******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. 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 Telecinco, Inc. against ) CSR-5082-M Teleponce Cable TV ) ) Request for Carriage ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: December 30, 1997 Released: January 5, 1998 By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. Telecinco, Inc., licensee of Station WORA-TV (Channel 5), Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, has filed a must carry complaint requesting that the Commission order Teleponce Cable TV, operator of a cable system serving Ponce, Puerto Rico, to commence carriage of WORA-TV. Teleponce has filed an opposition to this complaint to which WORA-TV has replied. 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 AD(I, as defined by the Arbitron audience research organization. ARGUMENTS 3. In support of its request, WORA-TV states that it is entitled to carriage on Teleponce's cable system as it is within the same ADI as the station and it provides a good quality signal to the system's principal headend. It states further that by letter dated September 6, 1996, it formally requested carriage on the Teleponce cable system. WORA-TV indicates that only after a second written request and direct contact with Teleponce personnel was it finally advised that Teleponce would not carry its signal. 4. In its answer to the complaint, Teleponce argues that it is not obligated to carry WORA- TV's signal because it substantially duplicates the programming of TeleOnce's Channel 9, which broadcasts from Ponce, Puerto Rico. It therefore requests that the instant must carry complaint be dismissed. 5. In reply, WORA-TV states Teleponce's opposition is grossly deficient and fails to substantiate the allegation of substantial duplication. WORA-TV argues therefore that the opposition should be ignored and its complaint should be granted. DISCUSSION 6. We are not persuaded by the argument raised by Teleponce herein and shall grant WORA-TV's complaint. Teleponce has failed to provide any information in support of its allegation that WORA-TV substantially duplicates the programming of another station which it currently carries. Section 76.56(b)(5) of the Commission's Rules provides that ". . . For the purposes of this paragraph, substantially duplicates means that a station regularly simultaneously broadcasts the identical programming as another station for more than 50 percent of the broadcast week. For purposes of this definition, only identical episodes of a television series are considered duplicative and commercial inserts are excluded from the comparison. When the stations being compared are licensed to communities in different time zones, programming aired by a station within one hour of the identical program being broadcast by another stations will be considered duplicative." Without the submission of programming logs of both stations, we cannot reach the determination that substantial duplication exists. 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 Telecinco, Inc. IS GRANTED. Teleponce Cable TV IS ORDERED to commence carriage of WORA-TV on its cable system serving Ponce, Puerto Rico within sixty (60) days of the release date of this Order. WORA-TV shall notify Teleponce Cable in writing of its carriage and channel position elections (76.56, 76.57, and 76.64(f) of the Commission's Rules) within thirty (30) days of this Order. 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