******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect 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. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) BRITISH-AMERICAN ) COMMUNICATIONS, INC., )CSR 4802-P ) v. ) ) PRIME TICKET NETWORK, et. al., ) ) ) Joint Stipulation of Dismissal ) ORDER Adopted: July 14, 1997Released: July 17, 1997 By the Chief, Cable Services Bureau: 1.British American Communications Inc. ("BAC") filed a Complaint against Century Southwest Cable Television, Inc. ("Century"), Fox Broadcasting Company ("Fox"), Tele-Communications, Inc. ("TCI"), Liberty Media Corporation ("Liberty"), Liberty Sports, Inc. ("Liberty Sports"), Prime Ticket Network, L.P. ("Prime Ticket"), American Cablesystems of California, Inc. d/b/a Continental ("American Cablesystems"), and Continental Cablevision, Inc. ("Continental"), alleging that the named Defendants had denied BAC access to Prime Ticket's programming service based on an exclusivity agreement that was not grandfathered pursuant to 47 U.S.C.  548(h) and 47 C.F.R.  1002(e). Alternatively, BAC alleged that Century, American Cablesystems, Continental, and Prime Ticket had unreasonably refused to license or sublicense Prime Ticket's programming service to BAC in violation of 47 U.S.C.  548(c)(2)(B) and Section 76.1002(b) of the Commission's rules. With the exception of Fox, all other Defendants filed Answers. BAC did not file a Reply to any of the Answers filed by Defendants. 2.Now BAC, Fox, TCI, Liberty, Liberty Sports, Prime Ticket, American Cablesystems, and Continental, through their attorneys, have filed a request for dismissal fashioned as Joint Stipulation of Dismissal ("Joint Stipulation"). Century also requested that it be included with the Joint Stipulation. In their Joint Stipulation, the parties request that the Commission dismiss BAC's complaint with prejudice. 3.On November 27, 1996 and January 31, 1997, Prime Ticket entered into agreements with Century and Continental, respectively, pursuant to which Century and Continental and all other Century and Continental entities waived exclusive rights to Prime Ticket's programming service under any cable television license agreement with Prime Ticket with respect to all other multichannel video programming distributors, including but not limited to BAC. On or about January 7, 1997, the Trustee for BAC and Prime Ticket entered into a Stipulation Re Delivery of Prime Ticket Network Programming to Debtor and Other Matters ("Programming Stipulation") pursuant to which BAC will be able to distribute Prime Ticket's programming service in certain of BAC's systems serving identified properties. The Programming Stipulation also provided that BAC would dismiss this action with prejudice as to all parties. 4.The Commission encourages resolution of program access disputes through negotiations between the parties in an effort to avoid time-consuming, complex adjudication. Such policy favoring private settlement and alternative dispute resolution conserves Commission resources and is thus in the public interest. 5.We thus find it is in the public interest to terminate this proceeding pursuant to the stipulation submitted by the parties. 6.Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Complaint of British-American Communications, Inc., against Century Southwest Cable Television, Inc., Fox Broadcasting Company, Tele-Communications, Inc., Liberty Media Corporation, Liberty Sports, Inc., Prime Ticket Network, L.P., American Cablesystems of California, Inc. d/b/a Continental, and Continental Cablevision, Inc., IS DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE. This action is taken by the Chief, Cable Services Bureau, pursuant to authority delegated by Section 0.321 of the Commission's rules. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Meredith J. Jones Chief, Cable Services Bureau