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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Winnebago Cooperative Telephone Association ) File No. EB-02-
TS-664
)
Operator of Cable System in: )
)
Thompson, Iowa )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: July 9, 2003 Released: July 14, 2003
By the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement
Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant Winnebago Cooperative Telephone
Association (``Winnebago'') a temporary waiver of Section
11.11(a) of the Commission's Rules (``Rules'') for the above-
captioned 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. Winnebago filed a request for a temporary, six-month
waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the captioned cable system on
October 11, 2002. In support of its waiver request, Winnebago
states that it ordered EAS equipment in August 2002 for its
small, rural cable system which serves approximately 2,200
subscribers. Winnebago further states that after installing
the EAS equipment, it found certain components of the EAS
system missing. Winnebago submits that its vendor's delivery
of the missing components has been delayed. Winnebago asserts
that its subscribers will continue to have ready access to
national EAS information from other sources, including
broadcast stations carried on its cable system. Finally,
Winnebago 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
Winnebago, we conclude that a temporary waiver of Section
11.11(a) for the captioned cable system from October 11, 2003
until April 1, 2003 is warranted.7 However, we note that
Winnebago did not file its waiver request until October 11,
2002, after the October 1, 2002 deadline for cable systems
serving 10,000 or fewer subscribers to install EAS equipment.
We find that Winnebago was in violation of the requirement in
Section 11.11(a) of the Rules to install EAS equipment by
October 1, 2002. We admonish Winnebago for this violation.
5. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections
0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311 of the Rules,8 Winnebago Cooperative
Telephone Association IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a)
of the Rules from October 11, 2002 until April 1, 2003 for the
captioned cable television system.
6. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Winnebago Cooperative
Telephone Association 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 Winnebago Cooperative
Telephone Association 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 Winnebago Cooperative Telephone Association, Marci E.
Greenstein, 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.