[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 169 (Thursday, August 31, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 45375-45376]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-21610]



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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