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

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

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] BILLING CODE 6712-01-P