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If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In re Complaint of ) ) WWAC, Inc. ) CSR-5175-M ) vs. ) ) TKR Cable Company ) ) Request for Carriage of WWAC(TV) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: April 6, 1998 Released: April 9, 1998 By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau: INTRODUCTION 1. WWAC, Inc. ("WWAC"), licensee of television broadcast station WWAC(TV), Atlantic City, New Jersey, has filed a must-carry complaint requesting that the Commission order TKR Cable Company ("TKR"), operator of a cable television system in Wildwood, New Jersey, serving the communities of Cape May, Cape May Point, Lower Township, Middle Township, North Wildwood Villas, West Cape May, West Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, ("the Communities") to commence carriage of WWAC(TV). TKR filed an opposition, and WWAC filed a reply. BACKGROUND 2. Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the Commission in its Report and Order in MM Docket 92-259, commercial television broadcast stations are entitled to assert mandatory carriage rights on cable systems located within the station's market. A station's market for this purpose is its "area of dominant influence," or ADI, as defined by the Arbitron audience research organization. An ADI is a geographic market designation that defines each television market exclusive of others, based on measured viewing. 3. Under the Commission's must-carry rules, cable operators have the burden of showing that a commercial station that is located in the same television market is not entitled to carriage. One method of doing so is for a cable operator to establish that a subject television station's signal, which would otherwise be entitled to carriage, does not provide a good quality signal to a cable system's principal headend. Should a station fail to provide the requisite over-the-air signal quality to a cable system's principal headend, it still may obtain carriage rights because under our rules a station may provide a cable operator with specialized equipment, at the station's expense, which will improve the station's signal to an acceptable quality at a cable system's principal headend. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 4. The record shows that WWAC(TV) is a full power television station located in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and in the Philadelphia ADI. The cable system operated by TKR is also located in the Philadelphia ADI. TKR's carriage of WWAC(TV) will not cause any increase in TKR's copyright liability. WWAC(TV) is therefore a local television station qualified under the provisions of 47 C.F.R.  76.55(c) for carriage on TKR's cable system, provided it delivers a good quality signal to the headend of TKR's cable system. WWAC contends that it has taken numerous steps to demonstrate that WWAC(TV) delivers a quality signal over the principal headend of TKR's cable system, and that it has now made a commitment to install a fiber optic link to TKR's cable system's principal headend and to bear all costs with respect thereto. TKR disputes that WWAC was able to demonstrate that WWAC(TV) delivers a good quality signal off-air to its cable system headend. TKR concedes however that WWAC has agreed to install a direct fiber optic link to its cable system, that WWAC is now in a position to resolve any underlying signal quality problems, and suggests the complaint is therefore moot and should be dismissed. TKR states further that it is prepared to launch WWAC on its Wildwood, New Jersey cable system within 60 days of the station completing the fiber link and delivering a good quality signal to the headend. In reply, WWAC expresses concern about cooperation on the local level equal to that promised in TKR's opposition, stemming from an alleged inability since the filing of the opposition to open a conversation with TKR's local management personnel. 5. We find that WWAC has made an unqualified commitment to install equipment necessary to deliver a good quality WWAC(TV) signal to the headend of TKR's cable system. In view of this commitment by WWAC, we will issue an order for carriage. ORDERING CLAUSES 6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (47 U.S.C. 534), that the complaint of WWAC, Inc. ("WWAC") IS GRANTED. TKR Cable Company ("TKR") IS ORDERED to commence carriage of television station WWAC(TV) on its cable systems serving Cape May, Cape May Point, Lower Township, Middle Township, North Wildwood Villas, West Cape May, West Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, within sixty (60) days after WWAC installs the equipment necessary to provide a good quality signal to TKR's cable system headend. 7. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated under Section 0.321 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.321. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Gary M. Laden Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division Cable Services Bureau