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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Fairfield Communications ) File No. EB-03-TS-038
)
Operator of Cable System in: )
)
Winnsboro, South Carolina )
)
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 Fairfield Communications
(``Fairfield'') 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. Fairfield filed a request for a temporary, 12-month
waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the captioned cable system on
October 4, 2002.7 In support of its waiver request, Fairfield
states that its small cable system serves approximately 1,877
subscribers. Fairfield further states that it is in the
process of rebuilding its system, changing from analog to
digital facilities. Fairfield notes that upon completion, the
bulk of it programming and EAS signals will be imported from
another cable system's headend in an adjacent city. Fairfield
submits that after the rebuild, it will install EAS equipment
at the captioned system's headend to transmit EAS signals to
local programming channels. Finally, Fairfield believes that
it can bring the captioned cable system into EAS compliance
within the next twelve months.
4. Based upon our review of the information submitted by
Fairfield, we conclude that a temporary waiver of Section
11.11(a) for the captioned cable system from October 4, 2002
until October 1, 2003 is warranted.8 However, we note that
Fairfield did not file its waiver request until October 4,
2002, after the October 1, 2002 deadline for cable systems
serving 10,000 or fewer subscribers to install EAS equipment.
We find that Fairfield was in violation of the requirement in
Section 11.11(a) of the Rules to install EAS equipment by
October 1, 2002. We admonish Fairfield for this violation.
5. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections
0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311 of the Rules,9 Fairfield
Communications IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the
Rules from October 4, 2002 until October 1, 2003 for the
captioned cable television system.
6. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Fairfield Communications 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 Fairfield Communications
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 James F.
Hicklin, Secretary/Treasurer, Fairfield Communications, 112
York Street, Post Office Box 160, Chester, South Carolina
29706.
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 Although Fairfield's waiver request is dated September
10, 2002, the certified mail receipt included with the waiver
request shows that the Commission received the waiver request on
October 4, 2002.
8 We clarify that the waiver we are granting also
encompasses the EAS testing and monitoring requirements.
9 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311.