[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 28, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4261-4263]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-2031]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION


Notice of Public Information Collection Submitted to OMB for 
Review and Approval

January 16, 1998.
SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public 
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the 
following information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or 
sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently 
valid 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 valid control number. 
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.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before February 27, 
1998. OMB Notification of Action is due on or before March 30, 1998. 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 comments to Judy Boley, Federal Communications, 
Room 234, 1919 M St., NW., Washington, DC 20554 or via internet to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies 
of the information collections contact Judy Boley at 202-418-0214 or 
via internet at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 17, 1997, the Commission released 
a Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 
FCC 97-376, which addresses rules and policies concerning cable inside 
wiring. Among other things, this rulemaking amends the Commission's 
regulations relating to the disposition of cable home wiring and 
related issues including the sharing of molding, the demarcation point 
for multiple dwelling unit buildings (``MDUs''), loop-through cable 
wiring configurations, customer access to cable home wiring before 
termination of service, and signal leakage.
    OMB Approval Number: 3060-0692.
    Title: Home Wiring Provisions.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business and other for-profit entities.
    Number of Respondents: 30,500 (20,500 multichannel video program 
distributors and 10,000 multiple dwelling unit building owners).
    Estimated Time Per Response: 5 minutes-20 hours.
    Total Annual Burden to Respondents: 46,114 hours, calculated as 
follows: This collection (3060-0692) accounts for all information 
collection requirements that may come into play during the disposition 
of cable home wiring in single dwelling units, as well as the 
disposition of home run wiring and cable home wiring in MDUs. All 
multichannel video programming distributors (``MVPDs''), both cable and 
non-cable alike, are now subject to these disposition rules. Pursuant 
to the Paperwork Reduction Act, when modifying only portions of an 
information collection, agencies are still obligated to put forth the 
entire collection for public comment.
    This information collection now accounts for the information 
collection requirement stated in 47 CFR 76.613,

[[Page 4262]]

