Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 6 / Monday, January 11, 2021 / Notices 1969 

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. Pursuant to the 

Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 

2002, Public Law 107–198, see 44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(4), the FCC seeks specific 

comment on how it might ‘‘further 

reduce the information collection 

burden for small business concerns with 

fewer than 25 employees.’’ 

OMB Control Number: 3060–0761. 

Title: Section 79.1, Closed Captioning 

of Video Programming, CG Docket No. 

05–231. 

Form No.: N/A. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents: Business or other forprofit entities; Individuals or 

households; and Not-for-profit entities. 

Number of Respondents and 

Responses: 64,218 respondents; 521,074 

responses. 

Estimated Time per Response: 0.5 (30 

minutes) to 30 hours. 

Frequency of Response: Annual 

reporting requirement; Third party 

disclosure requirement; Recordkeeping 

requirement. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. The statutory 

authority for this obligation is found at 

section 713 of the Communications Act 

of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 613, and 

implemented at 47 CFR 79.1. 

Total Annual Burden: 727,143 hours. 

Annual Cost Burden: $34,350,444. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

Confidentiality is an issue to the extent 

that individuals and households 

provide personally identifiable 

information, which is covered under the 

FCC’s system of records notice (SORN), 

FCC/CGB–1, ‘‘Informal Complaints, 

Inquiries, and Requests for Dispute 

Assistance.’’ As required by the Privacy 

Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Commission also 

published a SORN, FCC/CGB–1 

‘‘Informal Complaints, Inquiries, and 

Requests for Dispute Assistance’’ in the 

Federal Register on August 15, 2014, 

published at 79 FR 48152, which 

became effective on September 24, 2014. 

Privacy Act Impact Assessment: Yes. 

Needs and Uses: The Commission 

seeks to extend existing information 

collection requirements in its closed 

captioning rules (47 CFR 79.1), which 

require that, with some exceptions, all 

new video programming, and 75 percent 

of ‘‘pre-rule’’ programming, be closed 

captioned. The existing collections 

include petitions by video programming 

providers, producers, and owners for 

exemptions from the closed captioning 

rules, responses by commenters, and 

replies; complaints by viewers alleging 

violations of the closed captioning rules, 

responses by video programming 

distributors (VPDs) and video 

programmers, recordkeeping in support 

of complaint responses, and compliance 

ladder obligations in the event of a 

pattern or trend of violations; 

recordkeeping of monitoring and 

maintenance activities; caption quality 

best practices procedures; making video 

programming distributor contact 

information available to viewers in 

phone directories, on the Commission’s 

website and the websites of video 

programming distributors (if they have 

them), and in billing statements (to the 

extent video programming distributors 

issue them); and video programmers 

filing of contact information and 

compliance certifications with the 

Commission. 

On February 19, 2016, the 

Commission adopted the Closed 

Captioning Quality Second Report and 

Order, published at 81 FR 57473, 

August 23, 2016, amending its rules to 

allocate the responsibilities of VPDs and 

video programmers with respect to the 

provision and quality of closed 

captioning. The Commission took the 

following actions, among others: 

(a) Required video programmers to 

file certifications with the Commission 

that (1) the video programmer (i) is in 

compliance with the rules requiring the 

inclusion of closed captions, and (ii) 

either is in compliance with the 

captioning quality standards or has 

adopted and is following related Best 

Practices; or (2) is exempt from the 

captioning obligation and specifies the 

exemption claimed. 

(b) Revised the procedures for 

receiving, serving, and addressing 

television closed captioning complaints 

in accordance with a burden-shifting 

compliance model. 

(c) Established a compliance ladder 

for the Commission’s television closed 

captioning quality requirements. 

(d) Required VPDs to use the 

Commission’s web form when providing 

contact information to the VPD registry. 

(e) Required video programmers to 

register their contact information with 

the Commission for the receipt and 

handling of written closed captioning 

complaints. 

OMB Control Number: 3060–1171. 

Title: Commercial Advertisement 

Loudness Mitigation (‘‘CALM’’) Act; 

73.682(e) and 76.607(a). 

