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Before the
               Federal Communications Commission
                     Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of:
Corridor Television, L.L.P.
v.
Charter Communications
Request for Mandatory Carriage of
Television Station KBEJ(TV),
Fredericksburg, Texas
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CSR-5667-M
                  MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
     Adopted:  June 15, 2001            Released:  June 20, 2001
By the Chief, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau:
     I.   Introduction
1.     Corridor Television, L.L.P. ("Corridor"), licensee of television broadcast station KBEJ(TV),
Fredericksburg, Texas ("KBEJ" or the "Station") filed the above-captioned must carry complaint against
Charter Communications ("Charter"), for failing to carry KBEJ on its cable system serving Johnson City,
Spicewood Beach, Mustang Ridge, Manor and Garfield, Texas and the surrounding areas (the "cable
communities").  No opposition to the complaint was received.
     II.  background
3.     Pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act and implementing rules adopted by the
Commission in Implementation of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of
1992, Broadcast Signal Carriage Issues ("Must Carry Order"), commercial television broadcast stations
are entitled to assert mandatory carriage rights on cable systems located within the station's market.  A
station's market for this purpose is its "designated market area," or DMA, as defined by Nielsen Media
Research.  A DMA is a geographic market designation that defines each television market exclusive of
others, based on measured viewing patterns.
4.     Pursuant to the Commission's must carry rules, cable operators have the burden of showing
that a commercial station that is located in the same television market is not entitled to carriage.  One
method of doing so is for a cable operator to establish that a subject television signal, which would
otherwise be entitled to carriage, does not provide a good quality signal to a cable system's principal
headend.  Should a station fail to provide the required over-the-air signal quality to a cable system's
principal headend, it still may obtain carriage rights because under the Commission's rules a television
station may provide a cable operator, at the station's expense, with specialized equipment to improve the
station's signal to an acceptable quality at a cable system's principal headend.
     V.   discussion
6.     In support of its complaint, KBEJ states that it is licensed to Fredericksburg, Texas, which is
in the Austin, Texas DMA.  It states further that Charter operates a cable television system, which is also
in the Austin DMA.  KBEJ contends that because it is located within the same DMA as the Charter cable
system, it is entitled to mandatory carriage on that system.  KBEJ asserts that it formally requested
Charter to commence carriage of its signal on channel 2 of the cable system at issue.  KBEJ claims that
Charter did not respond to its request for mandatory carriage in violation of Section 76.61(a)(2) of the
Commission's rules, which requires cable operators to respond in writing to requests for carriage within
30 days of receipt of such requests.  According to KBEJ, it is committed to acquire and install any
improvements and equipment needed to provide Charter with a good quality signal.  KBEJ requests that
we order Charter to commence carriage of its signal on channel 2 of the cable system serving the cable
communities.
7.     Section 76.55(e) of the Commission's rules provides that commercial television broadcast
stations, such as KBEJ, are entitled to carriage on cable systems located in the same DMA.  Cable
operators have the burden of showing that a commercial station that is located in the same television
market is not entitled to carriage.  We find that Charter has failed to meet its burden.  Charter did not
did respond within 30 days to KBEJ's letter requesting carriage as required by the Commission's rules
nor did it file an opposition to KBEJ's must carry complaint.  KBEJ has committed to acquire and
install, at its own expense, any and all necessary improvements and equipment needed to provide Charter
with a good quality signal.  KBEJ, by committing to provide any necessary equipment has satisfied its
obligation to bear the costs associated with delivering a good quality signal.  Thus, we find that KBEJ is
entitled to mandatory carriage on Charter cable system at issue.
8.     With respect to KBEJ's channel positioning request, we find that it has properly requested
carriage on channel 2 of Charter's system, the same channel number on which it is broadcast over-the-air.
Pursuant to the Commission's rules, cable operators must comply with the channel positioning
requirements absent a compelling technical reason.  Based on the foregoing, we grant KBEJ's
complaint.
     IX.  ordering clauses
10.    Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Section 614 of the Communications Act of
1934, as amended (47 U.S.C.  534), that the must carry complaint filed by Corridor Television, L.L.P.,
licensee of television broadcast station KBEJ, Fredericksburg, Texas against Charter Communications IS
GRANTED.
11.    IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Charter SHALL COMMENCE CARRIAGE of the
KBEJ signal on Channel 2 of its cable system serving Johnson City, Spicewood Beach, Mustang Ridge,
Manor and Garfield, Texas and surrounding areas, within sixty (60) days from the date of the release of
this Order.
12.    This action is taken pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.321 if the Commission's
rules.
                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                         Deborah E. Klein, Chief
                         Consumer Protection and Competition Division
                         Cable Services Bureau