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


In Matter of Petition of           )
                                   )
COMCAST OF CENTRAL NEW JERSEY )         CSR 4934-A
                                   )
For Modification of Market of Television          )
Station WFMZ-TV, Allentown, Pennsylvania     )

                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

   Adopted:  June 5, 1997               Released:  June 5, 1997

By the Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau:

                           INTRODUCTION

     1.  Comcast of Central New Jersey ("Comcast") filed a petition pursuant to Sections 76.7(a)
and 76.59(a) of the Commission's rules requesting that the communities served by its cable system
be excluded from the television market of station WFMZ-TV, Allentown, Pennsylvania.  Maranatha
Broadcasting Company, Inc. ("Maranatha"), licensee of WFMZ-TV, filed an opposition to the
petition, and Comcast filed a reply.

                            BACKGROUND

     2.  Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the
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, 
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.  The Commission is also directed to consider changes in market areas.  Section
614(h)(1)(C) further 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, Section 614(h)(1)(C)(ii) 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 guidance in its Report and Order in MM Docket 92-259,
supra, to aid decision making in these matters, as follows:

          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.     
     
In adopting rules to implement this provision, the Commission indicated that changes requested
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.

                    MARKET FACTS AND ARGUMENT

     6.  Comcast asserts in its market modification petition that WFMZ-TV has never been carried
on its cable system although the station has been on the air since November 1976, that the
geographic distance from WFMZ-TV to its cable system serving the Communities averages 54.28
miles, and that WFMZ-TV fails to provide a Grade B signal over any portion of the Communities
served by its cable system. Comcast contends that WFMZ-TV promotes itself as "The Lehigh
Valley's News Station," broadcasting primarily syndicated comedy and drama programs and paid
programming, CNN Headline News, and news local to the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania area and
does not broadcast any programming that has any distinct nexus to the Communities.  Comcast also
asserts that WFMZ-TV fails to achieve any significant viewing audience in the Communities. 
Comcast says it has been unable to identify any measurable ratings for WFMZ-TV in any of the New
Jersey counties where the Communities are located and that WFMZ-TV's call letters are not listed
by Nielsen for these Communities.  Comcast also claims it's system carries several stations licensed
in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York that provide extensive coverage of local news and
sporting events to Comcast's subscribers.  Comcast also says its systems  provide community and
educational, leased access and local origination programming channels and carry The Comcast
Network, a diversified programming network that features local sports, sports talk shows,
entertainment, and interactive public affairs programming for Comcast's New Jersey subscribers.

     7.  Although WFMZ-TV and the Communities are in the Philadelphia ADI, Comcast
contends that the Commission should delete the Communities from WFMZ-TV's market.  It argues
that the relevant facts reveal that WFMZ-TV in Allentown, Pennsylvania is not local to the three
New Jersey Communities.  Based in the criteria established by Congress and the Commission,
Comcast argues that its petition present a compelling case for redrawing the relevant boundaries to
exclude the Communities from WFMZ-TV's television market .

     8.  Maranatha opposes the proposed modification of WFMZ-TV's market. Addressing the
first of four market modification factors listed in Section 614(h)(1)(C)(ii) (historic carriage),
Maranatha concedes that WFMZ-TV has not been carried on Comcast's cable system, asserting that
lack of carriage of WFMZ-TV is no reason for concluding that WFMZ-TV should not now be
carried on Comcast's system.  Maranatha states that, within the last year, WFMZ-TV has added more
than 500,000 cable homes, including homes served by Comcast's system serving Trenton, New
Jersey.  Maranatha states that WFMZ-TV is now listed in the channel reference pages of the
Philadelphia metropolitan edition of TV Guide, whose editors have informed it that WFMZ-TV's
programming will be listed commencing June 1997.

     9.  Maranatha contends that Comcast's cable system is located in the heart of the Philadelphia
ADI and that it is therefore seeking carriage of WFMZ-TV in the core of its ADI in communities
adjacent to Trenton where WFMZ-TV is already carried by Comcast and not at the opposite end of
the Philadelphia market as Comcast claims.  Maranatha states that Comcast's characterizations of
WFMZ-TV's programming is inaccurate and misleading.   Maranatha states that WFMZ-TV
provides five live daily newscasts Monday through Friday totalling two hours and forty-five minutes
(as well as a half-hour tape rebroadcast at 1:00 am), and also a half-hour local newscast at 5:00 pm
Saturday and Sunday, each of which include substantial news coverage of issues of direct concern
to New Jersey residents in general, and to residents of  New Jersey, including Mercer county where
the Communities are located.  Maranatha provided scripts of 28 news stories claimed to be of
statewide importance to New Jersey that were broadcast by WFMZ-TV during 1996 and early 1997. 
It says eleven of these stories refer specifically to the Mercer County.  Maranatha also points to a set
of public affairs programs presented weekdays at 8:00 p.m. on WFMZ-TV, and states that one of
these programs, Law Journal, included attorneys from Mercer County on ten occasions.

     10.  Maranatha asserts that Comcast offered no showing that the programming of other
stations carried on its system provides news or other coverage of specific concern or interest to the
Communities. For that reason, Maranatha argues that carriage of such stations does not support the
petition and that the Commission may not merely assume such programming is carried by those
stations or that those stations provide more local coverage than WFMZ-TV does.  Maranatha
questions the reliability of the Media Strategies report relied on by Comcast to demonstrate absence
of WFMZ-TV viewing in the Communities, noting that the report does not indicate whether both
broadcast and cable viewing were measured.  Maranatha asserts that if only cable viewing was
measured, the absence of WFMZ-TV viewing would be reflective merely of Comcast's failure to
carry the station.  Maranatha also faults the report for not indicating a base of diaries broad enough
to measure non-cable viewing accurately.  Maranatha submitted results of a special Nielsen study
of its own indicating that WFMZ-TV achieves circulation in the Philadelphia ADI comparable to
that achieved by three of the stations carried by Comcast.

     11.  Maranatha claims the burden of making a case for market modification to delete a
community from a station's market rests on the cable operator and that Comcast has not met that
burden here.  The absence of Grade B signal coverage is not an absolute measure of the scope of a
station's market and is not by itself dispositive, argues Maranatha, because Congress adopted ADIs
as the statutory standard rather than Grade B signal contours.  Maranatha also notes that it has an
application pending before the Commission for an upgrade of the facilities of WFMZ-TV, which
when constructed will extend WFMZ-TV's Grade B signal contour to the fringe of the communities
served by Comcast.  In any event, Maranatha contends the absence of WFMZ-TV Grade B signal
over the Communities in this case pales when weighed against WFMZ-TV's record of programming
of direct interest to Mercer County.

     12.  In reply, Comcast argues that Congress never intended ADI assignments to be the final
definition of a television station's market, as Maranatha suggests.  Instead, the Commission was
authorized to modify ADI's by adding or deleting communities in order to reflect a station's true
marketplace.  Comcast claims it demonstrated that WFMZ-TV's true market does not include the
Communities served by its cable system and that Maranatha offered no persuasive rebuttal evidence. 
Comcast points out that other stations carried on its system all place at least Grade B signal contours
over the Communities in contrast to WFMZ-TV which does not.  Comcast does not deny that its
systems may be near the heart of the Philadelphia ADI, but argues that the significant and relevant
fact is that WFMZ-TV is geographically remote from the Communities served by its cable system. 
Comcast contends further that the news programming scripts submitted by Maranatha warrant
skepticism concerning the extent of WFMZ-TV programming directed specifically to the
Communities, noting that the scripts indicate nothing more than that the news reports included
references to New Jersey.  Comcast points out that the Media Strategies report on WFMZ-TV
viewing looked at total viewing and in fact was based on a diary count more that five times that
needed to produce stable viewing data.  Comcast claims it already carries the Law Journal program
relied on by Maranatha as programming specifically directed toward the Communities and further
argues that the Law Journal program, while of general interest, is not tailored to meet the needs of
specific communities.

                     DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

     13.  Based on our analysis of the evidence relating to the four statutory and other relevant
factors, Comcast's petition will be denied.  Philadelphia is the nation's fourth largest television
market in terms of population.  It is a large market in terms of geographic area, stretching from
Northampton County to the north, to Atlantic City to the east, and into Delaware to the south. 
Allentown is some 45 miles to the north of Philadelphia, the core city of the market.  The cable
communities involved are in Mercer County, New Jersey, located along the opposite shore of the
Delaware River northeast of Philadelphia.  WFMZ-TV, licensed to Allentown, Pennsylvania began
operation in 1976 and broadcasts on channel 69 from a transmitter located in Allentown.  The cable
communities are approximately 54 miles from the station.  

     A.  Historic Signal Carriage

     15.  Statutory factor one is "whether the station, or other stations located in the same area,
have been historically carried on the cable system or systems within such community."  WFMZ-TV
has no history of carriage in the cable communities in question.  Nor are other stations carried from
the same general area (Allentown) to which this stations is licensed.  WFMZ-TV is not a station of
recent origin, having commenced operations more than 20 years ago.

