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



In the Matter of:

USA Station Group Partnership of Atlanta
v. Community Cable Television

Request for Carriage
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CSR-5467-M



                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

     Adopted:  April 12, 2000           Released:  April 14, 2000

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

     I.   INTRODUCTION
1.     USA Station Group Partnership of Atlanta, licensee of Station WHOT-TV (Ch. 34), Athens,
Georgia ("WHOT-TV"), filed the above-captioned complaint against Community Cable Television
("Community Cable") for its failure to carry WHOT-TV on its systems serving the communities of Ellijay,
Nelson and Jasper, Georgia.  No opposition has been received.
     II.  BACKGROUND
3.     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, 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 "designated market area," or DMA, as defined by Nielsen Media
Research.  A DMA is a geographic market designation that defines each television market exclusive of
others, based on measured viewing patterns.
     IV.  DISCUSSION
5.     In support of its request, WHOT-TV states that Athens, its city of license, is located in the
Atlanta DMA, as are the cable communities served by Community Cable.  WHOT-TV points out that its
programming is not substantially duplicated by any other commercial television station the cable systems
carry nor would its carriage increase Community Cable's copyright liability.  WHOT-TV states that, by
letter dated October 1, 1999, it formally made a must carry election with regard to Community Cable's
systems and subsequently demanded carriage on November 10, 1999, pursuant to Section 76.61(a) of the
Commission's rules.  When Community Cable failed to respond to its requests for carriage within the
required thirty days, WHOT-TV states that it filed the instant complaint.  WHOT-TV argues that
Community Cable has never claimed that it does not provide a signal of sufficient strength to any of its
respective headends.  To the extent that signal quality becomes an issue, however, WHOT-TV asserts that
it will purchase and install, at its own expense, any equipment necessary to ensure the delivery of the good
quality signal.  In view of the above, and the fact that it is a fully-qualified signal pursuant to the must
carry requirements, WHOT-TV requests that the Commission order Community Cable to commence
carriage of its signal.
6.     We grant WHOT-TV's complaint.  We find that the unrebutted representations made by
WHOT-TV demonstrate that it is a local full-power commercial television station qualified for carriage on
Community Cable's systems.  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.  Community Cable and WHOT-TV are both located in the Atlanta, Georgia DMA. 
Community Cable not only did not respond to WHOT-TV's must carry request, but it also did not file an
opposition to WHOT-TV's must carry complaint.  Consequently, we order Community Cable to carry
WHOT-TV's signal.
     VII. ORDERING CLAUSES
8.     Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the petition filed December 15, 1999, by USA Station
Group Partnership of Atlanta IS GRANTED pursuant to Section 614(d)(3) of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 534).  Community Cable Television IS ORDERED to commence carriage
of WHOT-TV on its Ellijay, Nelson and Jasper, Georgia cable systems sixty (60) days from the release
date of this order.
9.     IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that WHOT-TV shall notify Community Cable in writing of
its carriage and channel position elections (76.56, 76.57, and 76.64(f) of the Commission's rules) within
thirty (30) days of the release date of this order.
10.    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