[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 25, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 28106-28109]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-13010]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 76
[CS Docket No. 98-61; FCC 99-13]
1998 Biennial Regulatory Review--``Annual Report of Cable
Television Systems,'' Form 325
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This document revises and streamlines the Form 325, ``Annual
Report of Cable Television Systems,'' which is provided for in the
Commission's rules. The Form 325 solicits basic operational information
from cable television systems. In the past, in order to ensure the
accuracy and usefulness of the data obtained, the Form 325 was mailed
to every cable system in the country. In an effort to reduce the
administrative burdens imposed upon both the cable industry and the
Commission, while still allowing the Commission access to the public
information necessary for it to carry out its regulatory functions, the
Commission not only modified the form but also drastically reduced the
universe of system operators required to file the form.
DATES: These rules are effective June 24, 1999 except for Sec. 76.403,
which contains modified information collection requirements that
require OMB approval. The Commission will publish a notice in the
Federal Register at a later date announcing the effective date. Written
comments by the public on the modified information collection
requirements should be submitted on or before June 24, 1999.
ADDRESSES: A copy of any comments on the modified information
collection requirements in Secs. 76.403 should be submitted to Judy
Boley, Federal Communications Commission, Room 1-C804, 445 12th Street,
S.W., Washington, DC 20554, and to Timothy Fain, OMB Desk Officer,
10236 NEOB, 725--17th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Kosar, Consumer Protection and
Competition Division, Cable Services Bureau at (202) 418-1053. For
additional information concerning the information collection
requirements contained herein, contact Judy Boley at (202) 418-0214, or
via the Internet at jboley@fcc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Summary of Action
1. As part of the Commission's 1998 biennial regulatory review of
its regulations conducted pursuant to Section 11 of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Commission issued a Report and
Order which revises and streamlines the Form 325, ``Annual Report of
Cable Television Systems,'' which is provided for in section 76.403 of
the Commission's rules. In this proceeding, the Commission sought to
strike a balance to reduce the burdens placed upon the industry and on
Commission resources in the Form 325 information collection process
while still retaining access to core information that is needed by the
Commission in order to perform its regulatory functions.
2. In the Report and Order, the Commission drastically reduced the
number of system operators required to file the form. In the past, the
Form 325
[[Page 28107]]
information collection process applied to every cable system in the
country--nearly 11,000 systems. The Report and Order states that the
Commission now believes that sufficient information could be collected
to monitor the cable industry by sending out approximately 1,100 forms,
an overall reduction of over 9,000 forms. In this regard, all cable
systems with 20,000 or more subscribers will be required to file the
form annually. For those systems with less than 20,000 subscribers, the
Commission will utilize a stratified sampling methodology in order to
collect information from that group, as opposed to a mandatory
requirement to have all of those systems file Form 325.
3. The current four part Form 325 will be replaced with a
streamlined, user-friendly Form 325 containing a reduced number of
questions. In addition, information will no longer be collected on both
a Community Unit Identification Number (``CUID'') basis and a Physical
System Identification Number (``PSID'') basis, but will be collected
solely on a PSID basis. This method of reporting information on a
system basis will eliminate a previously cumbersome and excessively
detailed procedure designed to elicit information regarding cable
operators and the communities they serve on an individual community
unit basis.
4. The following modifications will be made to the revised Form
325:
General Information
5. In this portion of the form, the Commission will solicit
information from cable operators regarding the number of subscribers
served by their systems as well as the number of potential subscribers
(homes passed) that cable operators can access from their systems.
Additionally, information will be sought regarding miles of cable plant
and how much of the plant is devoted to coaxial cable or fiber optic
cable, including the number and average nodal sizes in terms of
subscribers served. Cable operators will also be required to report
whether their cable systems use microwave facilities as part of the
cable plant.
6. In addition, questions on the form will solicit general
information regarding the provision of digital services so that the
Commission can better assess the technical capabilities of cable
systems and the future of the cable industry. In that regard, the form
will ask for information including: number of cable modems deployed and
the number of cable modem subscribers; number of subscribers requiring
set-top boxes and the number of set-top boxes in inventory and
deployed--analog/digital/hybrid--and total amount of analog spectrum
versus digital spectrum.
Frequency and Signal Distribution Information
7. In this part of the form, the Commission will seek information
pertaining to areas such as transmitted spectrum and channel capacity.