where MVPDs causing harmful signal interference may be required by the 
Commission's engineer in charge (EIC) to prepare and submit a report 
regarding the cause(s) of the interference, corrective measures planned 
or taken, and the efficacy of the remedial measures. Through the course 
of this rulemaking proceeding, the Commission identified this 
collection as not having previously been reported to OMB for approval. 
We estimate that no more than 10 interference reports will be submitted 
annually to the Commission's EIC, each having an average burden of 2 
hours to prepare. (10 reports x 2 hours = 20 hours). 47 CFR 76.620 
applies the Commission's signal leakage rules to all non-cable MVPDs. 
Our rules require that each cable system perform an independent signal 
leakage test annually, therefore, non-cable MVPDs will now be subject 
to the same requirement. We recognize, however, that immediate 
compliance with these requirements may present hardships to existing 
non-cable MVPDs not previously subject to such rules. We will allow a 
five-year transition period from the effective date of these rules to 
afford non-cable MVPDs time to comply with our signal leakage rules 
other than Sec. 76.613. The transition period will apply only to 
systems of those non-cable MVPDs that have been substantially built as 
of January 1, 1998. Considering non-cable MVPD systems that will be 
built as of January 1, 1998, we estimate that 500 new entities will be 
subject to signal leakage filing requirements, with an estimated burden 
of 20 hours per entity. (500 systems x 20 hours = 10,000 hours). 47 CFR 
76.802, Disposition of Cable Home Wiring, gives individual video 
service subscribers in single unit dwellings and MDUs the opportunity 
to purchase their cable home wiring at replacement cost upon voluntary 
termination of service. In calculating hour burdens for notifying 
individual subscribers of their purchase rights, we make the following 
assumptions: There are approximately 20,000 MVPDs serving approximately 
72 million subscribers in the United States. The average rate of churn 
(subscriber termination) for all MVPDs is estimated to be 1% per month, 
or 12% per year. MVPDs own the home wiring in 50% of the occurrences of 
voluntary subscriber termination and subscribers or property owners 
already have gained ownership of the wiring in the other 50% of 
occurrences (e.g., where the MVPD has charged the subscriber for the 
wiring upon installation, has treated the wiring as belonging to the 
subscriber for tax purposes, or where state and/or local law treats 
cable home wiring as a fixture). Where MVPDs own the wiring, we 
estimate that they intend to actually remove the wiring 5% of the time, 
thus initiating the disclosure requirement. We believe in most cases 
that MVPDs will choose to abandon the home wiring because the cost and 
effort required to remove the wiring generally outweigh its value. The 
burden to disclose the information at the time of termination will vary 
depending on the manner of disclosure, e.g., by telephone, customer 
visit or registered mail. Virtually all voluntary service terminations 
are done by telephone. The estimated average time consumed in the 
process of the MVPD's disclosure and subscriber's election is 5 minutes 
(.083 hours). Estimated annual number of occurrences is 
72,000,000 x 12% x 50% x 5%=216,000. (216,000 x .083 hours=17,928 
hours).
    In addition, 47 CFR 76.802 states that if a subscriber in an MDU 
declines to purchase the wiring, the MDU owner or alternative provider 
(where permitted by the MDU owner) may purchase the home wiring where 
reasonable advance notice has been provided to the incumbent. According 
to the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, 1995 at 733 Table 
No. 1224, over 28 million people resided in MDUs with three or more 
units in 1993. We therefore estimate that there are currently 30 
million MDU residents and that MDUs house an average of 50 residents, 
and so we estimate that there are approximately 600,000 MDUs in the 
United States. We estimate that 2,000 MDU owners will provide advance 
notice to the incumbent that the MDU owner or alternative provider 
(where permitted by the MDU owner) will purchase the home wiring where 
a terminating individual subscriber declines. The estimated average 
time for MDU owners to provide such notice is estimated to be 15 
minutes (.25 hours). The estimated average time consumed in the process 
of the MVPD's subsequent disclosure and the MDU owner or alternative 
provider's election is 5 minutes (.083 hours). Estimated annual time 
consumed is 2,000 notifications x .333 hours=666 hours. 47 CFR 76.802 
also states that, to inform subscribers of per-foot replacement costs, 
MVPDs may develop replacement cost schedules based on readily available 
information; if the MVPD chooses to develop such schedules, it must 
place them in a public file available for public inspection during 
regular business hours. We estimate that 50% of MVPDs will develop such 
cost schedules to place in their public files. Virtually all individual 
subscribers terminate service via telephone, and few subscribers are 
anticipated to review cost schedules on public file. The annual 
recordkeeping burden for these cost schedules is estimated to be 0.5 
hours per MVPD. (20,000 MVPDs x 50% x 0.5 hours=5,000 hours). 47 CFR 
76.804 Disposition of Home Run Wiring. We estimate the burden for 
notification and election requirements for building-by-building and 
unit-by-unit disposition of home run wiring as described below. Note 
that these requirements apply only when an MVPD owns the home run 
wiring in an MDU and does not (or will not at the conclusion of the 
notice period) have a legally enforceable right to remain on the 
premises against the wishes of the entity that owns or controls the 
common areas of the MDU or have a legally enforceable right to maintain 
any particular home run wire dedicated to a particular unit on the 
premises against the MDU owner's wishes. We use the term ``MDU owner'' 
to include whatever entity owns or controls the common areas of an 
apartment building, condominium or cooperative. For building-by-
building disposition of home run wiring, the MDU owner gives the 
incumbent service provider a minimum of 90 days' written notice that 
its access to the entire building will be terminated. The incumbent 
then has 30 days to elect what it will do with the home run wiring. 
Where parties negotiate a price for the wiring and are unable to agree 
on a price, the incumbent service provider must elect among 
abandonment, removal of the wiring, or arbitration for a price 
determination. Also, regarding cable home wiring, when the MDU owner 
notifies the incumbent service provider that its access to the building 
will be terminated, the incumbent provider must, within 30 days of the 
initial notice and in accordance with our home wiring rules, (1) offer 
to sell to the MDU owner any home wiring within the individual dwelling 
units which the incumbent provider owns and intends to remove, and (2) 
provide the MDU owner with the total per-foot replacement cost of such 
home wiring. The MDU owner must then notify the incumbent provider as 
to whether the MDU owner or an alternative provider intends to purchase 
the home wiring not later than 30 days before the incumbent's access to 
the building will be terminated. For unit-by-unit disposition of home 
run wiring, an MDU owner must provide at least 60 days' written notice 
to the incumbent MVPD that it intends to permit multiple

