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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Coleman County Telephone Cooperative, Inc. ) File No. EB-02-
TS-696
)
Operator of Cable System in: )
)
Santa Anna, Texas )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: July 1, 2003 Released: July 3, 2003
By the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement
Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant Coleman County Telephone
Cooperative, Inc. (``Coleman County'') a temporary waiver of
Section 11.11(a) of the Commission's Rules (``Rules'') for the
above-captioned wireless cable television system. Section
11.11(a) requires cable systems serving fewer than 5,000
subscribers from a headend to either provide national level
Emergency Alert System (``EAS'') messages on all programmed
channels or install EAS equipment and provide a video
interrupt and audio alert on all programmed channels and EAS
audio and video messages on at least one programmed channel by
October 1, 2002.1
2. The Cable Act of 1992 added new Section 624(g) to the
Communications Act of 1934 (``Act''), which requires that
cable systems be capable of providing EAS alerts to their
subscribers.2 In 1994, the Commission adopted rules requiring
cable systems to participate in EAS.3 In 1997, the Commission
amended the EAS rules to provide financial relief for small
cable systems.4 The Commission declined to exempt small cable
systems from the EAS requirements, concluding that such an
exemption would be inconsistent with the statutory mandate of
Section 624(g).5 However, the Commission extended the
deadline for cable systems serving fewer than 10, 000
subscribers to begin complying with the EAS rules to October
1, 2002, and provided cable systems serving fewer than 5,000
subscribers the option of either providing national level EAS
messages on all programmed channels or installing EAS
equipment and providing a video interrupt and audio alert on
all programmed channels and EAS audio and video messages on at
least one programmed channel.6
3. Coleman County filed a request for a temporary, six-
month waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the captioned cable
system on November 5, 2002. In support of its waiver request,
Coleman County states that it had difficulty locating a vendor
with EAS equipment suitable for its small, rural wireless
cable system which serves approximately 236 subscribers.
Coleman County further states that after ordering EAS
equipment, the vendor informed Coleman County that delivery
and installation of EAS equipment would be delayed at least
six weeks. Coleman County asserts that its subscribers will
continue to have ready access to national EAS information from
other sources, including its cable system. Finally, Coleman
County believes that it can bring the captioned cable system
into EAS compliance within the next six months.
4. Based upon our review of the information submitted by
Coleman County, we conclude that a temporary waiver of Section
11.11(a) for the captioned cable system from November 5, 2002
until April 1, 2003 is warranted.7 However, we note that
Coleman County did not file its waiver request until November
5, 2002, after the October 1, 2002 deadline for cable systems
serving 10,000 or fewer subscribers to install EAS equipment.
We find that Coleman County was in violation of the
requirement in Section 11.11(a) of the Rules to install EAS
equipment by October 1, 2002. We admonish Coleman County for
this violation.
5. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections
0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311 of the Rules,8 Coleman County
Telephone Cooperative, Inc. IS GRANTED a waiver of Section
11.11(a) of the Rules from November 5, 2002 until April 1,
2003 for the captioned cable television system.
6. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Coleman County Telephone
Cooperative, Inc. is ADMONISHED for violating the requirement
in Section 11.11(a) of the Rules to install EAS equipment by
October 1, 2002.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Coleman County Telephone
Cooperative, Inc. place a copy of this waiver in its system
file.
8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall
be sent by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to
counsel for Coleman County Telephone Cooperative, Inc., John
Kuykendall, Esq., Kraskin, Lesse & Cosson, LLP, 2120 L Street,
N.W., Suite 520, Washington, D.C. 20037.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Joseph P. Casey
Chief, Technical and Public Safety
Division
Enforcement Bureau
_________________________
1 47 C.F.R. § 11.11(a).
2 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of
1992, Pub. L. No. 102-385, § 16(b), 106 Stat. 1460, 1490 (1992).
Section 624(g) provides that ``each cable operator shall comply
with such standards as the Commission shall prescribe to ensure
that viewers of video programming on cable systems are afforded
the same emergency information as is afforded by the emergency
broadcasting system pursuant to Commission regulations ....'' 47
U.S.C. § 544(g).
3 Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's Rules
Regarding the Emergency Broadcast System, Report and Order and
Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, FO Docket Nos. 91-171/91-
301, 10 FCC Rcd 1786 (1994) (``First Report and Order''),
reconsideration granted in part, denied in part, 10 FCC Rcd 11494
(1995).
4 Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's Rules
Regarding the Emergency Broadcast System, Second Report and
Order, FO Docket Nos. 91-171/91-301, 12 FCC Rcd 15503 (1997)
(``Second Report and Order'').
5 Id. at 15512-13.
6 Id. at 15516-15518.
7 We clarify that the waiver we are granting also encompasses
the EAS testing and monitoring requirements.
8 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311.