Notice2024-28705
Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission Under Delegated Authority
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 6, 2024
Issuing agencies
Federal Communications Commission
Abstract
As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection. Comments are requested concerning: whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 235 (Friday, December 6, 2024)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 96971-96973]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28705]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[OMB 3060-1207; FR ID 266289]
Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal
Communications Commission Under Delegated Authority
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens,
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to
comment on the following information collection. Comments are requested
concerning: whether the proposed collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission,
including whether the information shall have practical utility; the
accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on the
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the
information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer
than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of
information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any
penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject
to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.
DATES: Written PRA comments should be submitted on or before February
4, 2025. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments but
find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this
notice, you should advise the contact listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Cathy Williams, FCC, via email to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#88d8dac9c8eeebeba6efe7fe"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f5a5a7b4b5939696db929a83">[email protected]</span></a> and to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#783b190c1001562f1114141119150b381e1b1b561f170e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cf8caebba7b6e198a6a3a3a6aea2bc8fa9acace1a8a0b9">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the
information collection, contact Cathy Williams at (202) 418-2918.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Control Number: 3060-1207.
Title: Sections 25.701, Other DBS Public Interest Obligations, and
25.702, Other SDARS Public Interest Obligations.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Extension of an existing collection.
Respondents: Business or other for profit entities.
Number of Respondents and Responses: 3 respondents and 3 responses.
[[Page 96972]]
Estimated Hours per Response: 18 hrs.
Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement,
Recordkeeping requirement, Third party disclosure requirement.
Total Annual Burden: 54 hours.
Total Annual Cost: $592.
Obligation to Respond: Required to be obtained or retained for
benefits. The statutory authority for this information collection is
contained in sections 154, 301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 319, 332, 605, and
721 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Needs and Uses: In 2012, the Commission replaced the decades-old
requirement that commercial and noncommercial television stations
maintain public files at their main studios with a requirement to post
most of the documents in those files to a central, online public file
hosted by the Commission. On January 28, 2016, the Commission adopted a
Report and Order (``R&O'') in MB Docket No. 14-127, FCC 16-4, In the
Matter of Expansion of Online Public File Obligations to Cable and
Satellite TV Operators and Broadcast and Satellite Radio Licensees,
expanding the requirement that public inspection files be posted to the
FCC-hosted online public file database to satellite TV (also referred
to as ``Direct Broadcast Satellite'' or ``DBS'') providers and to
satellite radio (also referred to as ``satellite Digital Audio Radio
Services'' or ``SDARS'') licensees, among other entities. The
Commission stated that its goal is to make information that these
entities are already required to make publicly available more
accessible while also reducing costs both for the government and the
public sector. The Commission took the same general approach to
transitioning these entities to the online file that it took with
television broadcasters in 2012, tailoring the requirements as
necessary to the different services. The Commission also took similar
measures to minimize the effort and cost entities must undertake to
move their public files online. Specifically, the Commission required
entities to upload to the online public file only documents that are
not already on file with the Commission or that the Commission
maintains in its own database. The Commission also exempted existing
political file material from the online file requirement and required
that political file documents be uploaded only on a going-forward
basis.
The Commission first adopted a public inspection file requirement
for broadcasters more than 40 years ago. The public file requirement
grew out of Congress' 1960 amendment of Sections 309 and 311 of the
Communications Act of 1934. Finding that Congress, in enacting these
provisions, was guarding ``the right of the general public to be
informed, not merely the rights of those who have special interests,''
the Commission adopted the public inspection file requirement to ``make
information to which the public already has a right more readily
available, so that the public will be encouraged to play a more active
part in dialogue with broadcast licensees.'' The information provided
in the public file enables citizens to engage in an informed dialog
with their local video provider or to file complaints regarding
provider operations. Satellite TV (also known as ``Direct Broadcast
Satellite'' or ``DBS'') providers and satellite radio (also referred to
as ``Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services'' or ``SDARS'') licensees
have public and political file requirements modeled, in large part, on
the longstanding broadcast requirements. With respect to DBS providers,
the Commission adopted public and political inspection file
requirements in 1998 in conjunction with the imposition of certain
public interest obligations, including political broadcasting
requirements, on those entities. DBS providers were required to ``abide
by political file obligations similar to those requirements placed on
terrestrial broadcasters and cable systems'' and were also required to
maintain a public file with records relating to other DBS public
interest obligations. The Commission imposed equal employment
opportunity and political broadcast requirements on SDARS licensees in
1997, noting that the rationale behind imposing these requirements on
broadcasters also applies to satellite radio.
