******************************************************** 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 the Matter of: ) ) CSR-5274-M Agape Church, Inc. ) Against ) Community Communications Company) ) Request for Mandatory Carriage ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: November 3, 1998 Released: November 5, 1998 By the Acting Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division: I. INTRODUCTION 1. Agape Church, Inc., licensee of broadcast television station KVTH(TV), Hot Springs, Arkansas ("KVTH") has filed a request for mandatory carriage of its signal on the cable system operated by Community Communications Company ("CCC") in the communities of Amity, Glenwood, Royal, and Curtis, Arkansas. The complaint is unopposed. II. BACKGROUND 2. Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the Commission in Implementation of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act: 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. III. SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS 3. KVTH states that it is a qualified local commercial station authorized to operate on Channel 26, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is assigned to the Little Rock-Pine Bluff ADI. The above captioned communities all lie within the Little Rock-Pine Bluff ADI and are served by cable systems owned by CCC. KVTH asserts that it could supply a strong signal to the principal headend of each system. 4. KVTH asserts that on February 26, 1998, it attempted to enforce its must carry rights. On that date, James Grant, the General Manager of KVTH, sent notices via registered mail to CCC requesting carriage for KVTH on the CCC cable systems in Amity, Glenwood, Royal, Rosston, Norman, and Curtis, Arkansas. According to KVTH, Bill Copeland, CCC's General Manager, called Mr. Grant to discuss the requests for carriage on March 3, 1998. KVTH states that during this conversation, Mr. Copeland unequivocally agreed to carry the station on the cable systems serving Amity, Glenwood, Royal, and Curtis. KVTH then states that Mr. Copeland noted that the Rosston and Norman systems had difficulty receiving the station's signal and that both systems had fewer than 150 subscribers; Mr. Copeland believed that these circumstances negated CCC's carriage obligations in Rosston and Norman and no further discussions occurred. KVTH states that Mr. Copeland then asked Mr. Grant for thirty days to implement carriage of KVTH on the four agreed-upon systems because CCC had only one technician servicing thirty headends; as an accommodation to CCC, Mr. Grant accepted this deadline. Despite the oral agreement for carriage, KVTH asserts that CCC did not add the station to its channel line-ups in Amity, Glenwood, Royal, and Curtis. KVTH adds that on April 16, 1998, Mr. Grant notified Mr. Copeland that CCC had failed to comply with its carriage obligations and demanded that Mr. Copeland honor their carriage agreement. KVTH states that by the end of the thirty day deadline contained in Section 76.61(a)(2) of the Commission's rules, CCC had neither responded to Mr. Grant's letter, nor begun carriage of the station. KVTH states that it is filing this complaint within sixty days of May 16, 1998, as prescribed by Section 76.7 of the Commission's rules and requests that the Commission order CCC to begin carrying KVTH on the Amity, Glenwood, Royal, and Curtis cable systems. IV. DISCUSSION 5. We grant KVTH's carriage complaint against CCC. Section 614(a) of the Communications Act states that each cable operator shall carry the signals of local commercial television stations. A local commercial television station is defined as any full power broadcast television station that is within the same television market as the cable system. It is undisputed that KVTH and CCC are located within the same ADI. A cable operator is required to carry the signals of a local commercial station unless that station fails to deliver a good quality signal to the cable system's principal headend; the station's signal substantially duplicates the signal of another local commercial station which is carried on the system; or the cable operator (with a system of more than 12 usable activated channels) has already allocated up to one-third of the aggregate number of its usable activated channels to other local commercial stations. The Commission's rules also require a local commercial station that believes that a cable operator has failed to meet its carriage obligations to complain in writing to the operator. The cable operator must respond in writing to the station's complaint within 30 days of receipt. The cable operator must either commence carriage of the signal or explain its reasons for failing to do so. If the Commission determines that a cable operator has failed to meet its must-carry obligations, it may order an operator to commence carriage of the station in question. We find that KVTH has met all the requirements to be considered a must-carry station. V. ORDERING CLAUSES 6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 534, and Section 76.56(b)(5) of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. 76.56(b)(5), the Must Carry Complaint (CSR-5274-M) filed by Agape Church, Inc., licensee of KVTH, IS GRANTED. 7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Community Communications Company, Inc. SHALL COMMENCE CARRIAGE of the signal KVTH(TV) within sixty (60) days from the release date of this Order on its cable systems serving the communities of Amity, Glenwood, Royal, and Curtis, Arkansas. 8. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.321 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.321. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Deborah E. Klein Acting Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division Cable Services Bureau