Form Number: Not applicable. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents: Business or other forprofit entities. 

Number of Respondents and 

Responses: 2,937 respondents and 4,868 

responses. 

Frequency of Response: 

Recordkeeping requirement; Third party 

disclosure requirement; On occasion 

reporting requirement. 

Estimated Time per Response: 0.25– 

80 hours. 

Total Annual Burden: 6,036 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: No cost. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. The statutory 

authority for this collection of 

information is contained in 47 U.S.C. 

151, 152, 154(i) and (j), 303(r) and 621. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

There is no assurance of confidentiality 

provided to respondents with this 

collection of information. 

Privacy Impact Assessment: No 

impact(s). 

Needs and Uses: The Commission 

will use this information to determine 

compliance with the CALM Act. The 

CALM Act mandates that the 

Commission make the Advanced 

Television Systems Committee 

(‘‘ATSC’’) A/85 Recommended Practice 

mandatory for all commercial TV 

stations and cable/multichannel video 

programming distributors (MVPDs). 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene Dortch, 

Secretary, Office of the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00193 Filed 1–8–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

[WC Docket No. 20–89; DA No. 20–1504; 

FRS 17363] 

Wireline Competition Bureau and 

Office of The Managing Director Set 

July 31, 2021 Invoicing Deadline for 

Covid-19 Telehealth Program and 

Provide Post-Program Guidance 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the 

Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) 

establishes an invoicing deadline for the 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program and 

provide COVID–19 Telehealth Program 

funding Awardees with additional 

information on the post-program report. 

DATES: July 31, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit the postprogram report template, identified by 

WC Docket No. 20–89, by the following 

method: 

• Comments must be filed 

electronically using the Federal 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
1970 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 6 / Monday, January 11, 2021 / Notices 

Communications Commission’s 

Electronic Comment Filing System at: 

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/. 

• Effective March 19, 2020, and until 

further notice, the Commission no 

longer accepts any hand or messenger 

delivered filings. This is a temporary 

measure taken to help protect the health 

and safety of individuals, and to 

mitigate the transmission of COVID–19. 

See FCC Announces Closure of FCC 

Headquarters Open Window and 

Change in Hand-Delivery Policy, Public 

Notice, DA 20–304 (March 19, 2020), 

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcccloses-headquarters-open-window-andchanges-hand-delivery-policy. 

• People with Disabilities. To request 

materials in accessible formats for 

people with disabilities (braille, large 

print, electronic files, audio format), 

send an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or call 

the Consumer & Governmental Affairs 

Bureau at 202–418–0530 (voice), 202– 

418–0432 (try). 

For detailed instructions for 

submitting the template and additional 

information on the rulemaking process, 

see the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stephanie Minnock, Assistant Division 

Chief, Telecommunications Access 

Policy Division, Wireline Competition 

Bureau, stephanie.minnock@fcc.gov or 

202–418–7400 or TTY: 202–418–0484. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

synopsis of the Commission’s Public 

Notice in WC Docket No. 20–89; DA 20– 

1504 released December 18, 2020. Due 

to the COVID–19 pandemic, the 

Commission’s headquarters will be 

closed to the general public until further 

notice. The full text of this document is 

available at the following internet 

address: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/ 

attachments/DA-20-1504A1.pdf. For 

more information about the COVID–19 

Telehealth Program, please refer to the 

Commission’s website at www.fcc.gov/ 

covid19telehealth. 

I. Introduction 

The Wireline Competition Bureau 

(WCB) and the Office of the Managing 

Director (OMD) establishes a July 31, 

2021, invoicing deadline for the 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program. Also, 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program funding 

awardees (Awardees) are provided with 

additional information on the postprogram report, which must be filed 

with the Commission no later than 

January 31, 2022. Additionally, 

Awardees are reminded of the program’s 

recordkeeping and auditing 

requirements. 

