Agenda Date: 3/16/06Agenda Item: III E

STATE OF NEW JERSEYBoard of Public Utilities

Two Gateway CenterNewark, NJ 07102

www.blJu.state.ni.us

CABLE TELEVISION~ ---

IN THE MATTER OF PATRIOT MEDIA ANDCOMMUNICATIONS CNJ, LLC FOR APPROVAL OFTHE FILING OF AN AGGREGATED FCC FORM 1205FOR BOTH OF ITS NEW JERSEY SYSTEMSDETERMINING REGULATED INSTALLATION ANDEQUIPMENT ~:OSTS USING THE OPTIONALEXPEDITED F~ TE PROCEDURES

ORDER ADOPTINGSTIPULATION

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} DOCKET NO. CRO5111001

(SERVICE LIST ATTACHED)

BY THE BOARD:

On November 30,2005, Patriot Media and Communications CNJ, LLC:. ("Petitioner") filedFederal Communications Commission ("FCC") Form 1205, Docket Nuimber CR05111001,seeking approval by the Board of Public Utilities ("Board") for certain changes in its regulatedinstallation and equipment costs affecting both of its regulated rate disltricts in the State of NewJersey pursuant to the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Corn petition Act of 1992,47U.S.C. § 543 § §gg.,., and provisions of the New Jersey Cable Television Act, N.J.S.A. 48:5A-1

§§gg.,.

The Board, at its public meeting on January 10, 1996, in Docket Number CX95120636,approved the implementation of Optional Expedited Rate Procedures for the processing ofcertain filings made with the Office of Cable Television. The intended jourpose of theseprocedures is to grant final rates as quickly as possible to any cable company that chooses thisprocess. In the spirit of cooperation based on the principles of Alterna1:e Dispute Resolution, thediscovery content is limited, thereby reducing the timeframe for settlement.

Petitioner chose to pursue its filing with the Board through the approved procedures. To thatend, a pre-transmittal conference was held on January 6,2006, and attended byrepresentatives of the Petitioner, the Division of the Ratepayer Advocate ("Ratepayer") andBoard Staff. The Petitioner agreed to waive its Office of Administrative Law ("OAL") litigationrights for this matter. It should be noted that the Petitioner's waiver was a knowing, voluntaryand intelligent waiver of its litigation rights at the OAL and that the waiver did not constitute acircumvention of the FCC rules nor did it affect Petitioner's right to app~~al in that forum.

The Petitioner notified its customers of the rate changes by way of newspaper announcementsinforming them of their opportunity to submit written comments to the Board for a period of thirtydays. The notices appeared in the Hunterdon County Democrat, the Chatham Courier and ~Observer-Tribune on January 5, 2006, ~ Princeton Packet and the Courier ~ on January6,2006 and ~ Messenger Gazette on January 14, 2006. No comments or resolutions werereceived as a result of these public notices.

After review by Staff and the Ratepayer of the supporting documentation, schedules and otherdiscovery requests, a settlement conference was held on January 12, 2006. On February 22,2006, the parties entered into a Stipulation of Settlement.

The Board has reviewed the Stipulation of Settlement and .E~ it to be reasonable, in thepublic interest and in accordance with the law. Therefore, the Board HEREBY ADOPTS theStipulation of Settlement (attached hereto) as its own, incorporating by reference the terms andconditions therein as if fully set forth at length herein.

The Board FURTHER ORDERS that, subject to the ongoing review before the FederalCommunications Commission, should these cable systems, or any part thereof, merge and/ormigrate to another system, be upgraded and/or rebuilt, its ownership or control be otherwisesold or transferred to another entity, the basic service tier rate that will be eliminated orsuperseded as a result of the merger, migration, upgrade, rebuild, sale or transfer must be"trued-up" [47 C.F.R. § 76.922 (e) (3)]. The final true-up for the affected systems, or any partsthereof, should be calculated on FCC Form 1240 and begin where the last true-up period endedon its prior FCC Form 1240. This true-up calculation should be filed with the Board when all theaffected subscribers are being charged the rate resulting from the merger, migration, upgrade,rebuild, sale or transfer and may be filed in conjunction with the annual rate adjustment cycle(Form 1240) established as a result of said merger, migration, upgrade, rebuild, sale or transfer.

The cable systems, or any part thereof, may be subsequently deregulated as a result of afinding by the Board, the FCC or other party of competent jurisdiction that these systems or anyportion thereof, is subject to effective competition. Should that occur, the last basic service rateestablished as a result of a prior FCC Form 1240, or such subsequent rate calculation methodas may be heretofore adopted by the Board, the FCC or any other party of competentjurisdiction, prior to the deregulation of any rate that is now or may in the future be subject to theBoard's jurisdiction, must be trued-up for the period of time that the affected rates were subject

to regulation by the Board.

