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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Great Plains Cable Television, Inc. ) File No. EB-02-TS-209
)
Operator of Cable Systems in: )
)
Arnold, Nebraska )
Bancroft, Nebraska )
Chapman, Nebraska )
Elgin, Nebraska )
Grant, Nebraska )
Hay Springs, Nebraska )
North Bend, Nebraska )
Ponca, Nebraska )
Sutherland, Nebraska )
Wolbach, Nebraska )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: September 27, 2002 Released: October 4,
2002
By the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement
Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant Great Plains Cable Television,
Inc. (``Great Plains'') temporary waivers of Section 11.11(a)
of the Commission's Rules (``Rules'') for the 10 above-
captioned cable television systems. Specifically, we deny the
request for temporary, 24-month waivers of Section 11.11(a)
for the Elgin and Grant, Nebraska systems, and alternatively
grant temporary, 12-month waivers of Section 11.11(a) for the
two systems. We also grant temporary, 36-month waivers of
Section 11.11(a) for the Arnold, Bancroft, Chapman, Hay
Springs, North Bend, Ponca, Sutherland, and Wolbach, Nebraska
systems. Section 11.11(a) requires cable systems serving
fewer than 5,000 subscribers from a headend to either provide
national level Emergency Alert System (``EAS'') messages on
all programmed channels or install EAS equipment and provide a
video interrupt and audio alert on all programmed channels and
EAS audio and video messages on at least one programmed
channel by October 1, 2002.1
2. The Cable Act of 1992 added new Section 624(g) to the
Communications Act of 1934 (``Act''), which requires that
cable systems be capable of providing EAS alerts to their
subscribers.2 In 1994, the Commission adopted rules requiring
cable systems to participate in EAS.3 In 1997, the Commission
amended the EAS rules to provide financial relief for small
cable systems.4 The Commission declined to exempt small cable
systems from the EAS requirements, concluding that such an
exemption would be inconsistent with the statutory mandate of
Section 624(g).5 However, the Commission extended the
deadline for cable systems serving fewer than 10,000
subscribers to begin complying with the EAS rules to October
1, 2002, and provided cable systems serving fewer than 5,000
subscribers the option of either providing national level EAS
messages on all programmed channels or installing EAS
equipment and providing a video interrupt and audio alert on
all programmed channels and EAS audio and video messages on at
least one programmed channel.6 In addition, the Commission
stated that it would grant waivers of the EAS rules to small
cable systems on a case-by-case basis upon a showing of
financial hardship.7 The Commission indicated that waiver
requests must contain at least the following information: (1)
justification for the waiver, with reference to the particular
rule sections for which a waiver is sought; (2) information
about the financial status of the requesting entity, such as a
balance sheet and income statement for the two previous years
(audited, if possible); (3) the number of other entities that
serve the requesting entity's coverage area and that have or
are expected to install EAS equipment; and (4) the likelihood
(such as proximity or frequency) of hazardous risks to the
requesting entity's audience.8
3. Great Plains filed a request for temporary waivers of
Section 11.11(a) for the 10 captioned small, rural cable
systems on May 23, 2002. In support of its waiver request,
Great Plains states that it has 11 small cable systems and
will bring its Bloomfield, Nebraska system into compliance by
October 2002. Great Plains requests a 24-month waiver for the
Elgin and Grant, Nebraska systems which serve 1,093
subscribers and 1,546 subscribers, respectively, and a 36-
month waiver for the Arnold, Bancroft, Chapman, Hay Springs,
North Bend, Ponca, Sutherland, and Wolbach, Nebraska systems
each of which serve between 73 and 633 subscribers. Based on
price quotes provided by EAS equipment manufacturers, Great
Plains estimates that it would cost approximately $10,000 to
install EAS equipment at the l1 cable systems for total cost
of $110,000. Great Plains asserts that this will impose a
substantial financial hardship on it and provides its
financial statement for 2000 and 2001 in support of this
assertion. In addition, Great Plains submits that its
subscribers will continue to have ready access to national EAS
information from other sources, including its cable systems.
