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

In the Matter of:                  )
                                   )
SAH ACQUISITION CORPORATION II     )
                                   )
v.                                 )    CSR 5356-M
                                   )
Century Communications             )
                                   )
Request for Mandatory Carriage               )


                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

       Adopted:  May 17, 1999                         Released:  May 19, 1999 

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

I.   INTRODUCTION

     1.    SAH Acquisition Corporation II, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shop At Home, Inc. and licensee
of commercial television station KCNS-TV, San Francisco, California ("KCNS"), has filed a request for
mandatory carriage of its signal on the cable systems operated by Century Communications ("Century") in
communities served by Century's headends in Fort Bragg, Napa, Sonoma, Ukiah, Willits and Mendocino
County, California (the "Communities").  Century filed an opposition to which KCNS did not reply.

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 of 1992,
Report and Order ("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.

     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 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.    KCNS states that it is a qualified local commercial station and that it is assigned to the San
Francisco ADI.  KCNS further states that the Communities served by Century are also located in the San
Francisco ADI.  KCNS further states that, by letters dated October 5, 1998, it requested mandatory carriage
on Century's cable systems serving the Communities and assured Century that a good quality signal would be
delivered to Century's Mount St. Hedrin headend.  KCNS states that, by letter dated November 6, 1998,
Century asserted that it had conducted tests of KCNS' signal and determined that the signal was inadequate. 
KCNS states that, based on the results of Century's testing of KCNS' signal, its consultant engineer believes
that a "sitco quad antenna array, designed specifically for the KCNS assigned frequency and with the use of
amplification, KCNS can provide a good quality signal."  In response to Century's letter, KCNS requested
that Century agree to cooperate with KCNS in conducting additional tests and that century execute a letter of
agreement in which Century commits to carriage of KCNS' signal within 45 days of the date that KCNS
delivers a good quality signal.  KCNS further states that Century agreed to cooperate in conducting additional
testing of KCNS' signal but declined to sign a letter of agreement committing to carriage.  Consequently,
KCNS states that it filed its complaint in order to preserve its must-carry rights against Century should the
parties not be able to resolve the signal quality issue.   KCNS maintains that it is committed to acquiring and
installing equipment and making any necessary improvements, at its own expense, in order to deliver a good
quality signal to Century's Mount St. Hedrin headend.

     5.    Century, in opposition, states that the complaint should be dismissed with respect to the
communities located in Mendocino County because KCNS does not deliver a good quality signal to Century's
principal headends serving those communities.  Century further states that its principal headends for the cable
system serving communities in Mendocino County are located in Fort Bragg, Ukiah, and Willits.  Century
maintains that its principal headends are geographically remote from San Francisco, KCNS' city of license,
in that Ukiah is 100 miles, Willits is 119 miles, and Fort Bragg is 132 miles distant.  Century alleges that
KCNS' signals are undetectable at those headends and, therefore, KCNS does not comply with Section
76.55(c)(3) of the Commission's rules which require delivery of a good quality signal as a pre-condition to
mandatory carriage.  Century does not oppose KCNS' must-carry complaint for the communities located in
Sonoma and Napa Counties.  With regard to KCNS' commitment to provide a good quality signal, Century
states that KCNS' commitment appears to apply only to Century's facilities located on Mount St. Hedrin, which
is not a principal headend, and does not apply to Century's actual principal headends which are located in Fort
Bragg, Ukiah, and Willits.  Century states that, although it receives other broadcast signals at the Mount St.
Hedrin facility, the Commission has established that a cable operator can insist upon the receipt of a good
quality signal at its principal headend even where, as in this case, "there is another receive site that is better
situated to receive a station's signal."  Century maintains that KCNS may not force Century to accept its
signal at the Mount St. Hedrin site and microwave that signal to Century's principal headends.   In addition
to the failure to provide a good quality signal to Century's principal headends, Century states that KCNS: has
never been carried on Century's Mendocino system; does not provide coverage or other local service to the
communities at issue; is not generally viewed in either cable or non-cable households in the communities at
issue; and, the communities at issue are provided adequate news coverage of local issues by stations that are
carried on Century's cable systems.  Century however fails to provide any evidence in the record to support
those claims against KCNS' inclusion in the San Francisco ADI.