As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 

and Economic Security Act, Congress 

appropriated $200 million to the 

Federal Communications Commission 

(Commission) ‘‘to support efforts of 

health care providers to address 

coronavirus by providing 

telecommunications services, 

information services, and devices 

necessary to enable the provision of 

telehealth services.’’ On April 2, 2020, 

the Commission established the COVID– 

19 Telehealth Program to administer the 

$200 million in congressionally 

appropriated funding. The Commission 

issued funding awards for 539 

applications from April 16, 2020 

through July 8, 2020, when the 

appropriated $200 million budget was 

exhausted. WCB set an initial deadline 

of September 30, 2020 for Awardees to 

purchase eligible connected devices and 

implement eligible services, but 

extended that deadline to December 31, 

2020, after receiving multiple requests 

from Awardees that needed more time 

to purchase connected devices and/or 

implement services or that were 

experiencing delays. 

II. Discussion 

A. Invoicing Deadline. WCB and OMD 

developed a process for reviewing 

Awardees’ monthly invoicing forms and 

supporting documentation. To further 

facilitate the administration of the 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program, the 

invoicing filing deadline is set for July 

31, 2021. Awardees have until 

December 31, 2020 to purchase eligible 

connected devices and implement 

eligible services, and can receive up to 

six months of support for eligible 

services with monthly recurring 

charges. An invoicing deadline is 

necessary for efficient administration of 

the COVID–19 Telehealth Program and 

provides certainty to Awardees. Thus, 

the deadline of seven months after the 

purchase/implementation deadline of 

December 31, 2020 provides a 

reasonable timeframe for Awardees to 

receive their eligible services and 

connected devices and timely file their 

requests for reimbursement along with 

supporting documentation to the 

Commission. Accordingly, Awardees 

must file their requests for 

reimbursement for the cost of eligible 

connected devices and/or 

telecommunications or information 

services on or before July 31, 2021, in 

order to receive reimbursement for 

eligible expenses under the COVID–19 

Telehealth Program. 

B. Post-Program Report. As part of the 

Report and Order, FCC 20–44, the 

Commission stated that Awardees 

should provide a report to the 

Commission on the effectiveness of the 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program funding 

no later than six months after the 

conclusion of the COVID–19 Telehealth 

Program. Awardees, therefore, should 

submit their post-program reports by 

January 31, 2022—six months after the 

invoicing deadline. These reports will 

provide the Commission with important 

feedback on whether and how the 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program funding 

impacted health outcomes, patient 

treatment, health care facility 

administration, and any other relevant 

aspects of Awardees’ response to 

COVID–19. Appended in the Public 

Notice is a post-program report 

template, which contains a list of 

questions that Awardees should 

respond to when developing their postprogram report. Awardees are 

encouraged to provide any additional 

feedback as part of the post-program 

report. Once completed, Awardees 

should file their completed report(s) in 

WC Docket No. 20–89 in the 

Commission’s electronic comment filing 

system, available at https://

www.fcc.gov/ecfs/. 

C. Program Rules and Reminders. As 

a reminder, Awardees must maintain 

records related to their participation in 

the COVID–19 Telehealth Program for at 

least three years from the last date of 

service under this program to 

demonstrate their compliance with 

program requirements. Awardees must 

present any records related to their 

participation in the COVID–19 

Telehealth Program to the Commission 

or its delegates upon request. Awardees 

may also be subject to compliance 

audits to ensure compliance with rules 

and requirements for the COVID–19 

Telehealth Program. If audited, 

Awardees must provide documentation 

related to their participation in the 

COVID–19 Telehealth Program. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Cheryl L. Callahan, Assistant Chief, 

Telecommunications Access Policy Division, 

Wireline Competition Bureau. 

[FR Doc. 2021–00315 Filed 1–8–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meeting 

TIME AND DATE: Thursday, January 14, 

2021 at 10:00 a.m. 

PLACE: Virtual meeting. Note: Because of 

the covid-19 pandemic, we will conduct 

the open meeting virtually. If you would 

like to access the meeting, see the 

instructions below. 

STATUS: This meeting will be open to the 

public. To access the virtual meeting, go 

to the commission’s website 


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