********************************************************    
                                       NOTICE
  ********************************************************
                              
              This document was converted from
         WordPerfect or Word to ASCII Text format.
                              
 Content from the original version of the document such as
headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers
           will not show up in this text version.
                              
All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the
  original document will not show up in this text version.
                              
      Features of the original document layout such as
columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins
         will not be preserved in the text version.
                              
      If you need the complete document, download the
WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available.
                              
*****************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   News Media Contact:
January 20, 2000                             Michelle Russo at (202) 418-2358

     FCC SEEKS COMMENT ON COMPUTER MODEL PREDICTING SIGNAL
           INTENSITY TO DETERMINE UNSERVED HOUSEHOLDS
Implementation of Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act Continues Expeditiously

Washington, DC   The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today released a Notice
of Proposed Rule Making seeking comment on rules to improve the computer model that predicts
signal intensity at a household for the purpose of determining eligibility for receiving distant
television broadcast signals via satellite. 

Today's action is the third of numerous proceedings to implement the Satellite Home Viewer
Improvement Act (SHVIA) that was enacted on November 29, 1999. This law, for the first time,
permits satellite carriers to transmit local television broadcast signals into local markets, also known
as "local-into-local." The Act also authorizes satellite carriers to provide distant broadcast
programming to eligible subscribers. A household is eligible to receive distant TV signals via satellite
if it is "unserved" and can not receive a signal of Grade B intensity using a conventional outdoor TV
antenna.

In February 1999, the FCC issued a Satellite Home Viewer Act Report and Order, which
among other things, created the Individual Location Longley-Rice (ILLR) computer model to predict
households that are served and unserved. In adopting this model, the FCC recognized the need to
account for vegetation and buildings as part of the model and asked the affected parties in the industry
to provide guidance on how to incorporate these factors. 

In SHVIA, Congress codified the ILLR model and recognized, as the FCC had in creating it,
that the model should include "terrain, building structures and other land cover variations." SHVIA
directs the FCC to revise the current model accordingly, within 180 days of enactment. Today's notice
proposes a method for incorporating vegetation and buildings into the current computer model and
seeks comment or alternate proposals from interested parties.

Comment deadlines:
Comments due:         February 22, 2000
Reply comments due:   March 7, 2000

  Action by the Commission, January 13, 2000, by Notice of Proposed Rule Making (FCC 00-17).
Chairman Kennard, Commissioners Ness, Furchtgott-Roth, Powell and Tristani.

Office of Engineering and Technology contact for this NPRM: Robert Eckert at (202) 418-2433.

ET Docket No. 00-11
                                
                             -FCC-