95-16907. Public Information Collection Requirement Submitted to Office of Management and Budget for Review

[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 132 (Tuesday, July 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35746-35747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-16907]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------


FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Public Information Collection Requirement Submitted to Office of 
Management and Budget for Review

June 29, 1995.
    The Federal Communications Commission has submitted the following 
information collection requirement to OMB for review and clearance 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3507).
    Copies of this submission may be purchased from the Commission's 
copy contractor, International Transcription 

[[Page 35747]]
Service, Inc., 2100 M Street, NW., Suite 140, Washington, DC 20037, 
[phone]. For further information on this submission contact Judy 
Boley, Federal Communications Commission, [phone]. Persons 
wishing to comment on this information collection should contact 
Timothy Fain, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10214 NEOB, 
Washington, DC 20503, [phone].

OMB Number: None.
    Title: Section 21.902, Frequency Interference.
    Action: New collection.
    Respondents: Individuals or households, businesses or other-for 
profit.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion reporting requirements.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 1,075 responses; 3.12 hours average burden 
per recordkeeper, 3,355 hours total annual burden.
    Needs and Uses: (A) Section 21.902(d), Expansion of Protected 
Service Areas of MDS Stations. Petitioners complained that current 
regulations failed to sufficiently protect MDS station licensees from 
harmful interference caused by subsequently-filing applicants. Since 
1974, subsequently-filing applicants have had to file an interference 
study for each authorized or previously-proposed MDS station. MDS 
stations have had protected service areas since 1984. After that time 
subsequently-filing applicants have based the required interference 
study on a protected service area of 710 square miles. (When the 
authorized or previously-proposed MDS station uses an omnidirectional 
transmitting antenna, the 710 square miles is a circle with a radius of 
15 miles.) In the Second Reconsideration Order, the protected service 
area was expanded to a circle with a radius of 35 miles. This 
modification of an existing requirement simplifies the MDS rules, 
promotes the development of MDS stations as effective competitors to 
cable television systems, and facilitates the transition from analog to 
digital compression technology. See paragraphs 7-19 in the Second 
Reconsideration Order. (B) Section 21.902(d), Maps for Waiver Requests 
of Protected Service Area. Based on our experience with reviewing 
interference analyses since 1984, it will be faster and cheaper for a 
MDS applicant to submit an interference study based on the previously-
proposed or authorized station's 35-mile protected service area. 
However, when a new applicant asserts that it should be exempted form 
the requirement to study the potential for harmful interference to a 
previously-proposed or authorized stations protected service area, the 
Second Reconsideration Order states that the applicant should submit a 
map showing the intrusion of the waiver applicant's signal into the 
area around the authorized or previously-proposed station. See 
paragraph 26 in Second Reconsideration Order. (C) Section 21.902(d). 
Expansion of Effect on Cable-MDS Prohibitions. Since 1990, cable 
television companies have been prohibited from owning or leasing MDS 
stations, directly or indirectly, if there is an overlap between the 
MDS station's protected service area and the cable company's service 
area. Thus, the prohibitions of 47 CFR Section 21.912 and 47 U.S.C. 
553(a)(2) usually did not apply in situations in which the cable 
service area was more than 15 miles from the MDS station's transmitter 
site. With the expansion of the protected service area, it is possible 
that some cable television companies with MDS ownership or leasing 
interests, which formally complied with Section 21.912, might be barred 
after the change. A blanket waiver was granted until June 1, 1996 to 
cable companies with interests newly-prohibited. See paragraphs 30-31 
in Second Reconsideration Order. (D) Section 21.902(i). ITFS Station 
Interference Protection Through Service. On October 10, 1990, the 
Wireless Cable Order established a deadline for MDS applicants to serve 
specified authorized cochannel or adjacent-channel ITFS stations on or 
before the day the MDS application was filed. The First Reconsideration 
Order postponed this service deadline until the 60th day after public 
notice. Pursuant to petitioners' requests, the Commission has returned 
to the earlier service deadline, on or before the date of filing, which 
reduces processing delay. See paragraphs 39-41 in Second 
Reconsideration Order. (E) Section 21.912(i). ITFS Station Interference 
Protection Through Petitions to Deny. Petitioners also requested that 
authorized ITFS stations be required to file petitions to deny of MDS 
applications by the 30th day after public notice. The earlier deadline 
was adopted so that MDS applications can become ripe for grant more 
quickly and MDS stations can begin operations as soon as possible in 
order to provide competition for cable television systems. Together 
with the earlier deadline for ITFS service, a 120-day delay has been 
reduced to 30 days for processing MDS applications that propose 
stations within 50 miles of cochineal or adjacent-channel ITFS 
stations. See paragraphs 42-44 of Second Reconsideration Order.

Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-16907 Filed 7-10-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-0l-F