********************************************************    
                         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:               )
                                )
Complaint of Paxson Communications)          CSR-5296-M
License Company, LLC against Charter)
Communications Entertainment I, LP)
                                )
Request for Carriage            )


                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

   Adopted:  March 23, 1999             Released:  March 25, 1999  

By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau:

I.  INTRODUCTION

     1.   Paxson Communications License Company, LLC, licensee of Station WPXN-TV (Channel
31), New York, New York ("WPXN-TV"), has filed a must carry complaint against Charter Communications
Entertainment I, LP for its failure to carry WPXN-TV on its cable system serving Newtown, Connecticut and
surrounding communities.  No opposition to this petition has been received.

II.  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
("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 Arbitron research organization.

III.  THE PLEADINGS

     3.   In support of its request, WPXN-TV states that it formally demanded carriage on Charter's
system in a letter dated June 1, 1998, but Charter failed to respond within the 30 days required under the
Commission's rules.  WPXN-TV maintains that its complaint was timely filed within the required sixty (60)
days of Charter's response period.  

     4.   WPXN-TV states that the Communications Act and the Commission's rules provide that a
local commercial station located within the same television market as a cable system, which delivers an
adequate signal to the cable system's headend and whose carriage would not increase the cable operator's
copyright liability, is entitled to invoke its must carry rights.  WPXN-TV points out that it is a full-power
commercial television station licensed to operate in the New York ADI market and is thus a must carry station
for Charter's Newtown system located in Fairfield County, Connecticut.  WPXN-TV states further that it
provides an adequate signal to Charter's principal headend and that its carriage on Charter's Fairfield County
communities will not incur any increased copyright liability.  In view of the foregoing, WPXN-TV requests
that the Commission order Charter to commence carriage of its signal on its Newtown system.

IV.  DISCUSSION

     5.   We grant WPXN-TV's complaint.  We find that the unrebutted representations made by
WPXN-TV demonstrate that it is a local full-power commercial television station qualified for carriage on
Charter's Newtown cable system.  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.  Charter and WPXN-TV are both located in the New York ADI.  Charter did not file an
opposition to WPXN-TV's complaint.  Consequently, we order Charter to carry WPXN-TV's signal on its
Newtown cable system.

V.  ORDERING CLAUSES

     6.   Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the petition filed on behalf of Paxson Communications
License Company, LLC IS GRANTED pursuant to Section 614(d)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934,
as amended.  Charter Communications IS ORDERED to commence carriage of WPXN-TV within sixty (60)
days of the release date of this order.

     7.   IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that WPXN-TV shall notify Charter in writing of its carriage
and channel position elections (Sections 76.56, 76.57, and 76.64(f) of the Commission's rules) within thirty
(30) days of the release date of this order.

     8.   This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.321 of the Commission's
rules.

                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




                              Deborah Klein, Chief
                              Consumer Protection and Competition Division
                              Cable Services Bureau