[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27545-27548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13168]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 76

[CS Docket No. 98-61; FCC 98-79]


1998 Biennial Regulatory Review; Form 325-Annual Report of Cable 
Television Systems

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (``NPRM''), the 
Commission seeks comment on a proposal to eliminate or modify the 
process of collecting Form 325, ``Annual Report of Cable Television 
Systems.'' This proceeding is initiated in conjunction with the 
Commission's 1998 biennial regulatory review. The intended effect of 
this proceeding is to reduce the regulatory burden on the Commission, 
as well as cable operators.

DATES: Comments are due on or before June 30, 1998. Reply comments are 
due on or before July 15, 1998. Written comments by the public on the 
proposed information collections are due June 9, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, Washington, D.C. 20554. 
In addition to filing comments with the Secretary, a copy of any 
comments on the information collections contained herein should be 
submitted to Judy Boley, Federal Communications Commission, Room 234, 
1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20554, to Timothy Fain, OMB Desk 
Officer, 10236 NEOB, 725--17th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sunil Daluvoy, Consumer Protection and Competition Division, Cable 
Services Bureau, at (202) 418-1032. For additional information 
concerning the information collection contained in this NPRM, contact 
Judy Boley at 202-418-0214, or via the Internet at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a synopsis of the NPRM in CS Docket 
No. 98-61, FCC 98-79 which was adopted on April 27, 1998 and released 
on April 30, 1998. A copy of the complete item is available for 
inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC 
Reference Center, Room 239, 1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20554. The complete text may be purchased from the Commission's copy 
contractor, International Transcription Service, Inc., 1231 20th 
Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 857-3800. The complete 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking also is available on the Commission's 
Internet home page (http://www.fcc.gov). The requirements proposed in 
this Notice have been analyzed with respect to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (the ``1995 Act'') and could potentially impose modified 
information collection requirements on the public. The Commission, as 
part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, invites the 
general public and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to take 
this opportunity to comment on the proposed modifications to the 
information collection requirements contained in this NPRM, as required 
by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Public comments are due June 9, 
1998. Written comments must be submitted by OMB on or before July 20, 
1998. 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.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden to Respondents: 28,000 hours. The 
average burden to respondents is estimated to be 2 hours per Form 325 
filing. 14,000 filings  x  2 hours = 28,000 hours.
    Total Estimated Annual Cost of Respondents: $14,000. Postage, 
stationery and photocopying costs pertaining to this filing requirement 
are estimated to be $1 per form. 14,000  x  $1 = $14,000.
    Needs and Uses: The Form 325 is a preprinted form that has been 
used by the Commission to annually collect ownership, community unit, 
statistical, technical and services information from cable television 
systems on a physical system basis. Operators of every operational 
cable television system complete the form to verify, correct and/or 
furnish the Commission with the most current information on their 
respective cable systems. Here, we have reported burden estimates to 
respondents as they are currently accounted for in the Commission's 
Information Collection Budget for Collection Number OMB 3060-0061. 
Depending on public comment generated in this proceeding, the 
Commission will either amend the content of Form 325, eliminate the 
Form 325 filing requirement or will reduce the scope or frequency of 
the filing requirement.

SUMMARY OF ACTION:

I. Background

    1. On April 27, 1998, the Federal Communications Commission 
(``Commission'') adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which sought 
comment on our proposal to eliminate or modify Form 325, ``Annual 
Report of Cable Television Systems'', which is provided for in 47 CFR 
Sec. 76.403. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is summarized below.

A. Introduction

    2. Section 11 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, instructs 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 refer to the cable 
television rules generally, the Commission has determined that the 
first biennial review presents an opportunity for a thorough 
examination of all of the Commission's regulations. We believe that 
consideration of the continuing need for the Form 325 information 
collection process is consistent with the Section 11 mandate.

B. Discussion

    3. Form 325 constitutes the Commission's basic annual reporting 
requirement for the cable television industry. The form was developed 
for use on a one time basis in 1966 and was subsequently adopted as an 
annual filing requirement in 1971. The form was intended to provide the 
Commission with information that would be of value in the development 
of rules and policies applicable to the cable television industry. In 
addition, information as to both individual franchise areas and 
physical system operations was to be collected for use in connection 
with individual waiver or enforcement proceedings. The current Form 325 
has also been used for two additional purposes: (1) to obtain 
subscribership data from which to calculate or review cable operator's

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annual federal regulatory fee payments; and (2) to assist, through the 
acquisition of data as to the frequencies used within systems, in the 
Commission's signal leakage and interference elimination program.
    4. The current version of Form 325 is divided into four substantive 
parts. Part 1 collects the operator's name, address, and tax 
identification number of each franchised community served by the cable 
system. Part 2 requests specific information related to each franchised 
community, including the type of area served, population, subscribers, 
potential subscribers, cable plant length, and initial date of service. 
Part 3 outlines frequency and signal distribution information, such as 
the type and source of programming, and general channel information. 
Part 4 summarizes the cable system's ancillary services and users.
    5. The Commission's rules anticipate that a Form 325 will be mailed 
annually to each cable system in the country--at present, over 11,000 
cable systems. In order to reduce the filing burden and increase the 
accuracy of the computer database to be assembled from the completed 
forms, a process was developed whereby each year preprinted and 
completed forms were to be sent to each operator reflecting the 
information in the Commission's database. The system operator would 
then only be required to correct information that had changed since the 
last filing. Although this process was intended to ease the burden on 
system operators and to be administratively efficient, it proved to be 
resource intensive on the part of the Commission, because the returned 
forms, many of which were deficient in some manner, had to be manually 
reviewed for technical and administrative accuracy before being entered 
into the computer system. As available Commission staff resources were 
reduced and priorities shifted, it became increasingly difficult to 
complete the data input process. Thus, the form has not been mailed out 
or data collected since 1994.
    6. As a consequence of the above developments we now prepare to 
either: (1) Abolish this data collection process entirely, or (2) 
reform the process so that the data that is deemed important may be 
collected in a more efficient, less resource intensive, manner. In 
general, it is vital that the Commission have accurate and timely 
information regarding the cable television industry, both to assist in 
the enforcement of existing requirements and for broader rulemaking and 
policy purposes. We seek comment, however, on whether it continues to 
be important for the Commission to have access to the type of data 
reported on the current Form 325 and the extent to which this 
information is available from other sources. For instance, while not 
subject to accuracy and specificity requirements applicable to a 
governmental reporting system, information on the basic facts of cable 
television system operation is available from commercial sources such 
as S.C. Nielson and Warren Publishing. We seek comment on whether these 
commercial sources may rely for their information on the availability 
of the Commission's data base. Similarly, with regard to the signal 
interference program, the Commission already uses Form 320 (Basic 
Signal Leakage Performance Report) to gather a cable system's 
operational parameters in the event interference occurs to over-the-air 
services. On the other hand, we noted in our leased access proceeding, 
that the only official source of leased access information was in the 
Form 325. Given the possible availability of alternative sources of 
data, we seek comment on whether we should eliminate the current Form 
325 entirely or revise it to obtain more focused information.
    7. If Form 325 is retained, we seek comment on any changes that 
should be made to clarify and improve the usefulness of the data 
collected. For example, the questions and instructions with respect to 
channel capacity and use data, which is pertinent to a number of 
Commission's rules, including must-carry, leased access, and channel 
occupancy, have not always resulted in consistent responses. In 
addition, Form 325 does not require the operator to submit specific 
ownership information, which could be relevant to the Commission's 
horizontal ownership rules, among others. We seek comment on how to 
obtain more useful consistent or reliable data if the form is retained.
    8. In addition, if the Form 325 is retained, we seek comment on 
ways to make the collection process less burdensome. For example, the 
data could be collected at less frequent intervals, a sampling process 
could be developed or an electronic filing system could be developed to 
reduce the resources devoted to the data collection process. Should, 
for example, we adopt a data collection process that applies only to 
cable systems that meet certain geographic, subscriber, channel 
capacity, or revenue criteria, or should such forms apply to a random 
subset of cable operators? We note that if data were collected only 
from systems with over 10,000 subscribers, approximately 80 percent of 
all subscribers would be covered yet only approximately one-tenth of 
the present filings would be required.

II. Procedural Matters

A. Initial Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis For the Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking

    9. As required by Section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 
U.S.C. 603, the Commission is incorporating an Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) of the expected impact on small entities of 
the policies and proposals in this NPRM. Written public comments 
concerning the effect of the proposals in the NPRM, including the IRFA, 
on small businesses are requested. Comments must be identified as 
responses to the IRFA and must be filed by the deadlines for the 
submission of comments in this proceeding. The Secretary shall send a 
copy of this NPRM, including the IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for 
Advocacy of the Small Business Administration in accordance with 
paragraph 603(a) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
    10. Reasons Why Agency Action is Being Considered. 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. Need for Action and Objectives of the Proposed Rule Change. The 
Commission invites comment on whether to eliminate or modify the 
requirement for cable systems operators to file the current ``Annual 
Report of Cable Television,'' Form 325, pursuant to Section 76.403 of 
the Commission's rules (``Section 76.403''), because the Commission 
believes the current Form 325 provides limited value, imposes 
unnecessary burdens on the Commission and cable operators, and 
duplicates existing practices.
    12. Legal Basis. The authority for the action proposed for this 
rulemaking is contained in Section 4(i)-(j) of the Communications Act 
of 1934, as amended.
    13. Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities 
Impacted. The IRFA directs the Commission to provide a description of 
and, where feasible, an estimate of the number of small entities that 
will be affected by the proposed rules. The IRFA defines the term 
``small

