Report No. MM-840            MASS MEDIA ACTION                June 17, 1994


     LOWNDES COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS CONDITIONALLY GRANTED CONSTRUCTION
       PERMIT AND LICENSE FOR ITFS CHANNELS C1-C4 AT MONTGOMERY, AL

     The Commission has conditionally granted the application of
Lowndes County Public Schools for a construction permit and license
in the Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) on Channels
C1-C4 in Montgomery, AL, and denied the mutually exclusive
application of Coffee County Board of Education for ITFS channels
at Society Hill, AL.

     In cases of mutually exclusive applications, where applicants
are competing for the same or adjacent channels in the same
geographic area, each application is reviewed pursuant to the
Commission's comparative process.  This procedure awards a maximum
of 12 merit points based on five criteria deemed most relevant to
predicting the applicant best qualified to provide service for
which the ITFS spectrum has been allocated.

     In this case, Lowndes was awarded four points for being local,
three points for being accredited, two points for observing the
four-channel limitation, and one point for proposing at least 21
hours of formal educational programming per channel per week, for
a total of 10 points.  Coffee was awarded two points for observing
the four-channel limitation and one point for proposing at least 21
hours of formal educational programming per channel per week, for
a total of three points.  Thus, the selectee is Lowndes.

     Lowndes proposed leasing its excess capacity for non-ITFS use
and submitted a copy of its lease with Capital Cable Television,
Inc., two of whose provisions do not comply with the Commission's
requirements for such leases.  The Commission stated that although
inconsistent with its requirements for excess capacity leases,
these provisions neither reflect on the applicants basic or
comparative qualifications, nor preclude grant of an authorization. 
Accordingly, Lowndes' authorization was conditioned upon conformity
of the lease to Commission requirements.



                                  (over)




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     Action by the Commission June 13, 1994, by Memorandum Opinion
and Order (FCC 94-166).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello and
Barrett, with Commissioners Ness and Chong not participating.

                                   -FCC-

     News Media contact: Patricia A. Chew at (202) 418-0500.
     Mass Media Bureau contact: Jennifer A. Johns at (202) 632-
3894.