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                           Before the
                Federal Communications Commission
                     Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                )
                                )
Vista III Media, LLC           )     File No. EB-02-TS-285
                                )
Operator of Cable Systems in:   )
                                )
Aberdeen, Mississippi           )
Holly Springs, Mississippi      )
Nettleton, Mississippi          )
                                )
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the     )    
Commission's Rules              )    
                                        
                              ORDER 


Adopted:  February 2, 2004              Released:   February   4, 
2004

By the Director, Office of Homeland Security, Enforcement Bureau:

1.        In this Order, we grant the request of Vista III Media, 
  LLC (``Vista'')  to extend the  temporary, 12-month waivers  of 
  Section  11.11(a)   of  the   Commission's  Rules   (``Rules'') 
  previously  granted   for  the   three  above-captioned   cable 
  television systems.1   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, 2002.2 

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.3  In 1994, the Commission adopted rules  requiring 
  cable systems to participate in EAS.4  In 1997, the  Commission 
  amended the  EAS rules  to provide financial  relief for  small 
  cable systems.5  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).6    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.7  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.

3.        On July 2, 2002, Vista  filed a request for  temporary, 
  18-month  waivers of  Section  11.11(a) for  five  small  rural 
  cable   systems  in   Aberdeen,  Booneville,   Holly   Springs, 
  Nettleton and New Albany, Mississippi.  In its waiver  request, 
  Vista stated that these cable systems served between 1,431  and 
  4,406 subscribers.   In support  of its  waiver request,  Vista 
  estimated that it would cost a total of $46,000 to install  EAS 
  equipment at the  five cable systems.  Vista asserted that  the 
  cost  to install  EAS equipment  at these  cable systems  would 
  impose a substantial  financial hardship on it.   Additionally, 
  Vista  noted that  it  intended  to eliminate  the  five  cable 
  system  headends at  the end  of  2003 by  interconnecting  the 
  systems with two  other cable system headends.  On October  25, 
  2002, we granted  Vista temporary, 12-month waivers of  Section 
  11.11(a) for  the five cable systems.8   We concluded that  the 
  financial data  and other information  submitted by  Millennium 
  did not  justify a  waiver period  of longer  duration for  the 
  five cable systems.

4.         On  September  30, 2003,  Vista  filed a  request  for 
  temporary,  nine-month  extensions  to  the  12-month   waivers 
  granted  in the  Waiver Order  for  the three  captioned  cable 
  systems.  Vista states  that the consolidation project for  the 
  captioned systems will  not be completed before the October  1, 
  2003  expiration date  of the  12-month waivers.   Vista  notes 
  that a franchising agreement and local government approvals  of 
  permits  delayed completion  of the  interconnection plans  for 
  the captioned cable  systems.  Vista indicates that it  expects 
  to  complete  interconnection of  the  Aberdeen  and  Nettleton 
  systems to the Amory,  Mississippi headend prior to the end  of 
  the first quarter  of 2004 and to complete the  interconnection 
  of  the  Holly  Springs  system  to  the  Guntown,  Mississippi 
  headend  prior to  the end  of  June  30, 2004.   Additionally, 
  Vista submits updated financial data for these cable systems.

5.        Based  on  the  additional  financial  data  and  other 
  information submitted by  Vista, we conclude that a  nine-month 
  extension  of  the   temporary,  12-month  waiver  of   Section 
  11.11(a)  for the  Holly  Springs cable  system  is  warranted.  
  However,  since Vista  expects to  complete interconnection  of 
  the Aberdeen and Nettleton systems to the Amory headend by  the 
  end of the first quarter of 2004, we do not believe that  nine-
  month extensions are  warranted for these systems.  Rather,  we 
  conclude that six-month  extensions of the temporary,  12-month 
  waivers  of Section  11.11(a) for  the Aberdeen  and  Nettleton 
  cable systems are warranted.9 

6.        Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED  that, pursuant to  Sections 
  0.111, 0.204(b), 0.311 of the Rules,10 Vista III Media, LLC  IS 
  GRANTED a waiver of  Section 11.11(a) of the Rules until  April 
  1,  2004 for  the  Aberdeen and  Nettleton,  Mississippi  cable 
  television systems and IS GRANTED a waiver of Section  11.11(a) 
  of  the  Rules  until July  1,  2004  for  the  Holly  Springs, 
  Mississippi cable television system. 

7.        IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Vista III Media, LLC place a 
  copy of this waiver extension in its system files.

8.        IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that  a copy of this Order  shall 
  be sent by  Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to  counsel 
  for  Vista  III  Media,  LLC,  J  Christopher  Redding,   Esq.,              
  Dow,  Lohnes &  Albertson,  PLLC, 1200  New  Hampshire  Avenue, 
  N.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20036-6802. 

                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                         


                         James A. Dailey
                         Director, Office of Homeland Security
                         Enforcement Bureau
_________________________

  1 Vista  III Digital Media  Systems, L.L.C., 17  FCC Rcd  20864 
(Enf. Bur., Tech. & Pub. Safety Div., 2002) (``Waiver Order'').

  2 47 C.F.R. § 11.11(a).

  3 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).  

  4 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), reconsideration  granted in  part, 
denied in part, 10 FCC Rcd 11494 (1995).

  5 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).

  6 Id. at 15512-13.

  7 Id. at 15516-15518.

  8 17 FCC Rcd at 20864.

  9 The six-month waiver will extend from October 1, 2003,  until 
April 1, 2004, and the nine-month waiver will extend from October 
1, 2003, until July 1, 2004.  We clarify that the waivers we  are 
granting  also   encompass  the   EAS  testing   and   monitoring 
requirements.  

  10 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b), 0.311.