[[Page 4263]]

MVPDs to compete for the right to use the individual home run wires 
dedicated to each unit. The incumbent service provider then has 30 days 
to provide the MDU owner with a written election as to whether, for all 
of the incumbent's home run wires dedicated to individual subscribers 
who may later choose the alternative provider's service, it will remove 
the wiring, abandon the wiring, or sell the wiring to the MDU owner. In 
other words, the incumbent service provider will be required to make a 
single election for how it will handle the disposition of individual 
home run wires whenever a subscriber wishes to switch service 
providers; that election will then be implemented each time an 
individual subscriber switches service providers. Where parties 
negotiate a price for the wiring and are unable to agree on a price, 
the incumbent service provider must elect among abandonment, removal of 
the wiring, or arbitration for a price determination. The MDU owner 
also must provide reasonable advance notice to the incumbent provider 
that it will purchase, or that it will allow an alternative provider to 
purchase, the cable home wiring when a terminating individual 
subscriber declines. If the alternative provider is permitted to 
purchase the wiring, it will be required to make a similar election 
during the initial 30-day notice period for each subscriber who 
switches back from the alternative provider to the incumbent MVPD. 
According to the Statistical Abstracts of the United States, 1995 at 
733 Table No. 1224, over 28 million people resided in MDUs with three 
or more units in 1993. We therefore estimate that there are currently 
30 million MDU residents and that MDUs house an average of 50 
residents, and so we estimate that there are approximately 600,000 MDUs 
in the United States. In many instances, incumbent service providers 
may no longer own the home run wiring or may continue to have a legally 
enforceable right to remain on the premises. Also, MDU owners may 
forego the notice and election processes for various other reasons, 
e.g., they have no interest in purchasing the home run or cable home 
wiring. We estimate that there will be approximately 12,500 notices and 
12,500 elections made on an annual basis. The number of notices 
accounts for the occasions when the MDU owner simultaneously notifies 
the incumbent provider that: (1) It is invoking the home run wiring 
disposition procedures, and (2) whether the MDU owner or alternative 
provider intends to purchase the cable home wiring. It also accounts 
for those occasions when the MDU owner makes a separate notification 
regarding the purchase of cable home wiring. The number of elections 
accounts for instances when the incumbent elects to sell the wiring but 
the parties are unable to agree on a price, therefore necessitating a 
second election. We assume all notifications and elections (except when 
an individual subscriber is terminating service) will be in writing and 
take an average burden of 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to prepare. (25,000 
notifications and elections x 0.5 hours=12,500 hours).
    Total Cost to Respondents: Total Annual Cost to Respondents: 
$37,510, estimated as follows: Under the annual operation and 
maintenance costs category, we estimate that stationery and postage 
costs for interference reports submitted to the Commission pursuant to 
Sec. 76.613 to be $1 per report. (10 reports x $1=$10). We estimate 
stationery and postage costs for signal leakage filings to be $1 per 
filing. (500 filings x $1=$500). We estimate that 50% of the 20,000 
MVPDs will annually develop cost schedules. We estimate recordkeeping 
expenses for these schedules to be $1 per MVPD. 
(20,000 x 50% x $1=$10,000). We estimate stationery and postage costs 
for the various disposition notifications and elections to be $1 per 
occurrence. (27,000 advance notices and notifications and 
elections x $1=$27,000). There are no estimated capital and start-up 
costs.
    Needs and Uses: The various notification and election requirements 
in this collection (3060-0692) are set forth in order to promote 
competition and consumer choice by minimizing any potential disruption 
in service to a subscriber switching video providers.

Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-2031 Filed 1-27-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-10-P