Specifically, information will be sought regarding upstream channel
usage (i.e., two-way capability) in order to ascertain the capabilities
of cable operators to transmit information from their subscribers'
premises back to the cable headend. The form also will request
information regarding downstream channel usage in order to ascertain
the total number of video channels, both analog and digital, capable of
being carried on a system, including the number of digital channels per
6 MHz of spectrum. Of that number, information will be sought regarding
the total number of channels, including all non-video channels,
activated and delivered on the system. Operators also will be asked to
provide information about aggregate totals for addressable converters,
modems deployed, and the number of telephony subscribers that use their
systems. The form will also require operators to submit their channel
lineups and to identify which stations are carried pursuant to leased
access, government access, public and educational access, and which
stations are carried pursuant to must carry or retransmission consent
provisions. Finally, operators will be asked to provide information
regarding the number of tiers carried on their systems and how many
channels may be carried on each of those tiers.
8. This Report and Order also modifies section 76.615 of the
Commission's rules which requires cable operators to notify the
Commission annually of all signals carried in the aeronautical radio
frequency bands, a requirement previously fulfilled by the filing of a
Form 325. Since all cable operators will no longer be required to file
Form 325, this requirement will now be satisfied by a cable operator
filing Commission Form 320, ``Basic Signal Leakage Performance
Report.''
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
9. Background. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act
(``RFA''), an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (``IRFA'') was
incorporated into the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (``NPRM'') in this
proceeding. The Commission sought written public comment on the
possible impact of the proposed policies and rules on small entities in
the NPRM, including comments on the IRFA. This Final Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis (``FRFA'') in this Report and Order conforms to
the RFA.
10. Need for Action and Objectives of the Rules. Section 11 of the
1996 Telecommunications Act requires the Commission to conduct a
biennial review of regulations that apply to operations and activities
of any provider of telecommunications service and to repeal or modify
any regulation it determines to be no longer in the public interest.
Although Section 11 does not specifically refer to cable operators, the
Commission has determined that the first biennial review presents an
excellent opportunity for a thorough examination of all of the
Commission's regulations.
11. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by the Public Comments in
Response to the IRFA. While no commenter has specifically responded to
the IRFA, several commenters allege that the current requirement to
file a Form 325 is unnecessarily burdensome. Commenters generally
contend that the current Form 325 has outlived its usefulness and the
information contained therein is available from other sources.
12. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities to
which Rules will Apply. The RFA directs the Commission to provide a
description of and, where feasible, an estimate of the number of small
entities that might be affected by the rules here adopted. The RFA
defines the term ``small entity'' as having the same meaning as the
terms ``small business,'' ``small organization,'' and ``small
governmental jurisdiction.'' In addition, the term ``small business''
has the same meaning as the term ``small business concern'' under the
Small Business Act. Under the Small Business Act, a small business
concern is one which: (a) is independently owned and operated; (b) is
not dominant in its field of operation; and (c) satisfies any
additional criteria by the SBA. The rule implementing a streamlined
Form 325 that we adopt in this Report and Order only will affect cable
systems.
13. SBA Definitions for Cable. The SBA has developed a definition
of small entities for cable and other pay television services, which
includes all such companies generating $11 million or less in annual
receipts. According to the Census Bureau data from 1992, there were
approximately 1,758 cable systems with less than $11 million in
revenue.
14. Additional Cable System Definitions. In addition, the
[[Page 28108]]
Commission has developed, with SBA's approval, our own definition of a
small cable system operator for the purposes of rate regulation. Under
the Commission's rules, a ``small cable company'' is one serving no
more than 400,000 subscribers nationwide. Based on recent information,
we estimate that there were 1,439 cable operators that qualified as
small cable companies at the end of 1995. Since then, some of those
companies may have grown to serve over 400,000 subscribers, and others
may have been involved in transactions that caused them to be combined
with other cable operators.
15. The Communications Act also contains a definition of a small
cable system operator, which is ``a cable operator that, directly or
through an affiliate, serves in the aggregate fewer than 1% of all
subscribers in the United States and is not affiliated with any entity
or entities whose gross annual revenues in the aggregate exceed
$250,000,000.'' The Commission has determined that there are 61,700,000
cable subscribers in the United States. Therefore, we found that an
operator serving fewer than 617,000 subscribers shall be deemed a small
operator, if its annual revenues, when combined with total annual
revenues of all of its affiliates, do not exceed $250 million in the
aggregate. Based on available data, we find that the number of cable
operators serving 617,000 subscribers or less total 1,450. Although it
seems certain that some of these cable system operators are affiliated
with entities whose gross annual revenues exceed $250,000,000, we are
unable at this time to estimate with greater precision the number of
cable systems that would qualify as small cable operators under the
definition in the Communications Act.
