Report No. MM95-5            MASS MEDIA ACTION             January 13, 1994


         HOUSTON ACADEMY GRANTED CP AND LICENSE FOR ITFS CHANNELS
                   A1-A4 AT DOTHAN, AL, WITH CONDITIONS
     
     The Commission has granted the application of Houston
Academy for a construction permit and license in the
Instructional Television Fixed Service (ITFS) on Channels A1-A4,
at Dothan, AL; and denied the competing applications of Barbour
County Board of Education and Geneva County Board of Education
for ITFS channels at Ariton  and Elba, AL, respectively.

     In cases of mutually exclusive applications, where
applicants are competing for the same or adjacent channels in the
same geographic area, each application is reviewed pursuant to
the Commission's comparative process.  This procedure awards a
maximum of 12 merit points based on five criteria deemed most
relevant to predicting the applicant best qualified to provide
the service for which the ITFS spectrum was allocated.

     Barbour, Geneva and Houston were awarded a total of 10
points: four points for being local, three points for being
accredited, two points for observing the four-channel limitation,
and one point for proposing at least 21 hours of formal
educational programming per channel per week. 

     Because the applicants were tied, the Commission used its
tie-breaker mechanism to determine the winning applicant.  When
the comparative procedure results in a tie among two or more
applicants, the parties are given 30 days from notification to
negotiate an agreement regarding the use of channels.  Because
the applicants failed to reach an agreement regarding the use of
the channels,  the Commission used the enrollment figures
submitted by each applicant.  

     In this case, the Commission credited Barbour with 1,920
students and Geneva with 2,840 students.  Houston submitted
timely and properly executed documentation showing that a total
of 21,832 students would be served at its receive sites.  Because
the  numbers of students credited to Barbour and Geneva were less
than 80 percent of the number of students credited to Houston,
the Commission authorized Houston to operate facilities on
Channels A1-A4, and denied the applications of Barbour  and
Geneva.

                                  (over)

                                    -2-

     Houston proposed leasing its excess capacity for non ITFS
use and submitted a copy of its lease with Wiregrass Cable
Television.  However, the lease failed to conform with FCC
requirements.  The Commission stated that the non-conformity of
the lease agreement did not reflect adversely on Houston's basic
or comparative qualifications or preclude  the grant of an
authorization.  Thus, the Commission conditioned Houston's
authorization upon conformity of the lease agreement with
Commission requirements.

     Action by the Commission January 3, 1995, by Memorandum
Opinion and Order (FCC 95-6).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners
Quello, Barrett, Ness, and Chong.

                                   -FCC-

     News Media contact: Patricia A. Chew at (202) 418-0500.
     Mass Media Bureau contact: Marlene Dortch at (202) 418-1630.