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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
City of Garber, Oklahoma ) File No. EB-02-TS-665
Garber Economic Development Authority)
d/b/a GEDA Cable )
)
Operator of Cable System in: )
)
Garber, Oklahoma )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: August 14, 2003 Released: August 18,
2003
By the Chief, Spectrum Enforcement Division, Enforcement Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant City of Garber, Oklahoma,
Garber Economic Development Authority d/b/a GEDA Cable
(``GEDA''), 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 In addition, the Commission
stated that it would grant waivers of the EAS rules to small
cable systems on a case-by-case basis upon a showing of
financial hardship.7 The Commission indicated that waiver
requests must contain at least the following information: (1)
justification for the waiver, with reference to the particular
rule sections for which a waiver is sought; (2) information
about the financial status of the requesting entity, such as a
balance sheet and income statement for the two previous years
(audited, if possible); (3) the number of other entities that
serve the requesting entity's coverage area and that have or
are expected to install EAS equipment; and (4) the likelihood
(such as proximity or frequency) of hazardous risks to the
requesting entity's audience.8
3. GEDA filed a request for a temporary, 36-month waiver
of Section 11.11(a) for the captioned cable system on October
17, 2002. In support of its waiver request, GEDA states that
the system serves small, rural community and has approximately
120 subscribers. GEDA asserts that the cost of installing EAS
equipment at the cable system will impose a substantial
financial hardship on it and provides its financial statement
for 2002 in support of this assertion. In addition, GEDA
submits that its subscribers will continue to have ready
access to national EAS information from other sources,
including its cable systems. GEDA also asserts that its
subscribers will have access to EAS information through over-
the-air reception of broadcast television and radio stations.
4. Based upon our review of the financial data and other
information submitted by GEDA, we conclude that a temporary
waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the captioned cable system from
October 17, 2002 until October 1, 2005 is warranted.9
However, we note that GEDA did not file its waiver request
until October 17, 2002, after the October 1, 2002 deadline for
cable systems serving 10,000 or fewer subscribers to install
EAS equipment. We find that GEDA was in violation of the
requirement in Section 11.11(a) of the Rules to install EAS
equipment by October 1, 2002. We admonish GEDA for this
violation.
5. We note that the Commission recently amended the EAS
rules to permit cable systems serving fewer than 5,000
subscribers to install FCC-certified decoder-only units,
rather than both encoders and decoders.10 Based on comments
from equipment manufacturers, we anticipate that such a
decoder-only system could result in significant cost savings
to small cable systems.11
6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections
0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311 of the Rules,12 City of Garber,
Oklahoma, Garber Economic Development Authority d/b/a GEDA
Cable IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the Rules
from October 17, 2002 until October 1, 2005 for the captioned
cable system.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that City of Garber, Oklahoma,
Garber Economic Development Authority d/b/a GEDA Cable IS
ADMONISHED for violating the requirement in Section
11.11(a) of the Rules to install EAS equipment by October 1,
2002.
8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that City of Garber, Oklahoma,
Garber Economic Development Authority d/b/a GEDA Cable place a
copy of this waiver in its system file.
9. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall
be sent by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to counsel
for the City of Garber, Oklahoma, Garber Economic Development
Authority d/b/a GEDA Cable, Richard S. Crump, Esq., 230 W.
Maple, Enid, Oklahoma 73701.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Joseph P. Casey
Chief, Spectrum Enforcement 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 Id. at 15513.
8 Id. at 15513, n. 59.
9 We clarify that the waiver we are granting also encompasses
the EAS testing and monitoring requirements.
10 Amendment of Part 11 of the Commission's Rules Regarding
the Emergency Alert System, EB Docket 01-66, FCC 02-64 at ¶ 71
(released February 26, 2002).
11 One manufacturer estimated that an EAS decoder-only system
can reduce the cost by 64% over what a cable operator would spend
for an encoder/decoder unit. Id. at ¶ 70.
12 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311.