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

In the Matter of                )
Bell Atlantic Telephone Companies)      
Revisions to Tariff  F.C.C. No. 10)          Transmittal Nos. 741, 786
Rates, Terms, and Regulations   )       CC Docket No. 95-145
for Video Dialtone Service in   )
Dover Township, New Jersey      )  

                             ORDER

Adopted:  August 14, 1997               Released:  August 22, 1997

By the Commission:

     1. On January 27, 1995, the Bell Atlantic Telephone Companies (Bell Atlantic) filed
Transmittal No. 741, which introduced the tariff for its commercial video dialtone service offering
in Dover Township, New Jersey.  Fourteen parties filed petitions to reject or, in the alternative, to
suspend and investigate the rates, terms, and conditions of Transmittal No. 741.  The petitioners,
largely cable television operators, claimed that Bell Atlantic was seeking to subsidize its video
dialtone service with revenue from its telephone ratepayers, and therefore that the rates Bell Atlantic
proposed to charge to video dialtone programmers would be artificially low and anticompetitive. 
On June 8, 1995, Bell Atlantic filed Transmittal No. 786, proposing certain revisions to Transmittal
No. 741.  On June 9, 1995, the Common Carrier Bureau (Bureau) released an order initiating an
investigation into Transmittal  Nos. 741 and  786.   The Bureau subsequently released an order
designating issues in this investigation.  By letter dated February 16, 1996, the Bureau's Tariff
Division (Division) sought comment on the effect of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996
Act) on our investigation of this tariff and Bell Atlantic's provision of video dialtone service in
Dover. 

     2.  The 1996 Act repealed the telephone-cable cross-ownership restriction, repealed the
Commission's video dialtone rules and policies, and established the open video system as a new
means for entry into the multichannel video programming distribution market.  In implementing
these statutory changes, the Commission required that video dialtone systems authorized prior to
enactment of the 1996 Act had to elect a transition to one of the four statutorily-recognized options
for provision of video programming services by November 6, 1996.    

     3. On October 17, 1996, the Cable Services Bureau approved Bell Atlantic's certification to
operate an open video system in Dover.  The Cable Services Bureau granted an extension of time
for Bell Atlantic to complete this transition from video dialtone service to an open video system,
from November 6, 1996 to March 1, 1997.  In light of Bell Atlantic's recent conversion of its Dover
facilities from video dialtone service to an open video system, the investigation into Bell Atlantic
Telephone Companies' Transmittal Nos. 741 and 786 is moot. We therefore terminate our
investigation into whether Bell Atlantic's tariff is lawful.

     4.  Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the issue designation order imposed by the Common
Carrier Bureau, with respect to proposed rates, terms, and conditions for the provision of video
dialtone service in Dover Township, in CC Docket No. 95-145, IS VACATED and the investigation
IS TERMINATED. 

                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                              William F. Caton
                              Acting Secretary