     16.  Carriage on nearby cable systems is not a factor specified in the statute, but it does seem
likely, depending on the specific circumstances involved, that carriage on nearby systems could
serve as evidence to define the logical scope of a station's market.  Such carriage could serve to
demonstrate the belief of both the television station and cable systems involved that there is a market
nexus between the broadcast station and the communities where the station is carried and thus
provide evidence as to the scope of a station's market.  The signal of WFMZ-TV is carried in
Trenton, also located in Mercer County, and in Philadelphia, which is also relatively close to the
cable Communities.

     B. Station Coverage of Communities

     17.  Statutory factor two is "whether the television station provides coverage or other local
service to such community."  This factor incorporates both technical service and programming
service.  With respect to technical service coverage, the Commission has stated in its Report and
Order in MM Docket 92-259 that "to show that the station provides coverage or other local service
to the cable communities, 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." 
WFMZ-TV does not currently provide Grade B service to the cable communities.  An application
is pending, however, that will extend the station's Grade B service area so that the communities
involved will be at the fringe of the contour.

     18.  With respect to programming service, Comcast alleges that there is no significant amount
of programming from the station that is specifically targeted to the cable communities involved. 
There is evidence from the station, however, that it broadcasts material directed toward New Jersey
viewers, including stories specific to Mercer County.

     C.  Coverage of News, Sporting Events, or Other Events of Interest by Other Stations
Entitled to Carriage

     19.  Statutory factor three is "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."  In this instance Comcast alleges that it provides carriage
to numerous stations licensed in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York that provide local service
to its subscribers.  These include KYW-TV, WPHIL-TV, WGBS-TV, WTGI-TV, WTXF-TV, and
WCAU-TV from Philadelphia; WCBS-TV, WNBC-TV, WNYW-TV, WABC-TV, WWOR-TV,
WPIX-TV, WNET-TV and WBIS-TV from New York; and WNJN-TV and WXTV-TV from New
Jersey.  Maranatha states, however, that one of these stations carries only a single nightly newscast
at 10:00 p.m.  Moreover, a number of these stations (those from the New York market) are clearly
not "eligible to be carried" pursuant to the mandatory carriage rules.

     D.  Station Audience in Communities Served by Cable System

     20.  Statutory factor four is "evidence of viewing patterns in cable and noncable households
within the areas served by the cable system or systems in such community."  Although Maranatha
challenges the quality of the evidence provided by Comcast as to the viewing it receives in the cable
communities, there does not appear to be any serious dispute that the station has no significant
audience in the cable communities, either in cable or in noncable households.  Nielsen data for
Mercer County reflects no viewing of WFMZ-TV, which is entirely consistent with the lack of
Grade B service to the communities.   We note, however, that this evidence must be considered in
light of the existing lack of carriage and the heavily cabled nature  (82 percent cable penetration) of
Mercer County.

     E.  Other Considerations

     21.  The factors specified in Section 614(h) do not purport to be exclusive and thus other
evidence may be considered that is helpful in defining the scope of the markets of the stations
involved.  One such additional factor involves whether local newspaper or other listings of station
programming that have circulation in the cable communities include the programming of the stations
in question.  Maranatha has been assured that the programming of WFMZ-TV will be listed in the
Philadelphia metropolitan edition of TV Guide commencing in June of 1997.

     F.  Summary

     22.  The cable television mandatory broadcast signal carriage rules were adopted as part of
the 1992 Cable Act.  According to the legislative history of that Act, the use of ADI market areas
is intended "to ensure that television stations be carried in the areas which they serve and which form
their economic market."  The Act specifically provided that the Commission was to consider
adding additional communities or excluding communities from the markets of television stations "to
better effectuate the purposes" of the mandatory carriage requirements.  In acting on such requests
the Commission was instructed to "afford particular attention to the value of localism, taking into
account four specified statutory factors."  These factors, however, were "not intended to be
exclusive."  The market modification provisions of Section 614(h) are said, in the legislative
history, to "reflect a recognition that the Commission may conclude that a community within a
station's ADI may be so far removed from the station that it cannot be deemed part of the station's
market."  We do not believe that the requested exclusion of the communities served by Comcast's
cable systems from the markets of WFMZ-TV will better effectuate the purposes of the must-carry
statutory provisions.

