Report No. DC-2610         ACTION IN DOCKET CASE               June 9, 1994

     
           FCC AMENDS ITFS RULES TO PERMIT CHANNEL LOADING AND 
                   THE CONTINUED USE OF CHANNEL MAPPING 
                          (MM DOCKET NO. 93-106)

     The FCC today amended the Instructional Television Fixed
Service (ITFS) rules to permit licensees to utilize channel loading
in meeting their basic educational programming requirements. 
Channel loading is the scheduling, or "loading," of the requisite
amount of ITFS programming onto fewer than the authorized channels
in a four-channel ITFS group.  It represents a cost-free means of
freeing up ITFS channels for full-time commercial programming by
wireless cable operators who lease excess capacity from ITFS
licensees.

     Forming the nucleus of the channel-loading rules are the five
elements of an industry-wide agreement reached late last summer by
educators and wireless cable operators, with some minor
modifications designed to provide additional assurances that the
primary educational purpose of ITFS will be preserved. 

     First, licensees wishing to lease excess capacity must provide
for the continued minimum total of 160 hours per week of ITFS
programming, or 40 hours per channel per week, composed of 80 hours
to be immediately used and the remaining 80 hours to be subject to
ready recapture by the ITFS licensee, in the event it wishes to
expand its educational programming.

     Second, as agreed to in the compromise, licensees must
transmit the minimum total of 80 hours per week over only their
authorized ITFS channels.  Licensees may "load" this amount of
programming onto fewer than their four channels.  However, the
rules will not permit licensees utilizing channel loading to
transmit the reduced amount of 12 hours per channel per week, an
allowance now made for licensees during their first two years of
operation.  The Commission views channel loading as an alternative
to the two-year, 12-hour minimum programming option.


                                  (over)





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     Third, a licensee may agree to the transmission of its 80
hours of ready recapture programming over any channel in a market-
wide wireless system, whether it be an ITFS or MMDS channel.  The
licensee will have the right to recapture time on up to four
channels to air simultaneously 20 additional hours of educational
programming per channel.  This time may be recaptured upon six
months' written notification to the wireless cable operator, rather
than the one-year notice now required.  The Commission deemed this
shortened notice period an appropriate trade-off for wireless cable
operators, who now will have the flexibility to transmit the
recaptured ITFS programming on any channel in their systems rather
than being limited to leased ITFS channels, as before.

     Fourth, an ITFS applicant seeking four channels, proposing 80
hours of programming per week and providing in its lease agreement
for an additional 80 hours of ready recapture is presumed to have
demonstrated its need for those channels.  Applicants must continue
to submit programming grids and schedules, but these must now
reflect, as nearly as possible, the nature and timing of
educational programming planned for the first year of operation. 
This will permit the Commission to verify that programming aired
outside the traditional school day is in fact directed to
legitimate educational needs.  Compliance with the above will be
reviewed at renewal time.  Moreover, those applicants proposing to
channel load in accordance with the rules adopted by the Commission
will not be disadvantaged for electing to do so in the comparative
selection procedure utilized by the Commission in selecting a
licensee between mutually exclusive applicants.

     Fifth, the Commission noted that no reallocation of ITFS
spectrum, of either loaded or non-loaded channels, is intended or
effected by the adoption of channel loading.  Rather, the
Commission stated that channel loading provides ITFS licensees with
an option, which will enhance the value of leasing arrangements
both to ITFS licensees and wireless cable lessees.

     Finally, the Commission will allow the channel loading rules
to remain in effect until the Commission assesses the impact of
digital compression on the ITFS service, through a future notice
and comment rulemaking proceeding. 

     The Commission applied the rules and standards adopted for
channel loading to channel mapping.  Channel mapping, a complex and
costly switching technology that is functionally equivalent to
channel loading, was recognized by the Commission in 1991 as a
legitimate means of accommodating the joint programming needs of
ITFS licensees and their wireless cable lessees.





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     Action by the Commission June 9, 1994, by Report and Order
(FCC 94-147).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Barrrett, Ness
and Chong, with Commissioner Quello issuing a separate statement.
                                     
                              -FCC-

     News Media contact: Patricia A. Chew at (202) 418-0500.
     Mass Media Bureau contact: Anne Lucey at (202) 632-6357.