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

                                )
In the Matter of:               )
                                )
Complaints of R y F Broadcasting, Inc.)      CSR 5299-M & CSR 5300-M
v.                              )
Cable TV of Greater San Juan    )
and TCI Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Inc.                                   )
                                )
For Carriage of Television Station)
WZDE, Carolina, Puerto Rico     )


                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

   Adopted:  April 22, 1999             Released:  April 27, 1999

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

I.   INTRODUCTION

     1.   R y F Broadcasting, Inc. ("R y F Broadcasting"), permittee of television station WZDE,
Carolina, Puerto Rico, filed the captioned complaints pursuant to Section 76.7(a)(2) and 76.61(a)(3) of the
Commission's rules for carriage of WZDE on the cable systems of Cable TV of Greater San Juan ("Cable TV")
serving San Juan, Bayamon, Carolina, Guaynabo, and Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico and TCI Cablevision of
Puerto Rico, Inc., ("TCI-PR") serving Luquillo, Canovanas, Ceiba, Fajardo, Loiza, Naguabo and Rio Grande,
Puerto Rico.  Cable TV and TCI-PR filed oppositions to the complaints, and R y F Broadcasting filed replies.

II.  BACKGROUND

     2.   Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Television
Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 ("1992 Cable Act"), and implementing rules adopted by
the Commission in 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. 
In areas outside the contiguous 48 states, such as Puerto Rico, station markets are defined using Nielsen's
1991-1992 DMA Market and Demographic Rank Report, and Puerto Rico is considered a single market. 
Therefore, for the purpose of this proceeding, the Puerto Rico communities served by Cable TV and TCI-PR
are considered to be in WZDE's market.

     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 television 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.

III. ALLEGATIONS OF THE PARTIES

     4.   R y F Broadcasting states that it is currently operating WZDE under program test authority
pending issuance of a license.  R y F Broadcasting requested carriage of WZDE on the cable systems of Cable
TV and TCI-PR serving the communities listed above by separate letters dated June 3, 1998 and mailed on
June 5, 1998. R y F Broadcasting asserts that since no response to those requests from the cable operators was
received, the must carry complaints were timely filed on September 1, 1998 consistent with the provisions of
Section 76.7(c)(4)(iii) of the Commission's rules.  R y F Broadcasting further asserts that WZDE and the
communities served by these cable systems are located within the San Juan, Puerto Rico DMA and that WZDE
is a "local" station under Section 76.55(e)(1) of the rules entitled to mandatory carriage on these cable systems. 
Accordingly, R y F Broadcasting requests that the Commission issue orders requiring the cable systems to
carry WZDE.

     5.   Cable TV and TCI-PR oppose the complaints asserting that WZDE does not provide a good
quality signal to the principal headends of their cable systems.  TCI-PR provided the results of a signal strength
study conducted on five occasions between 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on October 10, 1998.  In response, Cable
TV provided the results of a study it conducted on five occasions between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on October
29, 1998.  Cable TV and TCI-PR contend that these studies show that WZDE is not entitled to carriage
because of its failure to deliver an adequate signal to the cable systems' headends, and request dismissal of the
complaints.

     6.   R y F Broadcasting asserts in reply that the studies submitted by Cable TV and TCI-PR were
conducted while WZDE was not broadcasting and therefore do not provide any basis for denial of station
carriage.  In particular, R y F Broadcasting states that WZDE operated only between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
daily when TCI-PR's study was conducted on October 10, 1998.   R y F Broadcasting states that WZDE was
not operating because of loss of electrical power due to damage done by Hurricane George when Cable TV
conducted its study on October 29, 1998.   R y F Broadcasting further states that, although the cable
operators have not shown that WZDE fails to provide an adequate signal to their cable systems, it will provide
special equipment for delivery of a good quality signal to the cable systems should that prove to be necessary. 
R y F Broadcasting requests an order requiring the cable operators to cooperate with it in establishing WZDE's
signal strength at the cable system headends and mandating carriage of WZDE consistent with precedent.

IV.  DISCUSSION

     7.   We find that Cable TV and TCI-PR are required to carry WZDE.  As noted above, 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 is to show that WZDE does not
provide a good quality signal to a cable system's principal headend.  However, a cable operator's burden of
showing the inadequacy of a station's signal is not satisfied by studies conducted when a station is not
broadcasting.  Such studies do not provide information that will assist broadcasters "in determining whether
they wish to pay for appropriate signal improvements" nor do they represent full cooperation by cable operators
in supplying broadcasters with relevant data, as contemplated by the Commission in connection with the
resolution of disputes regarding the adequacy of signal levels delivered to cable system headends.  In this
instance, R y F Broadcasting's letters requesting carriage provided Cable TV and TCI-PR with information,
including a telephone number, that enabled them to contact the station and confirm whether the station would
be broadcasting at the time the studies were undertaken.  In any event, R y F Broadcasting committed on this
record to provide equipment for delivery of a good quality signal to the cable systems should that prove to be
necessary.  Based on the record before us, we find that WZDE, which is assigned to Carolina, Puerto Rico,
is in the same television market, Puerto Rico, as the communities at issue in this case.  Therefore WZDE is a
local television station with respect to the cable systems operated by Cable TV and TCI-PR in those
communities and is entitled to carriage on those systems.

V.   ORDERING CLAUSES

     8.   Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934,
as amended (47 U.S.C. 534), that the complaints filed by R y F Broadcasting, Inc.  in File No. CSR 5299-M
and 5300-M ARE GRANTED, and Cable TV of Greater San Juan and TCI Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Inc.
ARE ORDERED to commence carriage of television station WZDE within sixty (60) days after R y F
Broadcasting, Inc. installs the necessary equipment for WZDE to deliver a good quality signal to the principal
headends of the cable systems serving San Juan, Bayamon, Carolina, Guaynabo, Trujillo Alto, Luquillo,
Canovanas, Ceiba, Fajardo, Loiza, Naguabo and Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. 

     9.   IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the cable operators shall cooperate with R y F
Broadcasting, Inc. in the installation of equipment and subsequent testing of WZDE's signal strength at their
cable system headends described in this order.

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

                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



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