[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 5176-5177]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-799]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 73 and 76

[FCC 05-211]


Order Staying Effective Date, In the Matter of Children's 
Television Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; stay of effectiveness.

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SUMMARY: This document stays three sections of the CFR regarding the 
requirements for Internet Web site address displays in children's 
television programming and the core children's programming processing 
guideline for digital broadcasters in MM Docket 00-167, until 60 days 
after publication in the Federal Register of the Commission's order on 
reconsideration in that proceeding. These requirements were previously 
scheduled to become effective on January 1, 2006.

[[Page 5177]]


DATES: 47 CFR 73.670(b) and (c) and Note 1, Sec.  73.671(e) and (f), 
and Sec.  76.225(b) and (c) and Note 1 are stayed effective February 1, 
2006, until further notice. The Commission will publish a document in 
the Federal Register announcing the lift of the stay.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20554.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kim Matthews, Policy Division, Media 
Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, (202) 418-2120.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 9, 2004, the Commission adopted 
a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making 
(``Order'') in MM Docket 00-167. The Order addresses matters related to 
two areas: The obligation of television licensees to provide 
educational programming for children and the requirement that 
television licensees protect children from excessive and inappropriate 
commercial messages. Some of the rules and policies adopted in the 
Order apply only to digital broadcasters while others apply to both 
analog and digital broadcasters as well as cable operators. Most of the 
rules adopted in the Order were scheduled to take effect on January 1, 
2006.
    A number of parties petitioned for Commission reconsideration of 
the Order. Those reconsideration petitions are now pending before the 
Commission. On September 26, 2005, Viacom, Inc. (Viacom), The Walt 
Disney Company (Disney), NBC Universal, Inc., and NBC Telemundo License 
Co. filed a Motion for Extension of Effective Date or, in the 
Alternative, Administrative Stay with the Commission requesting that 
the Commission stay the rules or delay their effective date until after 
the Commission acts on the petitions for reconsideration. In addition, 
in late September and early October, 2005, the Office of Communication 
of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and Viacom withdrew their 
participation in reconsideration petitions and filed separate petitions 
for judicial review of the Order. UCC filed a petition for review of 
the Order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on 
September 26, 2005. Viacom filed a petition for review of the Order in 
the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on October 3, 
2005. Disney subsequently filed a petition for writ of mandamus with 
the D.C. Circuit requesting that the Commission be directed to act on 
the petitions for reconsideration or that the Court stay the rules 
until the Commission decides the reconsideration petitions. Viacom then 
also asked the D.C. Circuit to stay the rules until it resolved 
Viacom's petition for review. On November 16, 2005, the D.C. Circuit 
transferred both Viacom's petition and Disney's petition to the Sixth 
Circuit.
    Representatives of the broadcast and cable industries and public 
interest groups interested in children's television issues have been 
meeting in an attempt to resolve their differences regarding the new 
rules that are the subject of the litigation. Those parties have now 
informed the Commission that they have reached an agreement on a 
recommendation to the Commission that, if adopted, would resolve their 
concerns with the Commission's rules. The parties' recommendation would 
maintain with modifications most of the rules adopted by the Commission 
to promote educational programming for children and to protect children 
from overcommercialization on television. The Commission will, of 
course, make an independent determination on the appropriate course of 
action on reconsideration. However, we greatly appreciate a joint 
recommendation from these previously adverse interests and will give 
their recommendation serious consideration. The parties have further 
recommended that the Commission should stay the effective date of the 
new rules until 60 days after publication in the Federal Register of 
the Commission's order on reconsideration, a course of action that 
would give the Commission the time to evaluate the parties' 
recommendation in the pending reconsideration proceeding and would 
permit the petitions for judicial review to be held in abeyance and the 
stay motions now pending before the Sixth Circuit to become moot. In 
light of that agreement and the issues raised in the pending petitions 
for reconsideration, we find that the public interest is served by 
delaying the effective date of the new rules to permit the Commission 
to act on the petitions for reconsideration and to afford broadcasters 
and cable operators additional time to come into compliance with the 
revised children's television requirements, as such requirements may be 
modified on reconsideration. The Commission will publish a document in 
the Federal Register announcing the lift of the stay.
    Accordingly, we are hereby staying the effective date of newly 
adopted Sec.  73.670(b) and (c) and Note 1, Sec.  73.671(e) and (f) 
(referred to in the Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed 
Rule Making in MM Docket No. 00-167, 19 FCC Rcd 22,943 (2004), as 47 
CFR 73.671 Notes 3 and 4), and Sec.  76.225(b) and (c) and Note 1 of 
the Commission's rules until further notice. We find for good cause 
that notice and comment are impracticable based on the imminent 
effective date, the measures that would be required by the industry to 
comply with the new rules, which may be modified on reconsideration, 
the broad-based agreement to the stay by children's television 
advocates and industry representatives, and the fact that we are only 
temporarily staying the effective date until we resolve the pending 
petitions for reconsideration.
    Congressional Review Act. The Commission will not send a copy of 
this Order Staying Effective Date to Congress and the General 
Accounting Office (GAO) pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 
U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), because the Commission is only staying the 
effective date of its rules and this action is not subject to the 
Congressional Review Act.
    Paperwork Reduction. This Order Staying Effective Date does not 
contain new or modified information collection requirements subject to 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. In addition, 
therefore, it does not contain any new or modified ``information 
collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 
employees,'' pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 
2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 3506(ca)(4).).
    Accordingly, it is ordered that the effective date of 47 CFR 
73.670(b) and (c) and Note 1, Sec.  73.671(e) and (f), and Sec.  
76.225(b) and (c) and Note 1 as adopted in the Order in the above-
captioned proceeding is stayed until further notice.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Parts 73 and 76

    Cable, Television.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-799 Filed 1-31-06; 8:45 am]
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