     23.  In reaching this conclusion, we have considered the statutory factors as well as other
relevant information.  WFMZ-TV has never been carried in the communities in question (factor I),
provides no over-the-air television broadcast service to the communities (factor II), and has no
measured audience in the communities (factor IV).  Other stations that are entitled to carriage do
provide news and other information regarding issues of concern to the communities (factor III). 
Given the statutory directive, weight must be given to these factors, but that must be done bearing
in mind that the objective of the Section 614(h) process is to "better effectuate the purposes" of the
broadcast signal carriage scheme.  Thus, with respect to the question of historical carriage patterns,
attention must be paid to the circumstances from which such patterns developed.  Some stations have
not had the opportunity to build a record of historical carriage for specific reasons that do not
necessarily reflect a judgment as to the geography of the market involved.  Thus, these factors -- to
the extent they are reflective of circumstances outside of the shape of the market -- are not by
themselves controlling in circumstances where such an implementation of the 1992 Cable Act
would, in effect, prevent weaker stations like WFMZ-TV, that cable systems had previously declined
to carry, from ever obtaining carriage rights.

     24.  Another factor to consider is the availability of other broadcasters in the market that are
eligible for carriage and provide coverage of news, sporting events, or other events of interest to the
communities at issue.   We have stated, however, that where a cable operator is seeking to delete a
station's mandatory carriage rights in certain communities within its ADI and it is clear that the
station is not providing local service to those communities, the issue of local coverage by other
stations becomes a factor to which we will give greater weight than in cases where a party is seeking
to add communities.   Carriage of other local stations may be used as an enhancement factor to
support a cable operator's deletion request when there is other evidence in the record that the
communities at issue are outside of the station's market.  In the present case, Comcast carries
numerous other stations licensed to communities in the Philadelphia ADI that are closer to the cable
communities and provide coverage of local news and events.  There is, however, also evidence that
WFMZ-TV provides service to the cable communities.

     25.  Given the difficulties of relying exclusively and explicitly on the statutory factors of
historical carriage and viewing patterns, which could severely narrow the carriage rights of stations
even within what is undeniably their local market area, we have found it necessary to focus more
heavily on factors that are not influenced by the type or age of the stations involved or historical
carriage.  The scope of a local station's market may be measured through geographic means by
examining the distance between the station and the cable community subject to the deletion request
and by taking into account natural phenomena such as waterways, mountains, and valleys that may
tend to separate communities and define natural markets -- basic geographic, demographic, and
political features that provide the best available alternative evidence of the market boundaries of the
stations involved.  In this regard the Commission has explicitly noted the relevance of Grade B
contours.  In the absence of other information, station service contours provide at least one
objective measure of the scope of a stations local market.  Here we note that WFMZ-TV does not
presently provide Grade B service to the cable communities but is in the process of improving its
facilities so that they will be on the edge of its service area.  The communities are also
geographically separated from WFMZ-TV's city of license in terms of mileage by approximately 55
miles, are on the other side of the Delaware River from Allentown, and are in a different state.

     26.  Weighing against the grant of the petition is evidence relating to cable carriage in other
adjoining communities, including in Trenton, also located in Mercer County, and the fact that the
station has demonstrated some efforts to provide programming targeted to New Jersey, including
Mercer and nearby Burlington and Gloucester Counties.  These two factors are of significance in our
analysis of this petition and persuade us, along with other facts concerning the station's broadcast
service area and the distances and geography involved, that exclusion of these communities from
the market of WFMZ-TV is not warranted.  We recognize that a number of the other factors weigh
in Comcast's favor, including in particular the absence of any historical carriage in the areas in
question after many years of operation. The station's facilities were improved in 1993 and a further
improvement has been applied for, so that the lack of historical carriage is based in large part upon
circumstances that no longer exist.  The listing of the station and its schedule in TV listings relevant
to these communities also provides further evidence that the market regards this area to be within
the station's economic market and service area.  The distances and geography involved are not so
great as to suggest that no market nexus with the communities exists.  Virtually all of the
communities in question are clustered together just adjacent to Trenton, where the signal is already
being carried.  While these cable communities are at the fringe of WFMZ-TV's Grade B signal
contour, the information provided by Comcast does not permit us to conclude that these communities
should be excluded from WFMZ-TV's market.

     27.  We have carefully considered each statutory and other relevant factor in the context of
the circumstances presented here and, on balance, we find that Comcast has not demonstrated that
the communities it serves lack a sufficient nexus with WFMZ-TV to warrant deletion of these
communities from the station's Market.
                        ORDERING CLAUSES

     28.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, that the petition for special relief (CSR-4934-A)
filed January 28, 1997 by Comcast of Central New Jersey  IS DENIED.

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

                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                              William H. Johnson
                              Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau