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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  177 
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 CONCURRING  STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 
 Re:  TCI  Cablevision  of  New  Mexico,  Inc.,  Memorandum  Opinion  and  Order  (CSR  5654-  A);  TCI  Cablevision  of  New  Mexico,  Inc.,  Memorandum  Opinion  and  Order  (CSR  5623-  A,  CSR  5598-  M);  and 
 Comcast  Cablevision  of  New  Mexico,  Inc.,  Memorandum  Opinion  and  Order  (CSR  5508-  A,  CSR  5486-  M) 


 In  these  cases  we  are  called  upon  to  examine  whether  the  Bureau  correctly  excluded  communities  for  must  carry  purposes  from  the  market  of  a  television  station  that  offers  religious,  sometimes  Hispanic 
 religious,  programming.  Given  that  the  stations  are  located  on  average  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  communities  and  that  the  extent  of  the  local  programming  is  not  clear,  I  concur  in  the  decision  to  exclude 
 the  communities.  I  write  separately,  however,  to  emphasize  adherence  to  our  longstanding  specialty  station  policies  under  which  a  station’s  inability  to  show  historic  carriage  and  viewership  is  not 
 decisionally  significant. 
 Under  section  614(  h)(  1)(  C),  the  Commission  may  exclude  communities  from  a  station’s  television  market  to  better  effectuate  the  purposes  of  the  must  carry  statute,  focusing  on  the  value  of 
 localism  by  taking  into  account  certain  factors.  The  Commission  has  long  recognized  that  specialty  stations,  such  as  religious  stations  or  stations  broadcasting  in  a  language  other  than  English,  often  fail  to 
 have  historic  carriage  or  appreciable  audience  shares  due  to  the  nature  of  their  programming.  Yet  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  they  are  not  serving  the  communities.  To  hold  otherwise  would  effectively 
 prevent  weaker  stations  from  ever  obtaining  carriage  rights.  Unfortunately,  in  these  cases  the  Bureau  appears  to  have  given  short  shrift  to  the  specialty  status  of  these  stations  and  deemed  the  lack  of  historic 
 carriage  and  viewership  of  evidentiary  significance. 
 The  Bureau  also  maintains  that  none  of  the  programming  at  issue  was  specifically  tied  to  the  communities  in  question.  I  believe  a  more  in-  depth  examination  is  warranted.  For  example,  Prime  Time 
 Christian  Broadcasting  maintains  that  it  offers  regular  daily  segments  for  local  churches  to  broadcast  announcements,  promotional  spots,  and  interviews.  The  station  also  offers  several  hours  of  Spanish-language 
 religious  programming.  I  caution  the  Bureau  not  to  discount  too  readily  the  potential  for  this  programming  to  serve  the  local  communities.  The  Bureau  should  be  more  mindful  of  the  ways  in  which 
 local  religious  and  Spanish-  language  programming  can  serve  the  needs  of  the  communities. 
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