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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: ) ) Ocean State Television, LLC ) ) vs. ) CSR-5270-M ) Full Channel TV, Inc. ) ) Request for Mandatory Carriage ) of Television Station WPXQ-TV, ) Block Island, Rhone Island ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: September 24, 1998 Released: September 28, 1998 By the Acting Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: 1. Ocean State Television, LLC ("Ocean"), licensee of television broadcast station WPXQ-TV, Block Island, Rhode Island ("WPXQ-TV" or the "Station"), has filed a must-carry complaint with the Commission, pursuant to Sections 76.7 and 76.61 of the Commission's rules, claiming that Full Channel TV, Inc. ("Full Channel") has failed to commence carriage of WPXQ-TV on Full Channel's system serving Warren, Rhode Island and the surrounding areas (the "cable communities") as required by Section 614 of the Communications Act and Section 76.56 of the Commission's rules. No opposition to the complaint was filed. BACKGROUND 2. Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the Commission in its Implementation of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, Broadcast Signal Carriage Issues, ("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 patterns. SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS 3. WPXQ-TV asserts that it is entitled to mandatory carriage on Full Channel's Warren, Rhode Island cable system because WPXQ-TV is a qualified local commercial station as defined under the Commission's must-carry rules. WPXQ-TV explains that it is licensed to Block Island, Rhode Island, which is in the Providence ADI. WPXQ-TV states that Full Channel operates a cable television system serving Warren and the surrounding areas, which also are within the Providence ADI. WPXQ-TV contends that because it is located within the same ADI as Full Channel, it is entitled to carriage. WPXQ-TV asserts that it requested mandatory carriage on Full Channel's Warren system in a letter dated March 24, 1998. WPXQ- TV claims that Full Channel did not respond to the March 24, 1998 letter in violation of Section 76.61(a)(2) of the Commission's rules, which requires cable operators to respond in writing to requests for carriage within 30 days of such requests. According to WPXQ-TV, it is committed to acquire and install the necessary equipment, if needed, to deliver a good quality signal to Full Channel's Warren headend. Ocean requests that the Commission order Full Channel to commence carriage of WPXQ-TV's signal on channel 69 of the cable system serving the cable communities. DISCUSSION 4. We grant WPXQ-TV's complaint. We find that representations made by the Station demonstrate that it is a local full power commercial television station qualified for carriage on Full Channel's system serving Warren, Rhode Island, and the surrounding areas. Both WPXQ-TV and Full Channel are located in the same ADI of Providence. Under the Commission's must-carry rules, cable operators have the burden of showing that a commercial station located in the same television market as a cable operator is not entitled to carriage. Full Channel did not respond within 30 days to Ocean's letter requesting carriage of WPXQ-TV as required by the Commission's rules nor did it file an opposition to WPXQ-TV's must-carry complaint. Full Channel, therefore, has not presented any evidence that WPXQ-TV is not entitled to carriage on its system. 5. One exception to the carriage requirement is that the cable operator need not afford must-carry status to an otherwise qualified local commercial television station if the station fails to provide a good quality signal to the system's principal headend. We find that WPXQ-TV has satisfied the criteria for carriage by committing to acquire and install all the equipment necessary to deliver a good quality signal to Full Channel's Warren headend. The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 requires only that a station "agree to be responsible for the costs of delivering to the cable system a signal of good quality." In this case, WPXQ-TV has agreed to be responsible for installing all specialized equipment necessary to deliver a good quality signal to Full Channel's Warren headend. Thus, we conclude that WPXQ-TV is entitled to carriage on Full Channel's system serving Warren, Rhode Island and the surrounding areas. 6. Concerning WPXQ-TV's channel positioning request, we find that it has properly requested carriage on channel 69 on Full Channel's cable system, the same channel number on which it is broadcast over- the-air. Under our rules, cable operators must comply with the channel positioning requirements absent a compelling technical reason. 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 filed by Ocean State Television, LLC IS GRANTED. Full Channel TV, Inc. IS ORDERED to commence carriage of television station WPXQ-TV on channel 69 of its cable system serving Warren, Barrington, and Bristol, Rhode Island, within sixty (60) days from the date that station WPXQ-TV delivers a good quality signal Full Channel's Warren headend. 8. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated under  0.321 of the Commission's rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Deborah E. Klein, Acting Chief Consumer Protection and Competition Division Cable Services Bureau