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



In the Matter of:

African-American Broadcasting
Company of Bellevue, Inc.

v.

Direct Digital Communications

Request for Mandatory Carriage of
Television Station KWOG(TV),
Bellevue, Washington
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CSR-5718-M



                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

     Adopted:  October 9, 2001          Released:  October 12, 2001

By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau:

     I.   introduction
2.     African-American Broadcasting Company of Bellevue, Inc. ("African-American"), licensee
of television broadcast station KWOG(TV) (Ch. 51), Bellevue, Washington ("KWOG" or the "Station")
filed the above-captioned must carry complaint against Direct Digital Communications ("Direct"), for
failing to carry KWOG on its cable systems in Brighton Ridge, Boteara, Cascade View, Crown Pointe,
Cypress Cove, 5th & Roy, Highline Court, Sunrise Poite and Paso Fino.  No opposition to the complaint
was received.
     II.  background
3.     Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the
Commission in Implementation of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of
1992, Broadcast Signal Carriage Issues ("Must Carry Order"), 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 "designated market area," or DMA, as defined by Nielsen Media
Research.   A DMA is a geographic market designation that defines each television market exclusive of
others, based on measured viewing patterns.
4.     Pursuant to 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 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 required over-the-air signal quality to a cable system's
principal headend, it still may obtain carriage rights because under the Commission's rules a television
station may provide a cable operator, at the station's expense, with specialized equipment to improve the
station's signal to an acceptable quality at a cable system's principal headend.
     III. discussion
4.     In support of its complaint, KWOG states that it is a full power television station licensed to
Bellevue, Washington, which is in the Seattle-Tacoma DMA.  It states further that Direct operates
several cable television systems, which are also in the Seattle-Tacoma DMA.  KWOG asserts that it
formally requested Direct to commence carriage of its signal on the cable systems at issue.  KWOG
states that in response to its to its must carry request, Direct wrote to request additional information about
the Station   information which KWOG provided.  According to KWOG, a few weeks later, a
representative of Direct indicated that Direct would measure the Station's signal at each one of the
headends in question, and would contact KWOG with the results within a week.  Because there was no
further response from Direct, KWOG filed the instant complaint.  KWOG requests that the Commission
order Direct to commence carriage of its signal on the cable systems in question. 
5.     Section 76.55(e) of the Commission's rules provides that commercial television broadcast
stations, such as KWOG, are entitled to carriage on cable systems located in the same DMA.  As noted
above, cable operators have the burden of showing that a commercial television station that it located in
the same television market is not entitled to carriage.  We find that Direct has failed to meet its burden
and, thus, KWOG is entitled to mandatory carriage on the Direct cable systems at issue.  Based on the
foregoing, we grant KWOG's complaint.
     IV.  ordering clauses
5.     Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended (47 U.S.C.  534), that the must carry complaint filed by African-American
Broadcasting Company of Bellevue, Inc., licensee of television broadcast station KWOG(TV), Bellevue,
Washington, against Direct Digital Communications IS GRANTED.
6.     IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Direct SHALL COMMENCE CARRIAGE of the
KWOG signal on its cable systems serving Brighton Ridge, Boteara, Cascade Pointe, Cypress Cove, 5th &
Roy, Highline Court, Sunrise Poite and Paso Fino, Washington, within sixty (60) days from the date of
the release of this Order.
7.     IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that KWOG shall notify Direct in writing of its carriage and
channel position elections ( 76.56, 76.57 and 76.64(f) of the Commission's rules) within thirty (30)
days of the release date of this Order.
8.     This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.321 of the Commission's
rules. 
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                         
                         
                         Deborah E. Klein, Chief
                         Consumer Protection and Competition Division
                         Cable Services Bureau