******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In re: ) ) Complaint of Martin W. Hoffman, Esq.,) CSR-5144-M Trustee in Bankruptcy for the Estate of ) Astroline Communications L. P., license of ) Station WHCT-TV against Cox ) Communications Connecticut, Inc. ) ) Request for Carriage ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: February 12, 1998 Released: February 18, 1998 By the Chief, Consumer Protection & Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. Martin W. Hoffman, Esq., Trustee in Bankruptcy for the licensee of television station WHCT-TV, Hartford, Connecticut (Petitioner), has filed a must carry complaint requesting that the Commission order Cox Communications Connecticut, Inc. (Cox), operator of cable television systems serving Manchester and Meriden, Connecticut to commence carriage of WHCT-TV. Cox did not file an opposition to the complaint. BACKGROUND 2. Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the Commission in its Report and Order in MM Docket 92-259, 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. In support of his request, Petitioner states that television station WHCT-TV is a full- power, commercial television station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut and located within the Hartford ADI, as are Cox's cable television systems serving Manchester and Meriden, Connecticut. Petitioner supplies the Commission with a June 20, l997 letter, in which WHCT-TV notified the two Cox systems of the station's intention to invoke its must-carry rights, and requested that the station be carried on channel 18. According to Petitioner, negotiations concerning carriage between representatives of WHCT- TV and Cox occured between July 22 and October 2, l997. Petitioner contends that initially Cox had acknowledged its carriage obligations and committed to carrying the station, but that on October 2, l997, Cox changed its position and decided not to carry WHCT-TV. According to Petitioner, Cox's representatives have not returned telephone calls to representatives of the station since the October 2. l997 conversation. Petitioner filed the instant complaint on October 31, l997, and amended the complaint on November 4, l997 to replace the facsimile copy of a declaration signed by the station's General Manager with the original signed declaration. 4. Petitioner points out that Cox's change in position with respect to its must-carry obligations for the Manchester and Meriden systems was not caused by a deficit in WHCT-TV's signal strength or quality, a duplication of the station's programming, or the allocation of more than one-third of either system's aggregate activated channels to other local must-carry stations. Petitioner concludes that Cox has failed to fulfill its must carry obligations, and that petitioner has submitted his complaint to the Commission within sixty days of Cox's denial of carriage. Petitioner further requests that the Commission issue an Order requiring Cox to begin carrying WHCT-TV as soon as possible, but no later than fourty-five days after the release of the Commission's order. DISCUSSION 5. As Cox has not filed a response in this proceeding, we are persuaded by the reasons and arguments set forth in Petitioner's complaint that, as a local full-power commercial television station, WHCT-TV is entitled to must-carry status on Cox's Manchester and Meriden, Connecticut cable television systems. Likewise, because Cox has not proffered any reasons why the station should not be transmitted on Channel 18, we find that, as a commercial full-power station that has made a valid must- carry election, WHCT-TV is entitled to be carried on Cox's Manchester and Meriden systems on Channel 18, the station's over-the-air broadcast channel. ORDERING CLAUSES 6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the petition filed October 31, l997, by Martin W. Hoffman, Esq., Trustee in Bankruptcy for the Estate of Astroline Communications L. P. IS GRANTED pursuant to 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (4 U.S.C. 534). Cox Communications Connecticut, Inc. IS ORDERED to commence carriage of Station WHCT-TV on its Manchester and Meriden, Connecticut cable television systems within sixty (60) days of the release date of this Order. 7. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by 0.321 of the Commission's Rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Gary M. Laden, Chief Consumer Protection and Competition Division Cable Services Bureau