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entity'' as having the same meaning as the terms ``small business,'' 
``small organization,'' and ``small business concern'' under Section 3 
of the Small Business Act. Under the Small Business Act, a small 
business concern is one which: (1) is independently owned and operated; 
(2) is not dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any 
additional criteria established by the SBA.
    14. The proposal to either eliminate or modify the requirement to 
file Form 325 applies to all cable system operators. The Commission has 
developed, with SBA's approval, its own definition of a small cable 
system operator for rate regulation purposes. Under the Commission's 
rules, a ``small cable company'' is one serving fewer than 400,000 
subscribers nationwide. Based on our most recent information, we 
estimate that there were 1439 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. Consequently, we estimate that there are fewer 
than 1439 small entity cable system operators that may be affected by 
the changes we are considering.
    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 
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 the 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 totals 1450. 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 system operators that would qualify as small cable operators 
under the definition in the Communications Act.
    16. Reporting, Recordkeeping, and other Compliance Requirements: 
The Commission is proposing to eliminate certain recordkeeping or 
information collection requirements, and in the alternative, we are 
proposing to substantially reduce such burdens.
    17. Significant Alternatives Which Minimize the Impact on Small 
Entities and which are Consistent with Stated Objectives: The NPRM 
solicits comments on alternatives to elimination of the FCC Form 325. 
Any significant alternatives presented in the comments will be 
considered.
    18. Federal Rules which Overlap, Duplicate, or Conflict with the 
Commission's Proposal: None.
    19. Report to Congress. The Commission shall send a copy of this 
IRFA along with this Notice in a report to Congress pursuant to the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, codified at 
5 U.S.C. Sec. 801(a)(1)(A). A copy of this IRFA will also be published 
in the Federal Register.

B. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Analysis

    20. The requirements proposed in this Notice have been analyzed 
with respect to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the ``1995 Act'') 
and could potentially impose 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 proposed modifications to the 
information collection requirements contained in this Notice, as 
required by the 1995 Act. Public comments are due 21 days from date of 
publication of this Notice in the Federal Register. 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 would 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.
    21. Written comments by the public on the proposed and/or modified 
information collections are due June 9, 1998. Written comments must be 
submitted by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') on the 
proposed and/or modified information collections on or before [insert 
date 60 days after date of publication in the Federal Register.] In 
addition to filing comments with the Secretary, a copy of any comments 
on the information collections contained herein should be submitted to 
Judy Boley, Federal Communications Commission, Room 234, 1919 M Street, 
N.W., Washington, DC 20554, or via the Internet to [email protected] and 
to Timothy Fain, OMB Desk Officer, 10236 NEOB, 725-17th Street, N.W., 
Washington, DC 20503 or via the Internet to [email protected].

C. Ex Parte Rules

    22. This proceeding will be treated as a ``permit-but-disclose'' 
proceeding subject to the ``permit-but-disclose'' requirements under 
Section 1.1206(b) of the rules. 47 CFR Sec. 1.1206(b), as revised. Ex 
parte presentations are permissible if disclosed in accordance with 
Commission rules, except during the Sunshine Agenda period when 
presentations, ex parte or otherwise, are generally prohibited. Persons 
making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that a memorandum 
summarizing a presentation must contain a summary of the substance of 
the presentation and not merely a listing of the subjects discussed. 
More than a one or two sentence description of the views and arguments 
presented is generally required. See 47 CFR Sec. 1.1206(b)(2), as 
revised. Additional rules pertaining to oral and written presentations 
are set forth in Section 1.1206(b).

D. Filing of Comments and Reply Comments

    23. Pursuant to applicable procedures set forth in Sections 1.415 
and 1.419 of the Commission's Rules, 47 CFR Secs. 1.415 and 1.419, 
interested parties may file comments on or before June 30, 1998 and 
reply comments on or before July 15, 1998. To file formally in this 
proceeding, you must file an original plus four copies of all comments, 
reply comments, and supporting comments. If you want each Commissioner 
to receive a personal copy of your comments and reply comments, you 
must file an original plus nine copies. You should send comments and 
reply comments to Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications 
Commission, 1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. Comments and 
reply comments will be available for public inspection during regular 
business hours in the FCC Reference Center, Room 239, Federal 
Communications Commission, 1919 M Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. 
The Cable Services Bureau contact for this proceeding is Sunil Daluvoy 
at (202) 418-1032 or [email protected].
    24. Parties are also asked to submit comments and reply comments on 
diskette, where possible. Such diskette

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submissions would be in addition to and not a substitute for the formal 
filing requirements addressed above. Parties submitting diskettes 
should submit them to Sunil Daluvoy of the Cable Services Bureau, 2033 
M Street N.W., Room 700I, Washington, D.C. 20554. Such a submission 
should be on a 3.5 inch diskette formatted in an IBM compatible form 
using MS DOS 5.0 and WordPerfect 5.1 software. The diskette should be 
submitted in ``read only'' mode. The diskette should be clearly 
labelled with the party's name, proceeding, type of pleading (comments 
or reply comments), and date of submission. The diskette should be 
accompanied by a cover letter.

Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-13168 Filed 5-18-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-M