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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 Bay Television, Inc. ) CSR-5200-M against Comcast Cablevision ) ) Request for Carriage ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: May 26, 1998 Released: May 28, 1998 By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. Bay Television, Inc., licensee of Television Broadcast Station WTTA (Channel 38), St. Petersburg, Florida, has filed a must carry complaint against Comcast Cablevision for its failure to carry WTTA on its systems serving Arcadia, Avon Park, Bartow, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, and Sebring, Florida. No opposition has been filed to this complaint. 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. SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS 3. In support of its complaint, WTTA states that it is a full-power television station located in the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida ADI, the same market in which Comcast's cable systems are located. WTTA states that, by letter dated July 14, 1997, it notified Comcast that it was pursuing its must carry rights on the cable systems serving Arcadia, Avon Park, Bartow, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, and Sebring. WTTA indicates that while Comcast's September 10, 1997 response stated that WTTA delivered a good quality signal to the Arcadia, Bartow, Lake Wales and Sebring headends, Comcast failed to commence carriage of the signal. Subsequently, after further correspondence advising Comcast that its refusal of carriage was in violation of the Commission's must carry rules, WTTA states that Comcast's response was that WTTA delivered an inadequate signal to the Lake Placid system and that carriage on the remaining systems was being evaluated with regard to each system's channel line-up and technical parameters. WTTA argues that as a "local" television station it is entitled to carriage on Comcast's cable systems so long as it provides a good quality signal to the systems' principal headends. WTTA points out that Comcast has admitted that WTTA provides a good quality signal to all but one of its headends and Comcast's allegation of poor signal quality at the Lake Placid headend is totally unsupported by engineering showings. Moreover, WTTA maintains that signal tests conducted by WTTA's own engineers at the Lake Placid headend determined that the station provides a signal within the Commission's signal strength criteria. Finally, WTTA argues that Comcast has not provided any evidence of channel line-up or technical difficulties that would account for its failure to add its signal. Therefore, WTTA requests that the Commission order Comcast to commence carriage of its signal. DISCUSSION 4. We will grant WTTA's complaint. We find that the unrebutted representations made by WTTA demonstrate that it is a local full-power commercial television station qualified for carriage on Comcast's cable systems serving Arcadia, Avon Park, Bartow, Lake Placid, Lake Wales, and Sebring, Florida. 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 as a cable operator is not entitled to carriage. Comcast and WTTA are both located in the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida ADI. Comcast did not file an opposition to WTTA's must carry complaint. Therefore, Comcast has not presented any evidence that WTTA is not entitled to carriage on its systems. ORDERING CLAUSES 5. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, (47 U.S.C. 534), that the petition filed by Bay Television, Inc. IS GRANTED. Comcast is ordered to commence carriage of television station WTTA within sixty (60) days of the release date of this Order on its systems serving Arcadia, Avon Park, Bartow, Lake Placid, Lake Wales and Sebring, Florida. 6. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that WTTA shall notify Comcast 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 the release date of this Order. 7. 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