2BPU Docket No. CR05111 001

The above referenced true-up procedure does not exclude any cable system party to this order.

BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIESBY:

JEANNE M. FOXPRESIDENT

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~o~CONNIE O. HUGHESCOMMISSIONER

FREDERICK F. BUTLERCOMMISSIONER

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fJO.SEPH L. FIORDALISOCOMMISSIONER

ATTEST:

/u 11fOKRISTI 1220SECRETARY

3BPU Docket No. CR05111 001

IN THE MATTER OFPATRIOT MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS CNJ, llC.

FCC FORM 1205 USING THEOPTIONAL EXPEDITED RATE PROCEDURES

DOCKET NUMBER: CRO5111001

Jonathan P. Cahill,ControllerPatriot Media & Communications CNJ, LLC.100 Randolph RoadSomerset, New Jersey 08873

Celeste M FasoneDirectorGloria FurlongSupervising Administrative AnalystRichard StephanAdministrative Analyst 2, AccountingOffice of Cable TelevisionTwo Gateway CenterNewark, NJ 07102

Jose Rivera-Benitez, Esq.Assistant Deputy Public AdvocateState of New JerseyDepartment of the Public AdvocateDivision of Rate Counsel31 Clinton Street -11 th FloorNewark, NJ 07102

Andrea CraneThe Columbia GroupP.O. Box 810Georgetown, CT 06829

4BPU Docket No. CRO5111001

IN THE MATTER OF P A TRI OT MEDIA )AND COMMUNICATIONS CNJ, LLC'S )FILING OF AN AGGREGATE FCC FORM)1205 DETERMINING REGULATED )INST ALLA TION AND EQUIPMENT )COSTS USING THE OPTIONAL )EXPEDITED RATE PROCEDURES )

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CABLE TELEvISI<!)IN f? ~I i~ ~,f" ,. ,ii'tilC'6FFI' , I

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BOARD OF 1:fOOx,X(;;;' WJLITIES"I 'I I' ."1..

BPU DOCKET NUMBER CR05111 00 1

STIPULATION OF FINAL RATES

The undersigned parties, as a result of a review of the Federal CommunicationsCommission ("FCC") Form 1205 and timely filed public comments in this matter herebystipulate to the following findings of fact and conclusions of law for consideration by the Boardof Public Utilities ("Board"); and,

As part of the Optional Expedited Rate Procedures (Approved January 12, 1996, DocketNo. CX95120636), Patriot Media and Communications CNJ, LLC ("Petitioner") agreed to waivethe Company's litigation rigbts at the Office of Administrative Law ("OAL") in this proceeding.It should be noted that Petitioner's waiver was a knowing, voluntary and intelligent waiver of itslitigation rigbts at the OAL and that the waiver did not constitute a circumvention of the FCCrules nor did it affect the Company's rigbt to appeal in that forum.

WHEREAS, the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992,Pub. L. No. 102-385, 106 S.1ill. 1460 (1992), codified at 47 V.S.C. § 543 ~ ~., (the "FederalAct"), classified the delivery of cable television services into two separate rate regulatedcategol-ies: (i) "basic service" (consisting primarily of "off-the-air" and public educational andgovernmental channels) and associated equipment and installation and (ii) cable programmingservices ("CPS") (consisting of other regulated tiers of channels) and associated equipment; and

WHEREAS, under the Federal Act, basic service is regulated by the "franchisingauthority"; and

WHEREAS, under the provisions of the New Jersey Cable Television Act ("New JerseyAct"), !'i.J.S.A. 48:5A-l ~ ~., the franchisirlg authority is the Board; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Act required the FCC to issue regulations governing thestandards to be used by franchising authorities in regulating basic service rates; and

WHEREAS, under the regulations adopted March 30, 1994, 47.c~ § 76.900 ~~., acable operator may adjust its rates by electing the annual rate adjustment system under theregulations adopted September 15, 1995 (47 ~ §76.922) by filing a Form 1240 ~ a Form1205 on the same date; and

WHEREAS, on November 30, 2005, Petitioner, serving Bedminister, Bethlehem,Bernardsville, Branchburg, Chatham Township, Chester, Chester Township, Clinton, ClintonTownship, Delaware Township, East Amwell, Far Hills, Flemington, Franklin Township(Hunterdon), Franklin Township (Somerset), Harding Township, Hillsborough, Lebanon

WHEREAS, the Board Staff ("Staff') and the Ratepayer Advocate, upon .review of theFCC FornI 1205 filed in this matter, supporting documentation and schedules thereto agree thatthe proposed rates as set forth in Schedule A are just and reasonable; and

WHEREAS, Staff, the Ratepayer Advocate and Petitioner have engaged in discussions ofthis matter; and

WHEREAS, Staff, the Ratepayer Advocate and Petitioner have concluded that theCompany is entitled to the agreed upon rates which it seeks in its FCC Fonn 1205 filing in thismatter;

NOW, THEREFORE, Staff, the Ratepayer Advocate, and Petitioner hereby STIPULATEAS FOLLOWS:

1. Petitioner notified its customers of the proposed rate changes via newspaperannouncements and has informed them of their opportunity to submit writtencomments for a period of thirty (30) days.

