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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
St. John Cable Company and its affiliate, )
Colfax Highline Cable Company ) File No. EB-02-TS-249
)
Operator of Cable Systems in: )
)
St. John, Washington )
Colfax, Washington )
)
Request for Waiver of Section 11.11(a) of the )
Commission's Rules )
ORDER
Adopted: October 1, 2002 Released: October 7,
2002
By the Chief, Technical and Public Safety Division, Enforcement
Bureau:
1. In this Order, we grant St. John Cable Company (``St.
John'') and its affiliate, Colfax Highline Cable Company
(``Colfax'') temporary, 36-month waivers of Section 11.11(a)
of the Commission's Rules (``Rules'') for the two above-
captioned cable television 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. St. John and Colfax jointly filed a request for
temporary, 36-month waivers of Section 11.11(a) for the two
captioned cable television systems on June 14, 2002. In
support of the waiver request, St. John and Colfax state that
these are small cable systems with few subscribers.
Specifically, St. John and Colfax indicate that the St. John
system serves approximately 486 subscribers and the Colfax
system serves approximately 1,122 subscribers. St. John and
Colfax estimate that it will cost $10,000 to install EAS
equipment at each of these systems. St John and Colfax assert
that this will impose a substantial financial hardship on
them, and provide financial statements for 2000 and 2001 in
support of this assertion. In addition, St. John and Colfax
submit that subscribers will continue to have ready access to
national EAS information from other sources, including their
own cable systems. St. John and Colfax also submit that
subscribers will have access to EAS information through over-
the-air reception of broadcast television and radio stations.
Finally, St. John and Colfax believe that a plan to
consolidate the two headends can be completed within the next
three years.
4. Based upon our review of the financial data and other
information submitted by St. John and Colfax, we conclude that
temporary, 36-month waivers of Section 11.11(a) for the two
captioned systems are warranted.9 In particular we find that
the cost of EAS equipment for these small cable systems could
impose financial hardship on St. John and Colfax.
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 St. John Cable
Company and Colfax Highline Cable Company ARE GRANTED waivers
of Section 11.11(a) of the Rules until October 1, 2005 for the
two captioned cable television systems.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that St. John Cable Company and
Colfax Highline Cable Company place a copy of these waivers 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 St. John Cable Company and Colfax Highline Cable Company,
Gerard J. Duffy, Esq., Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy &
Prendergast, 2120 L Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C.
20037.
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 waivers will extend from October 1, 2002, until October
1, 2005. 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.