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


In the matter of                 )
                                )
Petitions for Waiver of the      )
Emergency Alert System Rules     )    File No. EB-05-HS-034
filed by Various Cable           )
Television Systems               )
                                )
Requests for Waivers of Section  )
11.11(a) of the                  )
Commission's Rules

                              ORDER

   Adopted:  September  22, 2005        Released: September 23, 
2005

By the Acting Chief, Enforcement Bureau:

I.   INTRODUCTION    

1.    In this Order, we amend waivers previously granted to 
certain cable television systems of their obligations under the 
Federal Communications Commission's (Commission) Emergency Alert 
System (EAS) rules1 by extending the date by which these cable 
systems must install EAS equipment from October 1, 2005 to March 
1, 2006.  Affected cable systems include those that have 
requested waiver extensions,2 as well as any other cable systems 
that have been granted waivers of their EAS obligations until 
October 1, 2005.

II.  BACKGROUND

2.     The EAS provides the President the capability of 
communicating with the American public during national 
emergencies, as well as providing a vehicle for state and local 
level emergency alerts.3  In accordance with the Commission's EAS 
rules, cable system operators must be capable of delivering EAS 
messages to their subscribers.4  The Commission is responsible 
for implementing and enforcing the EAS rules.  

3.     Beginning in 1994, in accordance with the First Report and 
Order, cable television systems have been required to participate 
in the EAS.5  The Commission has subsequently reviewed and 
refined cable operators' EAS obligations to ensure that the 
Commission's rules continue to provide for public safety in a 
manner that does not impose undue financial and regulatory 
burdens on the affected cable systems.

4.      In the Second Report and Order, the Commission recognized 
that purchasing and installing EAS equipment could impose 
financial difficulties on small cable operators.6  Accordingly, 
the Commission revised its part 11 rules to establish an October 
1, 2002, deadline for small cable system compliance, and gave 
small cable operators two options for complying with their EAS 
obligations.  Small cable systems were allowed either to install 
equipment that would allow them to provide the national level EAS 
messages on all programmed channels,  or to install EAS equipment 
that would allow them to 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, 2002.7

5.     In the Second Report and Order the Commission also 
authorized the Compliance and Information Bureau (now the 
Enforcement Bureau) to grant waivers of the October 1, 2002 
compliance date on a case-by-case basis, upon showings by small 
cable systems that purchasing and installing EAS equipment would 
cause financial hardship.8  The Commission's Enforcement Bureau, 
under delegated authority, granted waivers of up to 36 months, or 
until October 1, 2005, to over 200 small cable operators.  

6.      On August 12, 2004, the Commission released a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking on the EAS (EAS NPRM).9  In part, the EAS 
NPRM requested comment on the impact EAS upgrades may have on 
small cable operators.10  In its comments, the American Cable 
Association (ACA) requested the Commission to, inter alia, adopt 
a rule change that would exempt cable operators serving 1,000 or 
fewer customers from having to install EAS equipment to alert 
their customers; and for cable operators serving between 1,000 
and 5,000 customers, a two-year extension of the waivers 
currently in place, from October 1, 2005 to October 1, 2007.  The 
ACA claimed that these actions would alleviate the financial 
hardship to small cable operators.  

7.     Subsequently, several small cable operators that had been 
granted EAS waivers until October 1, 2005, filed requests with 
the Enforcement Bureau to extend these waivers until the later of 
October 1, 2006, or the date the Commission issues new rules in 
response to the EAS NPRM.11  These requests were based on 
purported continuing financial need and/or regulatory uncertainty 
in light of the pending EAS proceeding. 

III.      DISCUSSION

  8.     The Commission may grant a waiver of any of its rules 
if the petitioner can show that the request would not frustrate 
the underlying purpose of the rule, that in view of the unique or 
unusual circumstances of the case, application of the rule would 
be inequitable or unduly burdensome, and that granting the 
requested waiver would be in the public interest.12  Based upon 
the circumstances presented in these small cable service provider 
waiver requests, we find that a brief extension of the current 
waiver of the EAS rules is consistent with the underlying 
purposes of the Commission's EAS rules and serves the public 
interest. We therefore grant the requested petitions for waiver 
as explained below.

9.     The Commission has taken significant steps to ensure that 
its EAS rules could be implemented in a manner that does not 
impose an undue financial burden on the smallest cable system 
operators.  Although we believe that small cable operators have 
had sufficient time to factor in the cost of EAS compliance into 
their overall business plans,13 we do not need to reach the issue 
of whether the requested waiver extensions should be granted on 
the basis of financial need.  Rather, we recognize that small 
cable systems that have waivers in place until October 1, 2005, 
are experiencing a degree of regulatory uncertainty during the 
pendency of the EAS proceeding.  A short extension of the 
deadline would not undermine the effectiveness of the 
Commission's EAS rules, and granting some level of certainty to 
small cable businesses would be in the public interest.  
Accordingly, we will grant a brief extension of the deadline by 
which affected small cable service providers must comply with the 
Commission's EAS rules from October 1, 2005 to March 1, 2006.  
Because we believe we should extend a similar level of regulatory 
certainty to all affected cable systems, we grant this extension 
to all waivers in place, whether or not the cable system has 
filed a request.  Although we deny the petitioners' requests for 
longer extensions of their temporary waivers of section 11.11(a), 
we reserve the right to revisit this proceeding as the March 1, 
2006 date approaches. 

