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 Federal  Communications  Commission  DA  03-  96 
 Before  the  Federal  Communications  Commission 
 Washington,  D.  C.  20554 


 In  the  Matter  of: 
 KVMD  Corporation 
 Must  Carry  Complaints 


 Time  Warner  Cable 
 Petition  for  Special  Relief 


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 CSR-  6032-  M  CSR-  6035-  M 
 CSR-  6049-  M  CSR-  6059-  M 
 CSR-  6060-  M  CSR-  6070-  M 


 CSR-  6039-  A 


 ORDER 
 Adopted:  January  13,  2003  Released:  January  17,  2003 
 By  the  Deputy  Chief,  Media  Bureau: 
 1.  KVMD  Corporation  (“  KVMD”  or  “station”),  permittee  of  station  KVMD-  DT,  Twentynine  Palms,  California,  has  filed  complaints  against  Time  Warner  Cable,  AT&  T  Broadband, 
 News-  Press  &  Gazette,  Citizens  Cable,  and  Sierra  Dawn  Homeowners  Association  (“  cable  operators”)  because  of  the  cable  operators’  refusal  to  carry  the  station’s  digital  television  signal  on  their  respective 
 cable  systems.  Both  the  station  and  the  cable  systems  are  located  in  the  Los  Angeles  Designated  Market  Area  (“  DMA”).  1 


 2.  KVMD  advised  the  cable  operators  that  it  was  in  the  process  of  returning  its  analog  license  to  the  government  and  transitioning  to  a  solely  digital  television  service  and  was  therefore  entitled 
 to  assert  carriage  rights.  2  In  response  to  the  carriage  request  and  complaints,  Time  Warner  filed  a  market  modification  request,  pursuant  to  Section  614(  h)  of  the  Communications  Act  (“  Act”),  3  seeking  to  exclude 
 its  communities  from  the  station’s  market  so  that  it  would  be  under  no  obligation  to  carry  KVMD’s  signal  on  its  cable  systems.  4 


 1  KVMD’s  city  of  license,  Twentynine  Palms,  is  physically  located  in  San  Bernadino  County,  on  the  eastern  side  of 
 the  Los  Angeles  DMA.  2 
 KVMD  commenced  analog  television  service  on  Channel  31,  as  of  December  1,  1997.  The  station  commenced  digital  television  service  on  Channel  23,  pursuant  to  Special  Temporary  Authority,  on  July  29,  2002. 


 3  47  U.  S.  C.  §  614(  h)(  1)(  c). 
 4  AT&  T  Broadband  and  the  other  named  cable  operators  have  not  filed  market  modifications  in  response  to 
 KVMD’s  complaint. 
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 Federal  Communications  Commission  DA  03-  96 
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 3.  On  September  25,  2002,  KVMD  informed  the  Commission  of  its  intention  to  discontinue  operation  of  its  analog  broadcast  system  as  of  January  1,  2003.  5  On  December  19,  2002,  the  Media 
 Bureau,  by  letter  ruling,  declined  to  authorize  KVMD  to  discontinue  its  analog  operation.  6  As  noted  in  this  ruling,  existing  analog  stations,  like  KVMD,  may  not  terminate  their  analog  service  prior  to 
 completion  of  the  DTV  transition  unless  they  first  obtain  the  Commission’s  authority  for  such  action.  7  The  Bureau  denied  the  Station’s  request  because,  inter  alia,  KVMD  failed  to  properly  request  or  justify 
 return  of  its  analog  license.  8 
 4.  With  regard  to  cable  carriage,  the  Commission  has  concluded  that  cable  operators  must  carry  the  digital  signals  of  “digital-  only”  local  commercial  and  noncommercial  stations.  9  The  digital-  only 


 carriage  requirement  includes  new  digital  television  stations  and  television  stations  that  receive  Commission  authority  to  return  their  analog  spectrum  and  broadcast  only  a  digital  signal.  However,  the 
 Commission  has  not  yet  defined  the  must  carry  rights  of  television  broadcast  stations  operating  both  analog  and  digital  carriage  facilities  during  the  transition  period. 


 5.  Given  that  KVMD  has  not  been  authorized  to  terminate  its  analog  facility  and  because  the  Commission  has  not  yet  issued  final  digital  television  carriage  rules  relevant  to  its  circumstance,  we 
 find  that  the  Station’s  digital  signal  is  ineligible  for  carriage  at  the  present  time.  KVMD’s  complaints  against  the  named  cable  operators  are  dismissed  as  unripe  for  review.  Time  Warner  Cable’s  related 
 market  modification  petition  is  dismissed  as  moot. 
 6.  Accordingly,  IT  IS  ORDERED  that  the  must  carry  complaints  filed  by  KVMD  Corporation  against  Time  Warner  Cable,  AT&  T  Broadband,  News  Press  &  Gazette,  Citizens  Cable,  and 


 Sierra  Dawn  Homeowners  Association  ARE  DISMISSED. 
 7.  IT  IS  FURTHER  ORDERED  that  the  petition  for  special  relief  filed  by  Time  Warner  Cable  IS  DISMISSED. 


 8.  These  actions  are  taken  pursuant  to  delegated  authority  pursuant  to  Section  0.283  of  the  Commission’s  rules.  10 
 FEDERAL  COMMUNICATIONS  COMMISSION 


 William  H.  Johnson  Deputy  Chief,  Media  Bureau 
 5  See  KVMD(  TV),  Twentynine  Palms,  CA;  Request  to  Discontinue  Analog  Operation  (Facility  ID  No.  16729),  filed 
 Sept.  25,  2002.  6 
 See  Letter  to  Barry  A.  Friedman,  Esq.,  Thomson  Hine,  LLP  from  W.  Kenneth  Ferree,  Chief,  Media  Bureau,  FCC,  dated  Dec.  19,  2002.  (“  Ferree  Letter”). 


 7  Id.,  citing  Advanced  Television  Systems  and  Their  Impact  on  the  Existing  Broadcast  Television  Service,  12  FCC 
 Rcd  12809,  12832-  33  (1997  (R&  O).  8 
 See  Ferree  Letter  at  2.  9 
 See  Carriage  of  Digital  Television  Broadcast  Signals,  First  Report  and  Order  and  Further  Notice  of  Proposed  Rulemaking,  16  FCC  Rcd  2598  (2001). 


 10  47  C.  F.  R.  §  0.283. 
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