complaint
against the cable programming service rate of State Cable TV in
Oakland, Maine, CUID No.
ME0066, IS GRANTED and our review of this case IS TERMINATED.

     
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


          
     
                         JoAnn Lucanik
                         Chief, Financial Analysis and Compliance
Division
                         Cable Services Bureau