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

In the Matter of                   )
                              )
                                        Echostar Communications Corporation          )    
                              )
Petition for Declaratory Ruling and          )     No. RM-9345
                                        Rulemaking With Respect to Defining,         )
                                        Predicting and Measuring "Grade B       )
                                             Intensity" for Purposes of the Satellite          )
Home Viewer Act.                   )    


                             ORDER

     Adopted:  September 4, 1998        Released:  September 4, 1998   

By the Chief, Cable Services Bureau:

     1.   In this Order, we address a Motion for Reconsideration by the National Association of
Broadcasters ("NAB") of an expedited pleading schedule established in an August 26, 1998 Public Notice (DA
98-1710).  The pleading schedule applies to Echostar Corporation's Petition for Declaratory Ruling and/or
Rulemaking, and currently requires interested parties to file comments by September 11, 1998.  The Motion
is unopposed.

     2.   The NAB asks the Commission to provide the maximum 30 days to comment on Echostar's
petition, as Commission rules allow, rather than the 15 day period established in the Public Notice.  The NAB
argues that the Commission provided no adequate reason for a shortened comment period, that a shortened
period prejudices broadcasters, and that an intervening event obviates the "perceived need" to shorten the
period.  

     3.   A federal district court in Miami, Florida, on July 10, 1998 preliminarily enjoined PrimeTime
24, a re-transmitter of satellite-delivered network signals, and its agents from providing distant network signals
to many as many as 1,000,000 subscribers around the country.  The Court set the signal cut-off date at
October 8, 1998.  The intervening event to which the NAB refers is a motion filed with the Court on August
27, 1998, in which the plaintiffs, primarily CBS and Fox, notified the district court that they would not seek
enforcement of the injunction prior to January 1, 1999.  The NAB cites this voluntary forbearance to support
its Motion.
                                                                                
     4.   The Commission established the expedited pleading cycle in the Public Notice to preserve its
options in light of the impending termination of satellite service to many subscribers.  The shortened comment
period was intended to facilitate a quicker solution to these consumers' problems and to expedite action on the
Echostar Petition and a related petition filed by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (RM-
9335).  

     5.   Although the NAB has represented in its Motion regarding the extension of the cut-off date
that the urgency of moving forward on the Echostar and NRTC petitions is reduced, the defendants remain
under a court order potentially impact up to 1,000,000 subscribers and there are remains the possibility that
service will be terminated by the October 8 date established by the Court.  Balancing the need for expeditious
action and the desirability of obtaining as complete a record as possible in response to the Echostar Petition,
however, we believe that a brief extension in the comment period is warranted. We therefore grant the NAB's
Motion and establish a new deadline for comments at September 25, 1998.

     6.   Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 1.46 of the Commission's rules, 47
C.F.R. Section 1.46, that the Motion for Reconsideration Ordering Expedited Pleading Schedule IS
GRANTED.

     7.   IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the deadline for filing comments in this proceeding IS
EXTENDED until September 25, 1998.

     8.   This action is taken pursuant to the authority found in Sections 4(i) and 303(r) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  154(i) and 303(r), and Sections 0.204(b), 0.321, and
1.46 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.204(b), 0.321, and 1.46.
 

                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 



                              John  E. Logan
                              Acting 
                              
     Chief, Cable Services Bureau