The information collection requirements contained in 47 CFR
25.701(d) require each DBS provider to keep and permit public
inspection of a complete and orderly record (political file) of all
requests for DBS origination time made by or on behalf of candidates
for public office, together with an appropriate notation showing the
disposition made by the provider of such requests, and the charges
made, if any, if the request is granted. The disposition includes the
schedule of time purchased, when the spots actually aired, the rates
charged, and the classes of time purchased. Also, when free time is
provided for use by or on behalf of candidates, a record of the free
time provided is to be placed in the political file. All records
required to be retained by this section must be placed in the political
file as soon as possible and retained for a period of two years. DBS
providers must make available, by fax, email, or by mail upon telephone
request, copies of documents in their political files and assist
callers by answering questions about the contents of their political
files. If a requester prefers access by mail, the DBS provider must pay
for postage but may require individuals requesting documents to pay for
photocopying. If a DBS provider places its political file on its
website, it may refer the public to the website in lieu of mailing
copies.
Any material required to be maintained in the political file must
be made available to the public by either mailing or website access or
both.
The information collection requirements contained in 47 CFR
25.701(d) require DBS providers to place all new political file
material required to be retained by this section in the online file
hosted by the Commission.
47 CFR 25.701(f)(6) information collection requirements require
each DBS provider to maintain a public file containing a complete and
orderly record of quarterly measurements of: Channel capacity and
yearly average calculations on which it bases its four percent
reservation, as well as its responses to any capacity changes; a record
of entities to whom noncommercial capacity is being provided, the
amount of capacity being provided to each entity, the conditions under
which it is being provided and the rates, if any, being paid by the
entity; and a record of entities that have requested capacity,
disposition of those requests and reasons for the disposition. All
records required by this provision must be placed in a file available
to the public as soon as possible and be retained for a period of two
years.
47 CFR 25.701(f)(6) to require DBS providers to place all public
file material required to be retained by this section in the online
file hosted by the Commission. Each DBS provider must place in the
online file the records required to be placed in the public inspection
file by 47 CFR 25.701(e)(commercial limits in children's programs) and
by 47 CFR 25.601 and Part 76, Subpart E (equal employment opportunity
requirements) and retain those records for the period required by those
rules. In addition, each DBS provider is required to provide a link to
the public inspection file hosted on the Commission's website from the
home page of its own website, if the provider has a website, and
provide on its website contact information for a representative who can
assist any person with disabilities
[[Page 96973]]
with issues related to the content of the public files. Each DBS
provider is also required to include in the online public file the
name, phone number, and email address of the licensee's designated
contact for questions about the public file, and include in the online
public file the address of the provider's local public file if the
provider retains documents in the local public file that are not
available in the Commission's online file.
47 CFR 25.702(b) requires each SDARS licensee to maintain a
complete and orderly record (political file) of all requests for SDARS
origination time made by or on behalf of candidates for public office,
together with the disposition made by the provider of such requests,
and the charges made, if any, if the request is granted. The
disposition must include the schedule of time purchased, when the spots
actually aired, the rates charged, and the classes of time purchased.
Also, when free time is provided for use by or on behalf of candidates,
a record of the free time provided is to be placed in the political
file. SDARS licensees are required to place all records required by
this section in the political file as soon as possible and retain the
record for a period of two years.
The information collection requirements contained in 47 CFR
25.702(c) require each SDARS applicant or licensee to place in the
online file hosted by the Commission the records required to be placed
in the public inspection file by 47 CFR 25.601 and 73.2080 (equal
employment opportunities) and to retain those records for the period
required by those rules. Each SDARS licensee must provide a link to the
public inspection file hosted on the Commission's website from the home
page of its own website, if the licensee has a website, and provide on
its website contact information for a representative who can assist any
person with disabilities with issues related to the content of the
public files. Each SDARS licensee is also required to include in the
online public file the name, phone number, and email address of the
licensee's designated contact for questions about the public file, and
include in the online public file the address of the provider's local
public file if the provider retains documents in the local public file
that are not available in the Commission's online file.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-28705 Filed 12-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 6, 2024.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.