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

In re:                          )       
                                )
FOUCE AMUSEMENT                 )
ENTERPRISES, INC.               )
                                )       CSR-4923-M
v.                              )
                                )
FALCON CABLE TV                 )
Los Angeles, California         )
                                )
Request for Mandatory Carriage  )
                                 

                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

   Adopted:  May 22, 1997               Released:  May 29, 1997

By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau:

                           INTRODUCTION

     1.   Fouce Amusement Enterprises, Inc., licensee of television station KRCA(TV),
Riverside, California ("KRCA"), has filed with the Commission a petition for mandatory carriage
of its signal on the cable system operated by Falcon Cable TV ("Falcon") serving the community of
Los Angeles County (Box Canyon), California (the "Community").  Falcon did not file a response.

                            BACKGROUND

     2.   Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted
by the Commission in its Report and Order in MM Docket 92-259, commercial television broadcast
stations are 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.   A commercial television station serving a community of license that is located within
the same ADI as the principal headend of a cable system has a right of carriage on that cable system. 
However, this right is subject to several conditions: 1) a cable system operator is generally required
to devote no more than one-third of its activated channel capacity in order to comply 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 signals 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 a single affiliate
of a broadcast network, it is obliged to carry the affiliate from within the market whose city of
license is closest to the principal headend of the cable system.
     
                       SUMMARY OF PLEADINGS

     4.   In its petition, KRCA first notes that it is assigned to the Los Angeles ADI, the same
television market served by Falcon's cable system.  KRCA then states that it is a qualified
commercial television station and believes that it provides a signal strength of at least -45dBm, as
required by Section 76.55(c)(3) of the Commission's rules.  KRCA further states that it is not
considered a distant signal under Section 111 of the Copyright Act because its community of license
is part of the Los Angeles ADI within which Falcon's cable system is located.  KRCA next states
that, on October 30, 1996, it notified Falcon of KRCA's mandatory carriage rights on Falcon's
system serving the community at issue.  KRCA argues that Falcon failed to respond to KRCA's letter
within 30 days as required by Section 76.61(a)(2) of the Commission's rules.  KRCA asserts that the
Commission previously admonished Falcon for its failure to comply with Commission
requirements.

                            DISCUSSION

     5.   We will grant KRCA's carriage complaint against Falcon.  Section 614(a) of the Act
states that each cable operator shall carry the signals of local commercial television stations.  A local
commercial television station is defined as any full power broadcast television station that is within
the same television market as the cable system.  It is undisputed that KRCA and Falcon are located
in the same ADI.  A cable operator is required to carry the signals of a local commercial station
unless that station fails to deliver a good quality signal to the cable system's principal headend; the
station's signal substantially duplicates the signal of another local commercial station which is
carried on the system; or the cable operator (with a system of more than 12 usable activated
channels) has already allocated up to one-third of the aggregate number of its usable activated
channels to other local commercial stations.  Commission rules also require a local commercial
station that believes that a cable operator has failed to meet its carriage obligations to complain in
writing to the operator.  The cable operator must respond in writing to the station's complaint
within 30 days of receipt.  The operator must either commence carriage of the signal, or explain its
reasons for failing to do so.  If the Commission determines that a cable operator has failed to meet
its must-carry obligations, it may order an operator to commence carriage of a station.  In this case,
Falcon failed to respond within 30 days to KRCA's letter requesting carriage, as is required by
Commission rules.  Consequently, we will order Falcon to carry KRCA.    


                         ORDERING CLAUSES

     6.   Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to  614 of the Communications Act
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 534, and  76.61(a)(2), 47 C.F.R.  76.61(a)(2) of the Commission's
rules, the Petition for Special Relief (CSR-4923-M) filed by Fouce Amusement Enterprises IS
GRANTED.

     7.   IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Falcon Cable TV SHALL COMMENCE
CARRIAGE of the signal KRCA(TV) within sixty (60) days from the release date of this Order on
its cable system serving Los Angeles County (Box Canyon), California.

     8.   This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by  0.321, 47 C.F.R.  0.321 of
the Commission's rules.

                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                         
     

                         Gary M. Laden
                         Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division
                         Cable Services Bureau