16. Description of Reporting, Recordkeeping and Other Compliance
Requirements. This analysis examines the costs and administrative
burdens associated with our rules and requirements. The rule we adopt
today significantly reduces the burden on the cable industry. The rule
requires that all cable systems having 20,000 or more subscribers, and
a sampling of cable operators having less than 20,000 subscribers, must
file a streamlined Form 325. This will result in reducing the filing
burden from nearly 11,000 to approximately 1,100 forms filed by cable
operators. In addition, the form itself has been modified to be less
burdensome. We estimate that it will take operators approximately 2
hours to fill out each newly revised Form 325. No other compliance
requirements are imposed.
17. Steps Taken to Minimize Significant Economic Impact on Small
and Significant Alternatives Considered. We believe that our amended
rule will alleviate Form 325 filings for some small cable operators
under the SBA's definition of small businesses. In addition, by our
action of streamlining Form 325, the burden on all cable operators will
be substantially reduced.
18. It is ordered that, pursuant to authority found in Sections
4(i), 303(r) and 628 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47
U.S.C. 154(i), 303(r) and 548 that section 76.403 of the Commission's
rules, and section 76.615 of the Commission's rules, are amended as set
forth in the rule changes.
19. It is further ordered that the rules as amended shall become
effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The
information collections contained in these rules shall become effective
70 days after publication in the Federal Register, following OMB
approval, unless a notice is published in the Federal Register stating
otherwise.
20. It is further ordered that the Commission's Office of Public
Affairs, Reference Operations Division, shall send a copy of this
Report and Order, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis,
to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration
in accordance with paragraph 603(a) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act,
Public Law No. 96-354, 94 Stat. 1164, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. (1981).
Paperwork Reduction Act
This Report and Order has been analyzed with respect to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the ``1995 Act'') and found to impose
new or modified information collection requirements on the public. The
Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork
burdens, invites the general public to take this opportunity to comment
on the information collection requirements contained in this Report and
Order as required by the 1995 Act. Public comments are due June 24,
1999. Comments should address: (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimates; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
collected; and (d) 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.
OMB Approval Number: 3060-0061.
Title: Annual Report of Cable Television Systems--Form 325.
Type of Review: Revision of existing collection.
Respondents: Business and for-profit entities.
Number of Respondents: approximately 1,100.
Estimated Time per Response: 2 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Burden to Respondents: 2,200 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Cost to Respondents: $2,200. Postage,
stationery and photocopying costs pertaining to this filing requirement
are estimated to be $2 per filing. 1,100 x $2 = $2,200.
Needs and Uses: The modified Form 325 will primarily assist the
Commission in collecting information regarding the conversion of cable
systems from the analog to the digital medium. The information
collected will allow the Commission to monitor the scope of the
conversion process. The information solicited also will help to assess
industry compliance with Commission rules and to monitor industry
trends in various areas.
List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 76
Cable television.
Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
Rule Changes
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal
Communications Commission amends 47 CFR 76 as follows:
PART 76--MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE
1. The authority citation for part 76 is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154, 301, 302, 303, 303a,
307, 308, 309, 312, 315, 317, 325, 503, 521, 522, 531, 532, 534,
535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 549, 552, 554, 556, 558,
560, 561, 571, 572, 573.
2. Section 76.403 is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 76.403 Cable television system reports.
The operator of every operational cable television system that
serves 20,000 or more subscribers shall file with the Commission a Form
325 soliciting general information and frequency and signal
distribution information on a Physical System Identification Number
(``PSID'') basis. These forms shall be completed and returned to the
Commission within 60 days after the date of receipt by the operator.
[[Page 28109]]
Note: The Commission retains its authority to require Form 325
to be filed by a sampling of cable operators with less than 20,000
subscribers.
3. Section 76.615 is amended by revising the introductory text and
paragraph (a) to read as follows:
Sec. 76.615 Notification requirements.
All cable television operators shall comply with each of the
following notification requirements:
(a) The operator of the cable system shall notify the Commission
annually of all signals carried in the aeronautical radio frequency
bands, noting the type of information carried by the signal (television
picture, aural, pilot carrier, or system control etc.) The timely
filing of the FCC Form 320 will meet this requirement.
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[FR Doc. 99-13010 Filed 5-24-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
