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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Small Town Cable Partners I, L.P. ) File No. EB-02-TS-715
)
Operator of Cable Systems in: )
)
Chapel Hill, Tennessee )
Cornersville, Tennessee )
Ethridge, Tennessee )
Linden, Tennessee )
Lobelville, Tennessee )
Lynnville, Tennessee )
Minor Hill, Tennessee )
Surgoinsville, Tennessee )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: August 19, 2003 Released: August 21,
2003
By the Chief, Spectrum Enforcement Division, Enforcement Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant Small Town Cable Partners I,
L.P. (``Small Town'') temporary waivers of Section 11.11(a) of
the Commission's Rules (``Rules'') for the eight above-
captioned cable television systems. Specifically, we grant
temporary waivers until October 1, 2003 for two cable systems,
and temporary waivers until October 1, 2005 for six cable
systems. 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. Small Town filed a request for temporary, 12-month
waivers of Section 11.11(a) for its Chapel Hill and
Surgoinsville, Tennessee cable systems and temporary, 36-month
waivers of Section 11.11(a) for its Cornersville, Ethridge,
Linden, Lobelville, Lynnville and Minor Hill, Tennessee cable
systems on November 29, 2002. In support of its waiver
requests, Small Town states that these are small, rural cable
systems, with two systems serving more than 1,000 subscribers
and six systems serving between 55 and 353 subscribers. Based
on price quotes provided by EAS equipment manufacturers, Small
Town estimates that it would cost a total of approximately
$65,910 to install EAS equipment at these systems. Small Town
asserts that this cost will impose a substantial financial
hardship on it and provides its financial statements for 2001
and 2002 in support of this assertion. In addition, Small
Town submits that its subscribers will continue to have ready
access to national EAS information from other sources,
including its cable systems. In this regard, Small Town notes
that its subscribers currently have access to national EAS
messages on at least 41 percent of all programmed channels.
Small Town further submits that 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 Small Town, we conclude that
temporary waivers of Section 11.11(a) from November 29, 2002
until October 1, 2003 for the Chapel Hill and Surgoinsville,
Tennessee cable systems and from November 29, 2002 until
October 1, 2005 for the Cornersville, Ethridge, Linden,
Lobelville, Lynnville and Minor Hill, Tennessee cable systems
are warranted.9 However, we note that Small Town did not file
its waiver request until November 29, 2002, after the October
1, 2002 deadline for cable systems serving 10,000 or fewer
subscribers to install EAS equipment. We find that Small Town
was in violation of the requirement in Section 11.11(a) of the
Rules to install EAS equipment by October 1, 2002. We
admonish Small Town 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, if such a device
becomes available.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 Small Town Cable
Partners I, L.P. IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of
the Rules from November 29, 2002 until October 1, 2003 for the
Chapel Hill and Surgoinsville, Tennessee cable television
systems and IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the
Rules from November 29, 2002 until October 1, 2005 for the
Cornersville, Ethridge, Linden, Lobelville, Lynnville and
Minor Hill, Tennessee cable television systems.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Small Town Cable Partners I,
L.P. 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 Small Town Cable Partners,
I, L.P. place a copy of this waiver in its system files.
9. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall
be sent by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to counsel
for Small Town Cable Partners I, L.P., Christopher C.
Cinnamon, Esq., Cinnamon Mueller, 307 North Michigan Avenue,
Suite 1020, Chicago, Illinois 60601.
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 waivers we are granting also encompass
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.