Cable Television Service; List of Major Television Markets

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 76

[MM Docket No. 93-304; DA 95-1850]

Cable Television Service; List of Major Television Markets

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Commission, through this action, amends its rules

regarding the listing of major television markets to change the

designation of the Los Angeles-San Bernardino-Corona-Fontana-Riverside,

California television market to include the community of Anaheim,

California. This action is taken at the request of Golden Orange

Broadcasting Company, licensee of television station KDOC-TV, channel

56, Anaheim, California.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 2, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

William H. Johnson, Cable Services Bureau, (202) 416-0800.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a synopsis of the Commission's

Report and Order, MM Docket No. 93-304, adopted May 16, 1995 and

released August 28, 1995. The complete text of this document is

available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in

the FCC Reference Center (room 239), 1919 M Street, NW., Washington, DC

20554, and may be purchased from the Commission's copy contractor,

International Transcription Service, (202) 857-3800, 1919 M Street,

NW., Washington, DC 20554.

Synopsis of the Report and Order

a. Before the Commission is the Notice of Proposed Rule Making in

the captioned proceeding, 58 FR 68844, December 29, 1993, issued in

response to a petition filed by Golden Orange Broadcasting Co.,

licensee of television station KDOC-TV, channel 56, Anaheim, California

(``KDOC'') and the comments received in response thereto. The Notice

proposed to amend Sec. 76.51 of the Commission's rules, to change the

designation of the Los Angeles-San Bernardino-Corona-Fontana-Riverside,

California television market to ``Los Angeles-San Bernardino-Corona-

Fontana-Riverside-Anaheim, California.'' Community Cablevision Company,

d/b/a/ Dimension Cable Services (``Dimension Cable''), a cable

television system operator providing service to Newport Beach, Irvine,

Tustin, and Orange, the University of California, Irvine and the Marine

Corps Air Stations in Tustin and El Toro filed comments, to which KDOC

filed a reply.

Background

2. Section 76.51 of the Commission's rules enumerates the top 100

television markets and the designated communities within those markets.

Among other things, this market list is used to determine the scope of

territorial exclusivity rights that television broadcast stations may

purchase and, in addition, may help define the scope of compulsory

copyright license liability for cable operators in certain

circumstances. Certain cable television syndicated exclusivity and

network nonduplication rights are also determined by the presence of

broadcast station communities of license on this list. Some of the

markets consist of more than one named community (a ``hyphenated

market''). Such ``hyphenation'' of a market is based on the premise

that stations licensed to any of the named communities in the

hyphenated market do, in fact, compete with all stations licensed to

such communities. Market hyphenation ``helps equalize competition''

where portions of the market are located beyond the Grade B contours of

some stations in the area yet the stations compete for economic

support.

3. Section 4 of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and

Competition Act of 1992 (``Cable Act''), which amended section 614 of

the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (``Act''), requires the

Commission to make revisions needed to update the list of top 100

television markets and their designated communities in Sec. 76.51 of

the Commission's rules.

Notice of Proposed Rule Making

4. The Notice of Proposed Rule Making in this proceeding noted that

Anaheim was in the center of the Los Angeles market, 21 miles from

downtown Los Angeles and virtually encompassed within the combined 35-

mile zones of San Bernardino, Corona and Fontana and that KDOC-TV's

Grade B signal contour encompasses all of the designated communities in

the market. Its Grade B signal contour, the Notice indicated, was

similar in location and coverage to the Grade B contours of other

market-area stations. Further, KDOC-TV's transmitter is located at the

same Sunset Ridge site as those of television stations KSCI and KZKI

which are licensed to San Bernardino.