In this regard, Great Plains notes that its subscribers
currently have access to national EAS messages on at least 33
percent of all programmed channels. Great Plains also asserts
that its subscribers will have access to EAS information
through over-the-air reception of broadcast television and
radio stations.
4. Based upon our review of the financial data and other
information submitted by Great Plains, we decline to grant a
temporary, 24-month waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the Elgin
and Grant, Nebraska cable systems. We conclude that a
temporary, 12-month waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the Elgin
and Grant, Nebraska systems is warranted. Also, we conclude
that a temporary, 36-month waiver of Section 11.11(a) for the
Arnold, Bancroft, Chapman, Hay Springs, North Bend, Ponca,
Sutherland, and Wolbach, Nebraska systems is warranted.9 In
particular, we find that the estimated $110,000 total cost of
EAS equipment for these small cable systems could impose a
financial hardship on Great Plains.
5. We note that the Commission recently amended the EAS
rules to permit cable systems serving fewer than 5,000
subscribers to install FCC-certified decoder-only units,
rather than both encoders and decoders, if such a device
becomes available.10 Based on comments from equipment
manufacturers, we anticipate that such a decoder-only system
could result in significant cost savings to small cable
systems.11
6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections
0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311 of the Rules,12 Great Plains Cable
Television, Inc. IS GRANTED a waiver of Section 11.11(a) of
the Rules until October 1, 2003 for its Elgin and Grant,
Nebraska cable systems and IS GRANTED a waiver of Section
11.11(a) of the Rules until October 1, 2005 for its Arnold,
Bancroft, Chapman, Hay Springs, North Bend, Ponca, Sutherland,
and Wolbach, Nebraska cable systems.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Great Plains Cable
Television, Inc. place a copy of this waiver in its system
files.
8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall
be sent by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to counsel
for Great Plains Cable Television, Inc., Christopher C.
Cinnamon, Esq., Cinnamon Mueller, 307 North Michigan Avenue,
Suite 1020, Chicago, Illinois 60601.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Joseph P. Casey
Chief, Technical and Public Safety
Division
Enforcement Bureau
_________________________
1 47 C.F.R. § 11.11(a).
2 Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of
1992, Pub. L. No. 102-385, § 16(b), 106 Stat. 1460, 1490 (1992).
Section 624(g) provides that ``each cable operator shall comply
with such standards as the Commission shall prescribe to ensure
that viewers of video programming on cable systems are afforded
the same emergency information as is afforded by the emergency
broadcasting system pursuant to Commission regulations ....'' 47
U.S.C. § 544(g).
3 Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's Rules
Regarding the Emergency Broadcast System, Report and Order and
Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, FO Docket Nos. 91-171/91-
301, 10 FCC Rcd 1786 (1994) (``First Report and Order''),
reconsideration granted in part, denied in part, 10 FCC Rcd 11494
(1995).
4 Amendment of Part 73, Subpart G, of the Commission's Rules
Regarding the Emergency Broadcast System, Second Report and
Order, FO Docket Nos. 91-171/91-301, 12 FCC Rcd 15503 (1997)
(``Second Report and Order'').
5 Id. at 15512-13.
6 Id. at 15516-15518.
7 Id. at 15513.
8 Id. at 15513, n. 59.
9 The 12-month waivers will extend from October 1, 2002, until
October 1, 2003 and the 36-month waivers will extend from October
1, 2002, until October 1, 2005. Great Plains Cable also
specifically requested waiver of the testing and monitoring
requirements of the EAS rules for these systems. We clarify that
the waivers we are granting also encompass the EAS testing and
monitoring requirements.
10 Amendment of Part 11 of the Commission's Rules Regarding
the Emergency Alert System, EB Docket 01-66, FCC 02-64 at ¶ 71
(released February 26, 2002).
11 One manufacturer estimated that an EAS decoder-only system
can reduce the cost by 64% over what a cable operator would spend
for an encoder/decoder unit. Id. at ¶ 70.
12 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.204(b) and 0.311.