2.

The effective date for the equipment and installation rates as reflected onSchedule A, under Docket Number CR0511100 1 is March 1, 2006.

3 The rate cycle established under Docket Number CR05lll 00 1 is March 1, 2006to February 28, 2007.

4. These stipulated rates shall be subject to the approval of the Board and allrevenues collected as a result of these rates shall be subject to refund, pursuant tothe rules and regulations of the FCC as well as those of the Board if the Boardfinds these rates to be unjustified in whole or in part or in any way implemented

improperly.

5. This Stipulation of Settlement resolves all issues raised by this filing which arethe subj ect of the within matter.

6.

The signatories agree that, except as expressly provided herein, this Stipulationhas been made exclusively for the purpose of this proceeding and that theStipulation contained herein, in total or by specific items, is in no way bindingupon the parties in other proceedings before the Board or in other forums orjurisdictions, nor are the contents of this Stipulation, in total or by specific items,

by inference, inclusion, or deletion, in any way to be considered or used byanother party as any indication of the position of any party hereto on any issuelitigated or to be litigated in other proceedings.

This Stipulation contains ternls, each of which is interdependent with the others andessential in its own right to the signing of this Stipulation. Each ternl is vital to the agreement asa whole, since the parties expressly and jointly state that they would not have signed theagreement had any ternl been modified in any way. Each party is entitled to certain procedures inthe event that any modification is made to the ternlS of this Stipulation. That is, each signatoryparty must be given the right to be placed in the position it was in before the Stipulation wasentered. Therefore, if any modification is made to the ternlS of this Stipulation, it is essential thateach party be given the option, before the implementation of any new rate resulting from thisaction, either to modify its own position to accept the proposed changes, or to resume theproceeding as if no agreement had been reached.

The parties believe these provisions are fair to all concerned and therefore, they are madean integral and essential element of this Stipulation. This being the case, all parties expresslyagree to support the right of any other party to this Stipulation to enforce all ternIS and procedures

detailed herein.

GLORIA J. FURLONG0 N

Balyst

DATED:

SEEMA SINGH, ESQ.,RATEPAYER ADVOCATE

DATED:

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.r ,--By. , "" :;;,"'.# ,-

£JOse Rivera-Benitez, Esq.Assistant Deputy Ratepayer Advocate

PATRIOT MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONSCNJ, LLC

) ~ ~ ' ..' , .I '.., ,.

By:', .J ' \

Dennis C. Linken, Esq.Stryker, Tams & Dill

DATED

SCHEDULE A

InstaUationRates

$41.65$23.43$15.62$20.94$20.94$15.62$15.62$20.94$14.13$20.94No Charge$15.62$15.62$10.47$10.47No Charge$15.62$15.62$1.99$31.24

Installation -Standard Never WiredInstallation -Previously Wire HomeInstallation -Additional Outlet -Same TripInstallation -Additional Outlet -Separate TripReconnection of ServiceWallfish (per Y2 hour)Relocation of Outlet, same trip (interior work only)Relocation of Outlet, separate trip (interior work only)VCR, Picture-in-Picture Installation, same tripVCR, Picture-in-Picture Installation, separate tripVid.eo Game, AIB switch or Parental Control Device Installation, same tripVideo Game, AIB switch or Parental Control Device Installation, separate trip

Converter Installation, separate tripRemote control Installation, separate trip

Unnecessary Trip ChargeInstall High Definition Television (HDTV) Equipment, same tripInstall High Definition Television (HDTV) Equipment, separate tripRelocation of Drop (Exterior only)Addressable Change of ServiceHourly Service Charge

Other Rates

$20.94$10.00Actual Cost

Repair Drop Cable Cut by Customer/Landscaper, etc.Driveway/Sidewalk Bores (per foot)Replacement or Cut Main Lines

EauiDment

$4.95$6.95$1.00$1.00

Digital Converter Box (includes remote control)High Definition Television Converter Box (includes remote control)

High Definition Television Smart CardAnalog Converter Box (includes remote control)