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File how2ftp (.txt & .wp) is in directory \pub\Public_Notices\Miscellaneous. ***************************************************************** ******** $//MO&O granting K30EM carriage on Helicon Cablevision, DA 95-____//$ $/76.7 Special relief and must-carry complaint procedures/$ $/76.61 Disputes concerning carriage/$ $/300.534 Carriage of local commercial television signals/$ Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 DA 95-2426 In re: ) ) Complaint of Folse Productions, Inc. ) against Helicon Cablevision ) CSR-4547-M of Louisiana ) ) Request for Carriage ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: December 5, 1995 Released: December 14, 1995 By the Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. On June 27, 1995, Folse Productions, Inc., licensee of low power television station K30EM (Channel 30), Houma, Louisiana, filed a complaint against Helicon Cablevision of Louisiana, operator of a cable television system serving Amelia, Bayou Black, and Terrebonne, Louisiana. Folse claims that Helicon has declined to carry K30EM, even though the station is a fully-qualified low power television station within the meaning of 76.56(b)(3) of the Commission's Rules and 614(c) and (h)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. Helicon has filed replies to this complaint to which Folse has responded. SUMMARY OF PLEADINGS 2. In support of its complaint, Folse states that it initially requested carriage on Helicon's system on March 27, 1995. On May 4, 1995, however, Helicon refused carriage, claiming that K30EM did not meet all of the applicable requirements of LPTV stations for mandatory carriage since the population of the station's presumed community of license, Terrebonne Parish, exceeded the 33,000 limitation established under 76.55(d)(5) of the Rules. Folse indicates that it subsequently informed Helicon that its community of license was Houma, Louisiana and not Terrebonne Parish and that Houma's population was only 30,495. Folse states that to date Helicon has not responded to its subsequent correspondence nor commenced carriage of its station. 3. In its opposition, Helicon asks that the Commission confirm that K30EM is not a qualified LPTV in that it does not "address local news and informational needs which are not being adequately served by full power television stations." Helicon argues that K30EM's programming is of primarily a religious and general interest nature. Helicon states that K30EM's programming consists of religious programs such as "Catholic Viewpoint," "Teach as Jesus Did," and "Jesuit Journal," and general interest programs such as "Ordinary Thoughts," "Auto Quest," and "Fishing in the West". Further, although its logs indicate local news four times a day, these programs are merely reruns of the same news reports repeated several days in a row. Moreover, news reports are conducted in an amateurish style and cover such trivial subjects as fishing, cooking and dirt track auto racing. and is entirely duplicative of another station currently carried by Helicon, HTV, which is also owned by Folse Productions. 4. Furthermore, Helicon maintains that Folse's attempt to secure carriage for K30EM is merely a means to obtain dual channel carriage of its religious/general interest signal and an evasion of its responsibilities under the HTV carriage agreement. Helicon points out that it informed Folse by letter dated June 23, 1995 that its carriage request was again being denied because the system already carried, in its entirety, the programming offered by K30EM on Folse's HTV channel. Indeed, in a June 27, 1995 letter to Helicon, Mr. Martin Folse, the manager of K30EM admitted that the programming of K30EM and HTV was identical. 5. Folse states in reply that Helicon's opinion as to the professionalism of K30EM's news reports is irrelevant in determining whether or not K30EM meets the local news requirements of 76.55(d)(2). Folse points out that K30EM carries weekly Terrebonne Parish Council meetings, a weekly program called "The Beat" which addresses local concerns regarding crime and local law enforcement, "An Inside View" which covers local developments in health care, and "The Tri-Parish News" four times daily. Folse also asserts, that despite Helicon's allegations, "The Tri-Parish News" consists of a new program each day for the three later time slots. Only the 7:30 a.m. newscast rebroadcasts the news program from the previous day, a practice followed by many other stations. Folse states that the "Tri- Parish News" in particular "is specifically directed toward residents of the small communities located in Terrebonne, Lafourche, Assumption, and St. Mary Parishes." While Folse concedes that it does carry some religious programming, it avers that it is only a minor component of its program lineup. Moreover, in an area in which residents are 80% Catholic, of Cajun heritage, and a substantial number commercial or recreational fisherman, it is hardly irrelevant that K30EM provide programs regarding these issues. Further, Folse avers that its request for carriage of K30EM is in no way an attempt to abrogate its leased access channel agreement. Indeed, Folse indicates that, as it stated in its June 27th letter to Helicon, it intends to change the programming on its HTV channel as soon as K30EM is carried so that its programming will not be duplicative. Folse states that it has in fact already acquired the equipment to effect the change in programming. In any event, Folse concludes, 76.56(b) of the Rules only permits Helicon to decline a must carry request in situations where the requesting station duplicates an already-carried "qualified local television station." Since HTV is not a qualified local television station, but a leased access channel, the provision does not apply and cannot be used as a basis for refusal of carriage. DISCUSS ION 6. Both the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and the Commission's rules require the carriage of "qualified" LPTV stations in certain limited circumstances. An LPTV station that conforms to the rules established for LPTV stations in Part 74 of the Commission's Rules will be considered "qualified" only if: 1) it broadcasts for at least the minimum number of hours of operation required under 47 C.F.R. Part 73; 2) it adheres to Commission requirements regarding nonentertainment programming and employment practices and the Commission determines that the programming by the LPTV station would address local news and informational needs which are not being adequately served by full power television broadcast stations because of geographic distance of such full power stations from the low power station's community of license; 3) it complies with interference regulations consistent with its secondary status; 4) it is located no more than 35 miles from the cable system's headend and delivers to the principal headend an over-the-air signal of good quality; 5) the community of license of the station and the franchise area of the cable system are both located outside the largest 160 Metropolitan Statistical Areas on June 30, 1990, and the population of such community of license on that date did not exceed 35,000; and 6) there is no full power television broadcast station licensed to any community within the county or other political subdivision (of a State) served by the cable system. 7. We are not persuaded by the arguments raised by Helicon. While Helicon contends that K30EM does not meet the LPTV criteria for local news programming because the station rebroadcasts local programming, it should be noted that nothing in the Commission's regulations restricts an LPTV station from this practice. Moreover, Helicon's general assertion that its subscribers are more than adequately supplied local news by the New Orleans and Baton Rouge stations is not sufficient to warrant a finding by this Commission that K30EM is not meeting its local programming responsibilities. Further, with regard to the issue of duplication of K30EM's signal, we are satisfied from Folse's statements that it intends to alter the programming of K30EM sufficiently to ensure that it does not duplicate that of its co-owned HTV channel. As a consequence, we need not address the issue as to whether 76.56(b) of our Rules applies to leased access channels. 8. We find that K30EM is a qualified low power television station and that it is entitled to carriage on the Amelia, Bayou Black and Terrebonne, Louisiana cable system. Accordingly, the complaint filed June 27, 1995 by Great Oaks Broadcasting Corp. IS GRANTED pursuant to 614(c) (47 U.S.C. 534) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Helicon Cablevision of Louisiana IS ORDERED to commence carriage of low power television station K30EM sixty (60) days from the release date of this order. 9. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, That the motion to strike filed September 20, 1995 by Folse Productions, Inc. IS GRANTED. 10 . These actions are taken pursuant to authority delegated by 0.321 of the Commission's Rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION William H. Johnson Deputy Chief, Cable Service Bureau