     IV.      ORDERING CLAUSE     
10.     Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections 
0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311 of the Rules,14 Vista III Media, 
L.L.C.; Oldtown Community Systems, Inc.; Northland Cable 
Properties, Inc.; Neu Ventures, Inc., d/b/a Mountain Zone TV 
Systems; Galaxy Cable, Inc.; Long View Cable and Data, LLC; Upper 
Peninsula Communications, Inc.; Prairieburg Telephone Company, 
Inc.; Project Services, Inc.; Clearview Cable, Inc.; Long Lines 
Metro, LLC; Tex-Tech, Inc.; Carson Communications, LLC; Nepsk, 
Inc., d/b/a Polaris Cable; Glenwood Telecommunications; Goldfield 
Communications Services, Corp.; Branch Cable, Inc.; PEC Cable; 
Cable Services, Inc.; Hawkeye Telephone Co.; Pine Tree 
Cablevision Associates; Northland Communications, Inc.; Long Pine 
Television, Inc.; Minerva Valley Cablevision, Inc.; and Klip, 
LLC; Whitehall Cable TV; Howard Cable; Riviera Cable TV; Karban 
TV Systems, Inc.; Cass Cable TV, Inc.; Herr Cable; Grove 
Communications Inc. Hamilton County Cable TV, Inc.; Millennium 
Digital Media Systems, L.L.C.; Com-Link, Inc.; Pinpoint 
Communications, Inc.; Glass Antenna Systems, Inc.;  Hart Cable, 
Inc.; Cable Communications of Willsboro, Inc.;  CenCom, Inc.; 
Green Hills Communications, Inc. d/b/a/ Green Hills Multi-Media; 
North American Communications Corporation; Telecommunications 
Management, LLC d/b/a NewWave Communications; and Oregon Cable 
Group LLC (Petitioners) ARE GRANTED an extension of their current 
waivers of section 11.11(a) of the Rules from October 1, 2005 
until March 1, 2006.15   
11.     IT IS also ORDERED that all other small cable systems 
that have waivers until October 1, 2005, ARE GRANTED an extension 
of such waivers of section 11.11(a) of the Rules from October 1, 
2005 until March 1, 2006.

                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                         Kris Anne Monteith
                         Acting Chief, Enforcement Bureau
_________________________

1 See 47 C.F.R. § 11.11(a), et seq.  
2 Vista III Media, L.L.C.; Oldtown Community Systems, Inc.; 
Northland Cable Properties, Inc.; Neu Ventures, Inc., d/b/a 
Mountain Zone TV Systems; Galaxy Cable, Inc.; Long View Cable and 
Data, LLC; Upper Peninsula Communications, Inc.; Prairieburg 
Telephone Company, Inc.; Project Services, Inc.; Clearview Cable, 
Inc.; Long Lines Metro, LLC; Tex-Tech, Inc.; Carson 
Communications, LLC; Nepsk, Inc d/b/a Polaris Cable; Glenwood 
Telecommunications; Goldfield Communications Services, Corp.; 
Branch Cable, Inc.; PEC Cable; Cable Services, Inc.; Hawkeye 
Telephone Co.; Pine Tree Cablevision Associates; Northland 
Communications, Inc.; Lone Pine Television, Inc.; Minerva Valley 
Cablevision, Inc.; Klip, LLC; Nex-Tech, Inc.; Whitehall Cable TV; 
Howard Cable; Riviera Cable TV; Karban TV Systems, Inc.; Cass 
Cable TV, Inc.; Herr Cable; Grove Communications Inc.; Hamilton 
County Cable TV, Inc.; Millennium Digital Media Systems, L.L.C.; 
Com-Link, Inc.; Pinpoint Communications, Inc.; Glass Antenna 
Systems, Inc.;  Hart Cable, Inc.; Cable Communications of 
Willsboro, Inc.;  CenCom, Inc.; Green Hills Commmunications, Inc. 
d/b/a/ Green Hills Multi-Media; North American Communications 
Corporation; Telecommunications Management, LLC d/b/a NewWave 
Communications; and Oregon Cable Group LLC (Petitioners).
3 See 47 C.F.R. § 11.1.  For a history of the EAS, see Amendment 
of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's Rules Regarding the 
EBS, 10 FCC Rcd 1786, 1788-89 (1994) (First Report and Order), 
recon. granted in part and denied in part, 10 FCC Rcd 11,494 
(1995).
4 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).
5 See First Report and Order, 10 FCC Rcd at 1785.
6 Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's Rules 
Regarding the Emergency Broadcast System, Second Report and 
Order, 12 FCC Rcd 15503 (1997) (Second Report and Order). (Small 
Cable Operators are defined, with respect to EAS obligations, as 
those with 5,000 or fewer subscribers per head-end). 
7 Id. at 15503.
8 Id. at 15513.
9 See Review of the Emergency Alert System, Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, 19 FCC Rcd 15775 (2004). 
10 Id. at 15792.
11 While the majority of the subject cable systems have requested 
extensions to their existing temporary waivers of section 
11.11(a) of the rules, others have requested waiver extensions on 
behalf of recently acquired non-compliant cable television 
systems.
12 47 C.F.R.  § 1.925. See  also WAIT Radio  v. F.C.C., 418  F.2d 
1153, 1157 (D.C.  Cir. 1969), Northeast  Cellular Telephone  Co., 
L.P. v. F.C.C, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990).
13 Similarly, we address only the issue of extending the 
compliance date for waivers previously granted by the Enforcement 
Bureau under delegated authority.  We do not address the issues 
raised in the ACA comments to the EAS NPRM.
14 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311.
15 We clarify that theses waivers also encompass the EAS testing 
and monitoring requirements.