IV.  DISCUSSION

     6.    We grant KCNS' request for mandatory carriage on Century's cable systems serving Sonoma,
Napa, and Mendocino Counties.  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 KCNS and Century are located within the same ADI.  The 1992 Cable Act provides that
a cable operator is not required to carry a local commercial television station that does not deliver a good
quality signal to the principal headend of a cable system.  Because the cable operator is in the best position
to know whether a given station is providing a good quality signal to the system's principal headend, we believe
that the initial burden of demonstrating the lack of a good quality signal appropriately falls on the cable
operator.  In this case, Century submitted engineering studies of KCNS' signal indicating that KCNS' signal
failed to deliver the signal levels required by Section 76.55(c) of the Commission's rules.    

     7.    With respect to communities in Sonoma and Napa Counties, Century concedes that it is prepared
to carry KCNS' signal on its cable systems serving those communities should KCNS provide a good quality
signal.  The communities of Sonoma County are Calistoga, Cotati, Napa County, Sonoma County, Rohnert
Park, St. Helena, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Monte Rio, Bodega Bay, Glenn Ellen, Temelec, Cotati-Rohnert Park,
and Sebastopol.  The communities of Napa County are Calistoga, Napa, St. Helena, and Yountville.  

     8.    The dispute centers on the communities of Mendocino County which are served by Century's Fort
Bragg, Ukiah, and Willits principal headends.  With respect to these communities, Century claims that
Mendocino County is geographically remote from San Francisco, KCNS' city of license and, for that reason,
KCNS is unlikely to be able to provide a good quality signal to Fort Bragg, Ukiah, and Willits headends. 
KCNS, in correspondence with Century, has acknowledged that it does not provide a good quality signal to
Century's principal headends serving Mendocino County.  While geographically remote from San Francisco,
Century's Mendocino County headends are located within the San Francisco ADI.  In addition, KCNS has
stated that it is committed to providing a good quality signal and has offered to provide specialized equipment
to Century to improve the station's signal.  KCNS maintains that with the use of the equipment recommended
by its consultant engineer, it can provide a good quality signal to Century's Mendocino County principal
headends consistent with Commission criteria.  Moreover, KCNS has stated that it will bear the costs of
installing such equipment to assure a good quality signal.  The Commission in the Must Carry Order, after re-
emphasizing that it was the television station's obligation to bear the costs associated with delivering a good
quality signal to the system's principal headend, stated:

          This may include improved antennas, increased tower height, microwave
          relay equipment, amplification equipment and tests that may be needed to
          determine whether the station's signal complies with the signal strength
          requirements ...  .
          
                
KCNS, by committing to provide specialized equipment and make any necessary improvements, satisfies its
obligation to bear the costs associated with delivering a good quality signal to Century's principal headends. 
Accordingly, we order Century to carry KCNS' signals in the event that KCNS provides a good quality signal
employing the specialized equipment it has offered to install at its own expense.


V.   ORDERING CLAUSES

     9.    Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C.  534 and Sections 76.55(c) and 76.61 (a)(2) of the Commission's rules, 47
C.F.R.  76.55(c)(3) and 76.61(a)(2), the Petition for Special Relief [CSR-5356-M] filed by SAH Acquisition
Corporation against Century Communications IS GRANTED.

     10.    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Century Communications SHALL COMMENCE
CARRIAGE of the signal, KCNS-TV within sixty (60) days from the date that KCNS provides a good quality
signal at Century's principal headends in Fort Bragg, Ukiah, and Willits, California.  KCNS shall notify
Century in writing of its carriage and channel position elections on Century's cable systems served by those
principal headends within 30 days of providing a good quality signal, 47 C.F.R.  76.56, 76.57 and 76.64(f)
of the Commission's rules   

     11.    This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by  0.321, 47 C.F.R.  0.321 of the
Commission's rules.


                                             FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



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