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



In the Matter of

Martin Hoffman, Esq., Trustee in Bankruptcy for
the Estate of Astroline Communications, L.P,
licensee of Station WHCT-TV, Hartford,
Connecticut, against Century Cable Management
Corporation.

Request for Carriage

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CSR-5108-M


                    ORDER ON RECONSIDERATION

   Adopted:  March 30, 2000             Released:  April 5, 2000

By the Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau:

     I.   introduction
1.     Martin W. Hoffman, Esq., Trustee in Bankruptcy for the Estate of Astroline Communications
L.P., licensee of television station WHCT-TV ("WHCT" or "Petitioner"), located in Hartford, Connecticut
filed a petition for reconsideration ("Petition") of a Memorandum Opinion and Order ("Order") released by
the Cable Services Bureau (the "Bureau").  In that Order, the Bureau denied Petitioner's must carry
complaint, filed pursuant to Section 76.7(c)(4)(iii)(B) of the Commission's rules, as untimely.  Century
Cable Management Corp. and Century Norwich Corp. ("Century") filed an Opposition to the Petition for
Reconsideration, to which Petitioner replied.
     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 patters.  Essentially, each county in the United States is allocated to a market based
on which home-market stations receive a preponderance of total viewing hours in the county.  For purposes
of this calculation, both over-the-air and cable television viewing is included.
4.     In the initial proceeding, WHCT filed a must carry complaint against Century for that cable
operator's failure to carry WHCT on its systems serving two communities in New London County,
Connecticut, Norwich and Old Lyme.  In opposition, Century argued that WHCT's complaint should be
dismissed because it was untimely filed.  Century maintained that WHCT should have filed its complaint
within 60 days of Century's failure to reply to WHCT's initial must carry request dated March 7, 1997 or
within sixty days after its second request on April 4, 1997.  In reply, WHCT argued that the March 7, 1997
and April 4, 1997 letters were meant to be informational rather than formal requests for mandatory carriage;
and asserted that its formal carriage request to Century was not made until June 30, 1997.  In its decision,
the Bureau concluded that the March 7, 1997 letter was a formal must carry request and that WHCT had
waited more than six months to file its complaint.  As a result, WHCT's complaint was dismissed as
untimely.
     V.   discussion
6.     We deny WHCT's petition for reconsideration.  In doing so, we note that our review of the
record did not show that the Bureau's initial findings and conclusions were erroneous.  Our review found
no ambiguity as to the date in which WHCT invoked its must carry rights and requested mandatory carriage
form Century.  The Bureau's conclusion that the March 7, 1997 letter is the date on which WHCT exercised
its mandatory carriage rights does not constitute a material error or omission that would warrant a reversal
of the Order. 
7.     Although, we deny WHCT's petition for reconsideration, we note that pursuant to Section
76.64(f)(2), a commercial television station, such as WHCT, is required to make an election between
retransmission consent and must carry at three-year intervals.  WHCT was required to make a new election
by October 1, 1999, to become effective on January 1, 2000.  Television stations that fail to make an
election are deemed to have elected must carry status.  Assuming that WHCT, as a consequence of the
most recent election cycle has mandatory carriage rights through election or default, and is not being
carried, it can now file a new request for mandatory carriage on Century's system(s) serving Norwich and
Old Lyme, Connecticut.
     VIII.     ordering clauses
9.     Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, that the Petition for Reconsideration filed by Martin Hoffman,
Esq., Trustee in Bankruptcy for the Estate of Astroline Communications, L.P., Licensee of Station WHCT-
TV, Hartford, Connecticut, in file CSR 5108-M IS DENIED.
10.    This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.321 of the Commission's
rules.
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

                         William H. Johnson
                         Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau