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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 the Matter of: ) Complaint of SAH Acquisition Corporation II ) CSR-5252-M against MediaOne of Ohio, Inc. ) ) Request for Carriage of WOAC, Canton, Ohio ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: September 2, 1998 Released: September 4, 1998 By the Acting Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. SAH Acquisition Corporation II ("SAH"), licensee of Television Broadcast Station WOAC- TV, Canton, Ohio, has filed a must-carry complaint requesting that the Commission order MediaOne of Ohio, Inc. ("MediaOne"), operator of cable television systems providing cable service from headends located at Elyria, Bay Village, Bellevue, Willard, Amherst, North Ridgeville, and Norwalk, Ohio, to commence carriage of WOAC-TV. MediaOne has opposed the complaint, and SAH has replied. BACKGROUND 2. Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the Commission in In the Matter of Implementation of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (Report and Order in MM Docket 92-259) ("Must Carry Order"), 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. 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 method of doing so 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. Should a station fail to provide the requisite over-the-air signal quality to a cable system's principal headend, it still may obtain carriage rights 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. ARGUMENTS OF THE PARTIES 4. SAH states that by letter dated March 27, 1998, MediaOne was notified that SAH had acquired the license for WOAC-TV and requested carriage of WOAC-TV on MediaOne's cable systems serving certain Communities from its headends located at Mentor, Elyria, Bay Village, Bellvue, Willard, Amherst, North Ridgeville, and Norwalk, Ohio. SAH states that MediaOne subsequently informed SAH that signal strength measurements conducted in October 1996 showed that WOAC-TV did not meet the Commission's signal strength requirements in any of the headend locations. SAH states that although MediaOne's response failed to comply with Commission requirements, it attempted to resolve the matter with MediaOne through negotiations without any success. SAH asserts that the instant complaint is filed within 60 days of MediaOne's failure to respond properly to its request for carriage. 5. SAH asserts that WOAC-TV is licensed to Canton, Ohio, within the Cleveland, Ohio ADI, that MediaOne's cable systems serving the Communities are also within the Cleveland ADI, and that MediaOne's carriage of WOAC-TV will not increase copyright liability for MediaOne. SAH asserts that based on these facts, along with MediaOne's failure to establish that WOAC-TV does not deliver a good quality signal to the principal headends of those cable systems, WOAC-TV qualifies as a local television entitled to carriage on MediaOne's cable systems. SAH states that in the event WOAC-TV does not deliver a good quality signal over MediaOne's principal headends serving the Communities, it commits to acquire and install any and all equipment necessary to deliver a good signal to those headends. 6 In opposition, MediaOne states that it has conducted signal level tests which purport to show that WOAC-TV fails to deliver a good quality signal to the headends of its cable systems. MediaOne submitted copies of two sets of signal strength studies with its opposition. On the basis of those studies, MediaOne aserts that the complaint should be dismissed, asserting that WOAC-TV does not qualify as a local television station and therefore is not entitled to carriage on its cable systems serving the Communities at issue. 7. SAH in reply claims that MediaOne failed to show that the signal strength studies were conducted in accordance with sound engineering practices as required by Commission rules. In any event, SAH reiterates that it has made a commitment to acquire and install any and all necessary equipment to deliver a good signal to the headends of MediaOne's cable systems serving the Communities. SAH argues that because it made a commitment to provide any equipment necessary to deliver a good quality signal to MediaOne's facilities at its own expense, the results of the signal strength measurements lack legal significance, and that its commitment warrants grant of the complaint. DISCUSSION 8. We grant SAH's complaint. As noted at the outset, 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 method of doing so 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. Should a station fail to provide the requisite over-the-air signal quality to a cable system's principal headend, its carriage nevertheless may not be foreclosed, because the Commission's rules allow a station to 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. 9. In this instance, MediaOne submitted signal strength studies which fail to comply with Commission requirements for use of sound engineering practices. In particular, in neither of the two studies were the requisite four readings taken at any of the headend locations. MediaOne therefore has not shown that WOAC-TV does not provide a sufficient off-air signal to MediaOne's cable system headends. We find that SAH has made an unqualified commitment on this record to deliver an adequate signal to MediaOne's cable systems and to pay any associated equipment and costs, in accordance with 614(h)(1)(B)(iii) of the Communications Act of 1934. ORDERING CLAUSES 10. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 534), that the petition filed by SAH Acquisition Corporation II ("SAH") IS GRANTED, and MediaOne of Ohio, Inc. IS ORDERED to commence carriage of television station WOAC- TV within sixty (60) days after SAH installs the necessary equipment for WOAC-TV to deliver a good quality signal to MediaOne's cable systems' principal headends located at Mentor, Elyria, Bay Village, Bellvue, Willard, Amherst, North Ridgeville, and Norwalk, Ohio. 11. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that MediaOne shall cooperate with SAH in the installation of equipment and subsequent testing of WOAC-TV's signal strength at its cable system headends located at Mentor, Elyria, Bay Village, Bellvue, Willard, Amherst, North Ridgeville, and Norwalk, Ohio. 12. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated under Section 0.321 of the Commission's Rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Deborah E. Klein, Acting Chief Consumer Protection and Competition Division Cable Services Bureau