Rule Making Comments

5. Petitioner KDOC filed brief comments in support of the requested

change in the rules stating that ``there is

[[Page 45376]]

sufficient commonality between Anaheim and the existing communities in

the television market to merit the inclusion of Anaheim in that

market.'' Dimension Cable in its comments incorporated by reference

comments it had filed in Docket 93-209, a proceeding involving the New

York television market in which parties had been invited to address

issues relating to market hyphenation in large and complex markets like

the New York and Los Angeles markets. In those comments Dimension

argued that television stations in large markets were constrained in

seeking to exercise mandatory cable carriage rights by copyright

payment obligations outside of the market area defined by Sec. 76.51 of

the Commission's rules. It then argued:

Had Congress intended to relieve broadcast stations of potential

copyright liability in order to qualify for must carry status, it

could have required wholesale revisions to Sec. 76.51 of the

Commission rules or amended section 111 of the Copyright Act. Rather

than doing so, Congress expressed its intent not to work any

fundamental changes in the copyright law. As commenters in this

proceeding have urged, the Commission should not now allow stations

to obtain must carry rights (and end-run the statute) through market

redesignation * * * (footnotes omitted).

Thus, it urged the Commission not to adopt the proposed market

redesignation.

Discussion

6. A ``hyphenated market'' has been described by the Commission as

a television market that contains more than one major population center

supporting all stations in the market, with competing stations licensed

to different cities within the market area. In evaluating past requests

for hyphenation of a market, the Commission has considered the

following as relevant to its examination: (1) The distance between the

existing designated communities and the community proposed to be added

to the designation; (2) whether cable carriage, if afforded to the

subject station, would extend to areas beyond its Grade B signal

coverage area (a concern which has reduced relevance under the must

carry rules promulgated as a result of the 1992 Cable Act); (3) the

presence of a clear showing of a particularized need by the station

requesting the change of market designation; and (4) an indication of

benefit to the public from the proposed change. Each of these factors

helps the Commission to evaluate individual market conditions

consistent ``with the underlying competitive purpose of the market

hyphenation rule to delineate areas where stations can and do, both

actually and logically, compete.''

7. Based on the facts set forth in the Notice of Rulemaking, which

have not been disputed by the comments herein, and on the responsive

comments, we believe that a case for redesignation of the subject

market has been set forth so that this proposal should be adopted. It

appears from the information before us that television stations

licensed to Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Corona, Riverside and Anaheim

do compete in the proposed combined market area, and that sufficient

evidence has been presented to demonstrate commonality between the

proposed community to be added to the market designation and the market

as a whole. Such a rationalization of the competitive situation appears

to be the public benefit which Congress anticipated by instructing the

Commission, in section 614(f) of the Cable Television Consumer

Protection and Competition Act of 1992, to make necessary revisions to

update the market list. This action, moreover, is entirely consistent

with the Report and Order in Docket 93-207, 58 FR 67694, December 22,

1993, which added Riverside as a designated community in the market.

8. The issue raised by Dimension Cable regarding copyright

liability has largely been resolved with the passage of the Satellite

Home Viewer Act of 1994, which amended section 111(f) of title 17,

United States Code. Under this Act, a station located within the same

ADI as a cable system is no longer considered a ``distant signal'' on

that system for purposes of compulsory copyright license liability and,

therefore, is not subject to the additional copyright fees attendant to

``distant signal'' carriage within the market. Thus, the issue raised

by Dimension has now been directly addressed by Congress and is not an

obstacle to the action proposed in this proceeding.

9. As an additional matter, since no station is licensed to

Fontana, however, and since only communities with licensed stations

have ``specified zones'' (Sec. 76.5(e)) and contribute to the area and

coverage of a hyphenated market (Sec. 76.5(f)), reference to it will be

eliminated from Sec. 76.51.

10. Accordingly, it is ordered, that effective October 2, 1995,

Sec. 76.51 of the Commission's rules is amended to include Anaheim and

delete Fontana as follows:

Los Angeles-San Bernardino-Corona-Riverside-Anaheim, California.

11. It is further ordered, that this proceeding is terminated.

12. This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by

Sec. 0.321 of the Commission's rules. 47 CFR 0.321.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 76

Cable Television.

Part 76, Chapter I of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations

is amended as follows:

PART 76--CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE

1. The authority citation for part 76 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 303.

2. Section 76.51 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(28) to read

as follows:

Sec. 76.51 Major television markets.

* * * * *

(a) * * *

(28) Los Angeles-San Bernardino-Corona-Riverside-Anaheim,

California.

* * * * *

Federal Communications Commission.

William H. Johnson,

Deputy Chief, Cable Services Bureau.

[FR Doc. 95-21610 Filed 8-30-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712-01-M