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If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In re Complaint of ) ) Speer Communications Holdings Limited Partnership ) CSR-5003-M against TWI Cable Inc., d/b/a Time Warner ) Communications, Camden and Benton County, ) Tennessee ) ) Request for Carriage (WNAB-TV) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: September 2, 1997 Released: September 5, 1997 By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: 1. On May 2, 1997, Speer Communications Holdings Limited Partnership ("Speer"), licensee of Television Broadcast Station WNAB-TV, Nashville, Tennessee, filed a must-carry complaint requesting the Commission to order TWI Cable Inc., d/b/a Time Warner Communications ("Time Warner"), operator of cable television systems serving Camden, Tennessee and unincorporated portions of Benton County, Tennessee, to commence carriage of WNAB-TV. Time Warner filed a response to the complaint. 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. 3. The complaint shows that station WNAB-TV, a full power commercial television station licensed to Nashville, Tennessee, and Camden and the unincorporated portions of Benton County, Tennessee are all located in the Nashville, Tennessee ADI. The complaint shows also that Speer has made available or made a commitment to make available to Time Warner, and to install at its own expense at the headend of Time Warner's cable system, equipment necessary to deliver a good quality WNAB-TV signal to Time Warner's cable system serving Camden and the unincorporated portions of Benton County, Tennessee. Speer contends it has shown that WNAB-TV is entitled to carriage on Time Warner's cable system serving Camden and the unincorporated portions of Benton County, Tennessee, because of its commitment to be responsible for the cost of delivering a good quality WNAB-TV signal to the cable system, and because carriage will not cause an increase in Time Warner's copyright liability under the provisions of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994. 4. On June 5, 1997, Time Warner filed a response to Speer's complaint. Time Warner notes that, on March 10, 1997, it filed a petition for special relief pursuant to 47 C.F.R. 76.7, requesting the Commission to modify the television market of WNAB-TV by excluding the communities of Camden, Tennessee and the unincorporated portions of Benton County, Tennessee from the station's market. Time Warner requests consolidation of this proceeding with the proceeding addressing its market modification proceeding for decision making purposes. Time Warner suggests that the consolidation of these proceedings is consistent with procedures followed in other instances where both a must carry complaint and a market modification petition affecting the same station and communities have been filed. 5. Under the Commission's must-carry rules, cable operators have the burden of showing that a commercial station that is located in the same television market is not entitled to carriage. One way of doing this is for a cable operator to establish that a subject television station's signal, which would otherwise be entitled to carriage, does not provide a good quality signal to a cable system's principal headend. However, even if a station fails to provide the requisite over-the-air signal quality to a cable system's principal headend, its carriage may not be foreclosed because under our rules a station may provide a cable operator with specialized equipment, at the station's expense, which will improve the station's signal to an acceptable quality at a cable system's principal headend. 6. We will grant Speer's request for carriage. The record shows that WNAB-TV and the communities at issue are all located within the Nashville ADI. To this end, we note that the Commission has denied Time Warner's request for exclusion of the communities at issue here from the Nashville ADI, i.e., the television market of WNAB-TV. See In the Matter of Petition of TWI Cable, Inc. For Modification of Market of Television Station WNAB-TV, Nashville, Tennessee, __ FCC Rcd __, DA 97-1804, (Cable Serv. Bur., released August 25, 1997). We further note that Time Warner has not shown that WNAB-TV fails to provide a good quality signal over the headend of its cable system serving the communities. ORDERING CLAUSES 7. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 534, that the complaint of Speer Communications Holdings Limited filed in File No. CSR 5003-M ("Speer") IS GRANTED. TWI Cable Inc., d/b/a Time Warner Communications ("Time Warner"), IS ORDERED to commence carriage of television station WNAB-TV on its cable system serving Camden and unincorporated portions of Benton County, Tennessee within sixty (60) days after Speer installs the equipment necessary to provide a good quality signal to Time Warner's cable system headend. Speer shall notify Time Warner in writing of its carriage and channel position elections (see Sections 76.56, 76.57, and 76.64(f) of the Commission's Rules) within thirty (30) days of providing a good quality signal. 8. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated under 0.321 of the Commission's Rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Gary M. Laden, Chief Consumer Protection and Competition Division Cable Services Bureau