NOTICE ********************************************************* NOTICE ********************************************************* This document was originally prepared in Word Perfect. If the original document contained-- * Footnotes * Boldface & Italics --this information is missing in this version The document format (spacing, margins, tabs, etc.) is changed too. If you need the complete document, download the Word Perfect version. For information about downloading documents (FTP) see file how2ftp. File how2ftp (.txt & .wp) is in directory /pub/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/ ***************************************************************** ******** 1.$//Grant of KLTJ's must carry complaint DA 96-350//$ $/300.534 Carriage of local commercial television signals/$ $/76.7 Must-carry complaint procedures/$ Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 DA 96-350 In re Complaint of: ) ) GO, Inc. (KLTJ(TV)) ) CSR-4614-M Galveston, TX ) ) For Carriage on TCI-TKR of Houston ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: March 11, 1996 Released: March 20, 1996 By the Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau: 1. GO Inc., licensee of television station KLTJ(TV)(Ch. 22), Galveston, Texas, filed a must carry complaint on November 6, 1995, against TCI-TKR asking the Commission to enforce its signal carriage rights on the operator's cable systems serving several communities in the Houston television market. TCI-TKR filed an opposition to this must carry complaint to which KLTJ(TV) filed a reply. 2. KLTJ(TV) states that the instant filing arises out of TCI-TKR's refusal to carry the station's signal in the above referenced communities notwithstanding KLTJ(TV)'s must carry status and despite KLTJ(TV)'s August 7, 1995 letter request for carriage. KLTJ(TV) recites the following factual information pertinent to its must carry complaint: (1) the station is licensed to Galveston, Texas, which is located approximately 45 miles southeast of Houston (center-to-center) in Brazoria County; (2) the station operates with maximum ERP of 5,000 kilowatts with an antenna height above average terrain of 566 meters from a transmitter site approximately 30 miles south of Houston; and (3) the station places a predicted City Grade contour over virtually all of the City of Houston. 3. KLTJ(TV) explains that TCI-TKR received the station's carriage request letter on August 8, 1995 but did not respond to that letter. According to petitioner, TCI-TKR has also not challenged KLTJ's legal right to carriage nor asserted any insufficiency in the KLTJ(TV) signal at any of the systems' headends. Rather, on October 5, 1995, TCI-TKR filed with the Commission "Comments in Support of Petition for Special Relief" of September 6, 1995, filed by Time Warner Cable in CSR 4586-A. KLTJ(TV) argues that TCI-TKR's failure to respond to the August 7, 1995 carriage request within the 30 day period following its receipt thereof, and its failure to commence carriage or state the reasons for believing it is not obligated to do so by September 7, 1995, is the specific event giving rise to the instant complaint. 4. TCI-TKR argues that it opposes KLTJ(TV)'s must carry complaint for the reasons set forth in the petition for special relief filed by Time Warner Cable of Houston; that petition sought to exclude KLTJ from the Houston ADI for must carry purposes based upon the four statutory criteria set for in Section 614 of the 1992 Cable Act. TCI-TKR separately asserts that the station is not entitled to carriage because there are several television stations licensed to communities in the Houston ADI which provide local programming and are geographically closer to Houston than Galveston. TCI-TKR also argues that even though KLTJ(TV)'s Grade B contour covers most of the Houston area, this point should be ignored since the station does not provide programming of local interest. Finally, TCI-TKR submits that KLTJ(TV) has no discernible ratings in the Houston market and is not significantly viewed in any Texas county. 5. KLTJ(TV) replies to TCI-TKR's assertions by stating that the speciousness of Time Warner's arguments, with regard to its ADI modification petition, were fully documented in KLTJ(TV)'s October 4, 1995 "Opposition to Petition for Special Relief." The station states that TCI-TKR's Grade B argument is only an "irrelevant diversion" because KLTJ(TV) places a City Grade signal over virtually the entire city of Houston including the communities served by the operator. 6. We will grant KLTJ(TV)'s must carry complaint. In a separate Memorandum Opinion and Order, we deny Time Warner's request to modify KLTJ(TV)'s television market for must carry purposes. Thus, TCI-TKR's arguments against carriage of KLTJ(TV), which were largely premised upon Time Warner's reasoning, are rejected as well. TCI-TKR also did not demonstrate that KLTJ(TV) is not a qualified local commercial television signal in its opposition to the must carry complaint; the operator, therefore, is required to carry the station's signal on its Houston-area cable systems. ORDERING CLAUSES 7. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, that the complaint (CSR-4614-M) filed November 6, 1995, by GO, Inc., IS GRANTED. TCI-TKR is therefore required to carry the signal of KLTJ(TV) on its systems serving the aforementioned communities. GO, Inc. shall notify TCI-TKR in writing of its carriage and channel position elections, (76.56, 76.57, 76.64(f) of the Commission's Rules), within thirty (30) days of the release date of this Memorandum Opinion and Order. TCI-TKR shall come into compliance with the applicable rules within sixty (60) days of such notification. 8. 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 Services Bureau