[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 150 (Thursday, August 5, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 42617-42618]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-19938]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 76

[CS Docket No. 95-178; FCC 99-116]


Definition of Markets for Purposes of the Cable Television 
Broadcast Signal Carriage Rules

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; correction.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission published in the Federal 
Register of June 24, 1999 (64 FR 33788), a report and order and final 
rule to ease the transition for broadcasters, cable operators, and 
viewers as the Commission moves from an ADI to a DMA-based market 
definition. The amended rule did not contain the complete names of two 
publications containing the DMA designations. This document provides 
these names for reference by regulated parties and clarifies which 
sections of the rule are amended.

DATES: Effective on August 5, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Golant, Consumer Protection and 
Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau, at (202) 418-7111.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FCC published a report and order and 
final rule in the Federal Register of June 24, 1999 (64 FR 33788). This 
notice clarifies the sources of the Nielsen data necessary to determine 
county and station assignments for broadcast signal carriage purposes 
by revising the amendment to Sec. 76.55(e) to include the complete 
names of the two Nielsen publications that are necessary to determine 
the counties comprising a television market and the television stations 
assigned to each of the 211 markets in the United States. To find out 
to which market a station is assigned for the 1999 election, the proper 
publication is Nielsen's Station Index: 1997-98 Directory. To find out 
to which market a county is assigned for the 1999 election, the proper 
publication is Nielsen's Station Index: September 1997 U.S. Television 
Household Estimates.
    In rule FR Doc. 99-15959 published on June 24, 1999, (64 FR 33788) 
make the following correction. On page 33796 in the first column, in 
Sec. 76.55, the amendatory instruction number 2., and the amendment to 
paragraphs (e)(1) through (e)(6) are corrected to read as follows:
* * * * *
    2. Section 76.55 is amended by revising paragraph (e) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 76.55  Definitions applicable to the must-carry rules.

    (e) Television market. (1) Until January 1, 2000, a commercial 
broadcast television station's market, unless amended pursuant to 
Sec. 76.59, shall be defined as its Area of Dominant Influence (ADI) as 
determined by Arbitron and published in the Arbitron 1991-1992 
Television ADI Market Guide, as noted below, except that for areas 
outside the contiguous 48 states, the market of a station shall be 
defined using Nielsen's Designated Market Area (DMA), where applicable, 
as published in the Nielsen 1991-92 DMA Market and Demographic Rank 
Report, and that Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam will 
each be considered a single market.
    (2) Effective January 1, 2000, a commercial broadcast television 
station's market, unless amended pursuant to Sec. 76.59, shall be 
defined as its Designated Market Area (DMA) as determined by Nielsen 
Media Research and published in its Nielsen Station Index Directory and 
Nielsen Station Index US Television Household Estimates or any 
successor publications.
    (i) For the 1999 election pursuant to Sec. 76.64(f), which becomes 
effective on January 1, 2000, DMA assignments specified in the 1997-98 
Nielsen Station Index Directory and September 1997 Nielsen Station 
Index US Television Household Estimates, available from Nielsen Media 
Research, 299 Park Avenue, New York, NY, shall be used.
    (ii) The applicable DMA list for the 2002 election pursuant to 
Sec. 76.64(f) will be the DMA assignments specified in the 2000-2001 
list, and so forth for each triennial election pursuant to 
Sec. 76.64(f).
    (3) In addition, the county in which a station's community of 
license is located will be considered within its market.
    (4) A cable system's television market(s) shall be the one or more 
ADI markets in which the communities it serves are located until 
January 1, 2000, and the one or more DMA markets in which the 
communities it serves are located thereafter.
    (5) In the absence of any mandatory carriage complaint or market 
modification petition, cable operators in communities that shift from 
one market to another, due to the change in 1999-2000 from ADI to DMA, 
will be permitted to treat their systems as either in the new DMA 
market, or with respect to the specific stations carried prior to the 
market change from ADI to DMA, as

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in both the old ADI market and the new DMA market.
    (6) If the change from the ADI market definition to the DMA market 
definition in 1999-2000 results in the filing of a mandatory carriage 
complaint, any affected party may respond to that complaint by filing a 
market modification request pursuant to Sec. 76.59, and these two 
actions may be jointly decided by the Commission.
* * * * *
Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-19938 Filed 8-4-99; 8:45 am]
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