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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
CVC TV LLC ) File No. EB-02-TS-304
)
Operator of Cable Systems in: )
)
Chowchilla, California )
Planada, California )
Le Grand, California )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: January 31, 2003 Released: February 5,
2003
By the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement
Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant CVC TV, LLC (``CVC TV'') a
temporary, 12-month waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the
Commission's Rules (``Rules'') for one of the three-captioned
cable television systems and temporary, 24-month waivers of
Section 11.11(a) for two of the three-captioned cable
television 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. CVC TV filed a request for temporary, 24-month waivers
of Section 11.11(a) for the three small, captioned cable
systems on June 4, 2002. In support of its waiver request,
CVC TV states that the Chowchilla, California system serves
approximately 1,136 subscribers, the Planada, California
system serves approximately 174 subscribers and the Le Grand,
California system serves approximately 110 subscribers. In
addition, CVC TV states that it has implemented a capital
improvement project to upgrade its systems plant and channel
capacity which will enable it to eliminate the Planada and Le
Grand headends. CVC TV asserts that the cost of installing
EAS equipment for the three systems will impose a substantial
financial hardship on it and provides financial statements for
2001 and 2002 in support of this assertion. CVC TV believes
it can fully comply with EAS requirements by 2004. Finally,
CVC TV subscribers will continue to have ready access to
national EAS information from other sources, including its
cable systems and over-the-air reception of broadcast
television and radio stations.
4. Based upon our review of the financial data and other
information submitted by CVC TV, we conclude that a temporary,
12-month waiver of Section 11.11(a) for one captioned cable
system and temporary, 24-month waivers of Section 11.11(a) for
two captioned cable systems are warranted.9 In particular,
we find that the estimated cost of EAS equipment could impose
a financial hardship of CVC TV.
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 CVC TV LLC IS
GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the Rules until
October 1, 2003 for the cable system in Chowchilla, California
and IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the Rules until
October 1, 2004 for the cable systems in Planada and Le Grand,
California.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that CVC TV, LLC place a copy of
this waiver in its systems files.
8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall
be sent by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to Thomas
E. Gelardi, LLC Manager, CVC TV, LLC, 375 Woodworth Avenue,
No. 102, Clovis, California, 93612.
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 Id. at 15513.
8 Id. at 15513, n. 59.
9 The 12-month waiver will extend from October 1, 2002, until
October 1, 2003, and the 24-month waivers will extend from
October 1, 2002, until October 1, 2004. Additionally, 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.