2012-26009. Policies To Promote Rural Radio Service and To Streamline Allotment and Assignment Procedures

AGENCY:

Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION:

Final rule; announcement of effective date.

SUMMARY:

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection requirements (form revisions) associated with the Commission's rules contained in the Third Report and Order, FCC 11-190, pertaining to the policies to promote rural radio service and to streamline allotment and assignment procedures. This notice is consistent with the Third Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of these information collection requirements (form changes).

DATES:

Effective date: The amendment to § 73.3573, published at 77 FR 32034, May 31, 2012, was approved by OMB July 2, 2012, and is effective December 4, 2012.

Applicability date: The form revisions to FCC Forms 314 and 315 associated with this rule are applicable December 4, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cathy Williams on [phone] or via email to: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This document announces that, on October 10, 2012, OMB approved, for a period of three years, the information collection requirements contained in the Commission's Third Report and Order, FCC 11-190, published at 77 FR 2916, January 20, 2012. The OMB Control Number is 3060-0031. The Commission publishes this document as an announcement of the effective date of the information collection requirements (form revisions for FCC Forms 314 and 315).

Synopsis

As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507), the FCC is notifying the public that it received OMB approval on October 10, 2012, for the form revisions to FCC Forms 314 and 315.

Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a current, valid OMB Control Number.

No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number is 3060-0031.

The foregoing is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.

The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents are as follows:

Control Number: 3060-0031.

Title: Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License, FCC Form 314; Application for Consent to Transfer Control of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License, FCC Form 315; Section 73.3580, Local Public Notice of Filing of Broadcast Applications.

Form Numbers: FCC Forms 314 and 315.

OMB Approval Date: October 10, 2012.

OMB Expiration Date: October 31, 2015.

Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities; Not-for-profit institutions; State, local or Tribal government.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 4,840 respondents and 12,880 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 0.084 to 6 hours.

Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirement; Third party disclosure requirement.

Obligation To Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in Sections 154(i), 303(b) and 308 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

Total Annual Burden: 18,670 hours.

Total Annual Cost: $52,519,656.

Privacy Impact Assessment(s): No impacts.

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: There is no need for confidentiality and respondents are not being asked to submit confidential information to the Commission.

Needs and Uses: On January 28, 2010, the Commission adopted a First Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Rural First R&O”) in MB Docket No. 09-52, FCC 10-24, 25 FCC Rcd 1583 (2010). In the Rural First R&O, the Commission adopted a Tribal Priority under Section 307(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, to assist federally recognized Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Villages (“Tribes”) and entities primarily owned or controlled by Tribes in obtaining broadcast radio construction permits designed primarily to serve Tribal Lands (the “Tribal Priority”). Tribal affiliated applicants that meet certain conditions regarding Tribal membership and signal coverage qualify for the Tribal Priority, which in most cases will enable the qualifying applicants to obtain radio construction permits without proceeding to competitive bidding, in the case of commercial stations, or to a point system evaluation, in the case of noncommercial educational (“NCE”) stations. On March 3, 2011, the Commission adopted a Second Report and Order (“Rural Second R&O”), First Order on Reconsideration, and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making in MB Docket No. 09-52, FCC 11-28, 26 FCC Rcd 2556 (2011). On December 28, 2011, the Commission adopted a Third Report and Order in MB Docket No. 09-52, FCC 11-190, 26 FCC Rcd 17642 (2011) (“Rural Third R&O”). In the Rural Third R&O the Commission further refined the use of the Tribal Priority in the commercial FM radio context, specifically adopting a “Threshold Qualifications” approach to commercial FM application processing.

Furthermore, under the Commission's Tribal Priority procedures, entities obtaining:

(a) An AM authorization for which the applicant claimed and received a dispositive Section 307(b) priority because it qualified for the Tribal Priority; or

(b) An FM commercial non-reserved band station awarded:

(1) To the applicant as a singleton Threshold Qualifications Window applicant,

(2) To the applicant after a settlement among Threshold Qualifications Window applicants, or

(3) To the applicant after an auction among a closed group of bidders composed only of threshold qualified Tribal applicants; or

(c) A reserved-band NCE FM station for which the applicant claimed and received the Tribal Priority in a fair distribution analysis as set forth in 47 CFR 73.7002(b)(1), may not assign or transfer the authorization during the period beginning with issuance of the construction permit, until the station has completed four years of on-air operations, unless the assignee or transferee also qualifies for the Tribal Priority. Pursuant to procedures set forth in the Rural Third R&O, 26 FCC Rcd at 17645-50, the Tribal Priority Holding Period is now applied in the context of authorizations obtained using Tribal Priority Threshold Qualifications.

Consistent with actions taken by the Commission in the Rural Third R&O, the following changes are made to Forms 314 and 315: Section I of each form includes a question asking applicants to indicate whether any of the authorizations involved in the subject transaction were obtained: after award of a dispositive Section 307(b) preference using the Tribal Priority; through Threshold Qualification procedures; or through the Tribal Priority as applied before the NCE fair distribution analysis. A subsequent question then asks whether both the assignor/transferor and assignee/transferee qualify for the Tribal Priority in all respects. Applicants not meeting the Tribal Priority qualifications and proposing an assignment or transfer during the Holding Period must provide an exhibit demonstrating that the transaction is consistent with the Tribal Priority policies or that a waiver is warranted. The instructions for Section I of Forms 314 and 315 have been revised to assist applicants with completing the questions.

Federal Communications Commission.

Gloria J. Miles,

Federal Register Liaison, Office of the Secretary, Office of Managing Director.