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File how2ftp (.txt & .wp) is in directory /pub/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/Public_Notices/ ***************************************************************** ******** $//MO&O denying KSTV carriage in Los Angeles, CA, DA 95-2469//$ $/ 76.55 Definitions applicable to the must-carry rules. /$ $/ 76.56 Signal carriage obligations. /$ Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, DC 20554 DA 95-2469 In re: ) ) ) Complaint of Costa De Oro Television, Inc. ) CSR-4605-M against Copley/Colony Cablevision) ) ) Request for Signal Carriage ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: December 12, 1995 Released: January 19, 1996 By the Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. Costa De Oro Television, Inc., permittee of Station KSTV (Channel 57), Ventura, California, has filed a "Complaint," along with a later supplement and a motion for leave to file it, pursuant to 614(d) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and 76.7 and 76.61 of the Commission's Rules, seeking carriage of its signal by Copley/Colony Cablevision of Cypress, Inc., Copley/Colony Cablevision of Los Angeles County, Inc., and Copley/Colony Harbor Cablevision, Inc. (collectively, "CCC"), operator of cable television systems located in Los Angeles County, California. CCC has filed an opposition to this "Complaint," after which KSTV filed a reply to it, along with a second supplement and a motion for leave to file it. PARTIES' ARGUMENTS 2. According to KSTV, because its community of license, Ventura, California, is in the Los Angeles, California "area of dominant influence" (or "ADI"), it is entitled to mandatory carriage on CCC's systems, pursuant to 76.56(b) of the Commission's Rules. In support of this claim, KSTV submits letters from Arbitron which it says confirm its belief that it was included in the Los Angeles ADI, when the 1991-1992 Television ADI Market Guide was published, although the letters also mention that KSTV chose to be included in the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo ADI for "reporting purposes." KSTV denies that it ever made such a choice and states that CCC's systems have between 46 and 60 activated channels, and that they are required to devote up to one-third of these channels to the transmission of local commercial broadcast stations, pursuant to 76.56(b)(2), which they have not yet done. Initially, KSTV said that it was a Spanish language station, and that it advised CCC that it planned to seek mandatory carriage by letter dated December 6, 1994. Thereafter, CCC informed KSTV that it would commence carriage of the station October 3, 1995. However, by letter dated September 21, 1995, KSTV was informed that CCC would not carry it, so the station filed this complaint within sixty days, pursuant to 76.7(c)(4)(iii) of the Commission's Rules. The station adds that it has already incurred $12,000.00 in expenses to improve its signal, including modifying the zoning and installing equipment at CCC's headend and arranging with Pacific Bell Fiber Optics to install a fiber optic link between CCC's headend and KSTV's transmitter. In its supplement, KSTV states that economic circumstances forced it to switch from an independent Spanish language format to an independent English language format as of November 1, 1995, but that if it is granted mandatory carriage on cable systems in the Los Angeles area, it should be able to reach enough homes to enable it to revert to Spanish programming. 3. CCC also notes that KSTV no longer has a Spanish format and contends that there is no inconsistency between the station's physical location in Ventura County, which is in the Los Angeles, California ADI, and its assignment for other purposes to the Santa Barbara- Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo, California ADI. Citing the Commission's prior decision concerning this very issue in Complaints of Costa De Oro Television, Inc., CCC adds that this "Complaint" merely constitutes an abuse of Commission processes. 4.. KSTV argues in reply that it did not abuse Commission processes since it had to preserve its carriage rights in the event that it eventually prevails in another case that is presently on review with the Commission. KSTV adds that it ". . . has never chosen to serve the Santa Barbara ADI/DMA. It has always chosen to serve the Los Angeles ADI/DMA and its large Spanish speaking market." According to KSTV, Arbitron can find no records in its files that KSTV ever requested being assigned to the Santa Barbara ADI, and therefore, any assignment to that ADI by Arbitron was errorneous and cannot justify any Commission action on that basis. DISCUSSION 5. Initially, we note that we will accept KSTV's supplements for the reasons given by the station. However, 76.55(e) of the Commission's Rules clearly specifies that the market of a commercial television broadcast station, such as KSTV, is the ADI assigned by Arbitron's 1991-1992 Television ADI Market Guide, whether or not this is the same market that the station itself would choose if asked, and a commercial station is only entitled to request mandatory carriage on any cable system operating either in its assigned ADI or in its home county, pursuant to 76.56(b) and 76.55(e)(3) of the Commission's Rules. As the Commission explained when it adopted these rules: ". . . ADI designations will be set for a three-year period designed to coincide with the three-year election time frame for the must- carry/retransmission consent election. We believe that this procedure will allow us to take into account changing markets while at the same time providing stability for the affected parties." We have also indicated before that: ". . . parties are entitled to rely on the 1991- 1992 Television ADI Market Guide for determining a station's television market for signal carriage purposes." KSTV is located for must-carry purposes in the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo, California ADI, and it has carriage rights in that ADI, as well as in its home county, Ventura, California. Therefore, KSTV is not entitled to mandatory carriage by CCC's systems in Los Angeles, California, pursuant either to 76.55(a)(3) or to 76.56(b) of the Rules. ORDERING CLAUSES 6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, That the "Complaint" (CSR-4605-M) filed October 16, 1995, by Costa De Oro Television, Inc., licensee of Station KSTV (Channel 57), Ventura, California, IS DISMISSED in accordance with 614(d)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U. S. C. 534) and 47 CFR 76.61(b) (2). 7. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by 0.321 of the Commission's Rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION William H. Johnson Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau