Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Proposed Rules 8031 

• Written Submissions: You may 

submit written submissions by Fax at 

301–402–0169, or by Mail/Hand 

Delivery/Courier (For paper, disk, or 

CD–ROM submissions) to: Jerry Moore, 

NIH Regulations Officer, Office of 

Management Assessment, 6011 

Executive Boulevard, Suite 601, MSC 

7669, Rockville, MD 20852–7669. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Regulatory Process: Jerry Moore, NIH 

Regulations Officer, Office of 

Management Assessment, Telephone 

(301–496–4607) (not a toll-free number), 

Fax (301–402–0169), or by email at 

jm40z@nih.gov. 

Technical Information: Jerry Sheehan, 

Assistant Director for Policy 

Development, National Library of 

Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 

Department of Health and Human 

Services, Telephone (301–496–6221) 

(not a toll-free number), Fax (301–402– 

2586), or by email at sheehanjr@

nlm.nih.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: HHS 

published a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (NPRM) on Clinical Trials 

Registration and Results Submission in 

the Federal Register on November 21, 

2014 (79 FR 69566). The NPRM 

proposes requirements for submitting 

registration and summary results 

information, including adverse event 

information, for specified clinical trials 

of drugs (including biological products) 

and devices and for pediatric 

postmarket surveillances of a device to 

ClinicalTrials.gov, the clinical trial 

registry and results data bank operated 

by the National Library of Medicine. 

The proposed rule provides for the 

expanded registry and results data bank 

specified in Title VIII of the Food and 

Drug Administration Amendments Act 

of 2007 (FDAAA) to enhance patient 

enrollment, provide a mechanism to 

track subsequent progress of clinical 

trials, provide more complete results 

information, and enhance patient access 

to and understanding of the results of 

clinical trials. The deadline for written 

comments was originally established as 

February 19, 2015. Since the NPRM was 

published, the Department has received 

requests to extend the period for the 

public submission of comments. 

Effective with this notice, we are 

extending the comment period with a 

deadline of 5 p.m. EST on March 23, 

2015. 

NIH published a related request for 

public comments on a draft NIH Policy 

on Dissemination of NIH-Funded 

Clinical Trial Information in the NIH 

Guide for Contracts and Grants (NOT– 

OD–15–019) on November 19, 2014. See 

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/

notice-files/NOT-OD-15-019.html. The 

draft NIH Policy aims to promote broad 

and responsible dissemination of 

information on clinical trials funded by 

the NIH through registration and 

submission of summary results 

information to ClinicalTrials.gov. The 

original deadline for written comments 

on the draft NIH Policy was February 

19, 2015, but the deadline is also being 

extended until 5 p.m. EST on March 23, 

2015. 

Instructions for Submitting 

Comments: We welcome comments 

from the public on all issues set forth in 

the proposed rule, and on specific 

issues identified in the document. All 

submissions received must include the 

agency name, the Docket No., and 

Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 

for this rulemaking. All comments 

received at http://www.regulations.gov 

may be posted without change, 

including any personal information 

provided. The http://

www.regulations.gov Web site is an 

‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which 

means NIH will not know your identity 

or contact information unless you 

provide it in the body of your comment. 

You can assist us in considering your 

comment by referencing the number 

assigned to each key issue discussed in 

section III.C of the preamble or the 

number of the section of this proposed 

rule to which your comment relates. For 

access to background documents or 

comments received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov and insert the 

docket number found in the brackets in 

the heading of this document into the 

‘‘Search’’ box and follow the prompts. 

Dated: January 16, 2015. 

Francis S. Collins, 

Director, National Institutes of Health. 

Approved: February 5, 2015. 

Sylvia Mathews Burwell 

Secretary, HHS. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02990 Filed 2–12–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 25, 73, and 76 

[MB Docket No. 14–127; FCC 14–209] 

Expansion of Online Public File 

Obligations to Cable and Satellite TV 

Operators and Broadcast and Satellite 

Radio Licensees 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: In this document, the 

Commission proposes to expand to 

cable operators, satellite TV providers, 

broadcast radio licensees, and satellite 

radio licensees the requirement that 

public inspection files be posted to the 

FCC’s online database. In 2012, the 

Commission adopted online public file 

rules for broadcast television stations 

that required them to post public file 

documents to a central, FCC-hosted 

online database rather than maintaining 

the files locally at their main studios. 

Now that television broadcasters have 

completed their transition to the online 

file, the Commission believes it is 

appropriate to commence the process of 

expanding the online file to other media 

entities to extend the benefits of 

improved public access to public 

inspection files and, ultimately, reduce 

the burden of maintaining these files. 

DATES: Comments may be filed on or 

before March 16, 2015, and reply 

comments may be filed April 14, 2015. 

Written comments on the proposed 

information collection requirements, 

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 

(PRA) of 1995, Pub. L. 104–13, should 

be submitted on or before April 14, 

2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by MB Docket No. 14–127, by 

any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Federal Communications 

Commission’s Web site: http://

fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Filings can be sent by hand or 

messenger delivery, by commercial 

overnight courier, or by first-class or 

overnight U.S. Postal Service mail. All 

filings must be addressed to the 

Commission’s Secretary, Office of the 

Secretary, Federal Communications 

Commission. 

• People with Disabilities: Contact the 

FCC to request reasonable 

accommodations (accessible format 

documents, sign language interpreters, 

CART, etc.) by email: FCC504@fcc.gov 

or phone: (202) 418–0530 or TTY: (202) 

418–0432. 

In addition to filing comments with 

the Secretary, a copy of any comments 

on the Paperwork Reduction Act 

proposed information collection 

requirements contained herein should 

be submitted to the Federal 

Communications Commission via email 

to PRA@fcc.gov and to Cathy.Williams@

fcc.gov and also to Nicholas A. Fraser, 

Office of Management and Budget, via 

email to Nicholas-A.-Fraser@

omb.eop.gov. For detailed instructions 


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8032 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

for submitting comments and additional 

information on the rulemaking process, 

see the supplementary information 

section of this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kim 

Matthews, Media Bureau, Policy 

Division, 202–418–2154, or email at 

kim.matthews@fcc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

summary of the Commission’s Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), FCC 14– 

209, adopted on December 17, 2014 and 

released on December 18, 2014. The full 

text of this document is available for 

public inspection and copying during 

regular business hours in the FCC 

Reference Center, Federal 

Communications Commission, 445 12th 

Street SW., Room CY–A257, 

Washington, DC 20554. This document 

will also be available via ECFS at 

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/. Documents 

will be available electronically in ASCII, 

Microsoft Word, and/or Adobe Acrobat. 

Alternative formats are available for 

people with disabilities (Braille, large 

print, electronic files, audio format) by 

sending an email to fcc504@fcc.gov or 

calling the Commission’s Consumer and 

Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 

418–0530 (voice), (202) 418–0432 

(TTY). 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

Analysis 

This NPRM contains proposed new 

and modified information collection 

requirements. 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 comment on the 

information collection requirements 

contained in this document, as required 

by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995, Public Law 104–13. 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; (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; 

and (e) ways to further reduce the 

information collection burden on small 

business concerns with fewer than 25 

employees. In addition, pursuant to the 

Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 

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

3506(c)(4), the Commission seeks 

specific comment on how it might 

further reduce the information 

collection burden for small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 employees. 

To view a copy of this information 

collection request (ICR) submitted to 

OMB: (1) Go to the Web page http://

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, 

(2) look for the section of the Web page 

called ‘‘Currently Under Review,’’ (3) 

click on the downward-pointing arrow 

in the ‘‘Select Agency’’ box below the 

‘‘Currently Under Review’’ heading, (4) 

select ‘‘Federal Communications 

Commission’’ from the list of agencies 

presented in the ‘‘Select Agency’’ box, 

(5) click the ‘‘Submit’’ button to the 

right of the ‘‘Select Agency’’ box, (6) 

when the list of FCC ICRs currently 

under review appears, look for the Title 

of this ICR and then click on the ICR 

Reference Number. A copy of the FCC 

submission to OMB will be displayed. 

OMB Control Numbers: 3060–xxxx. 

Title: Sections 25.701, Other DBS 

Public Interest Obligations, and 25.702, 

Other SDARS Public Interest 

Obligations. 

Form Number: None. 

Type of Review: New collection. 

Respondents: Business or other for 

profit entities. 

Number of Respondents and 

Responses: 3 respondents and 3 

responses. 

Estimated Hours per Response: 18 hrs. 

Frequency of Response: On occasion 

reporting requirement, Recordkeeping 

requirement, Third party disclosure 

requirement. 

Total Annual Burden: 54 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: $592. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to be 

obtained or retained for benefits. The 

statutory authority for this information 

collection is contained in sections 154, 

301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 319, 332, 605, 

and 721 of the Communications Act of 

1934, as amended. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

There is no need for confidentiality with 

this collection of information. 

Privacy Act Assessment: The 

Commission prepared a system of 

records notice (SORN), FCC/MB–2, 

‘‘Broadcast Station Public Inspection 

Files,’’ that covers the PII contained in 

the broadcast station public inspection 

files located on the Commission’s Web 

site. The Commission will revise 

appropriate privacy requirements as 

necessary to include any entities and 

information added to the online public 

file in this proceeding. 

Needs and Uses: In FCC 14–209, the 

Commission proposes to expand the 

requirement that public inspection files 

be posted to the FCC-hosted online 

public file database to Direct Broadcast 

Satellite (DBS) providers and Satellite 

Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS) 

licensees, among other entities. The 

Commission’s goal is to make 

information that these entities are 

already required to make publicly 

available more accessible, by placing 

this information online, while also 

reducing costs both for the government 

and the public sector. The public and 

FCC use the information in the public 

file to evaluate information about the 

DBS or SDARS entity’s performance and 

to ensure that the entity is operating 

pursuant to the FCC’s rules. In addition, 

maintenance of political files by DBS 

and SDARS entities enables the public 

to assess money expended and time 

allotted to a political candidate and to 

ensure that equal access was afforded to 

other legally qualified candidates for 

public office. 

OMB Control Numbers: 3060–0214. 

Title: Sections 73.3526 and 73.3527, 

Local Public Inspection Files; Sections 

76.1701 and 73.1943, Political Files. 

Form Numbers: None. 

Type of Review: Revision of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents: Business or other for 

profit entities; Not for profit institutions; 

State, Local or Tribal government; 

Individuals or households. 

Number of Respondents/Responses: 

24,961 respondents; 59,902 responses. 

Estimated Hours per Response: 1–52 

hours per response. 

Frequency of Response: On occasion 

reporting requirement, Recordkeeping 

requirement, Third party disclosure 

requirement. 

Total Annual Burden: 1,860,656 

hours. 

Total Annual Cost: $3,653,372. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. The statutory 

authority for this information collection 

is contained in sections 154, 303, 334, 

336, and 339 of the Communications 

Act of 1934, as amended. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

There is no need for confidentiality with 

this collection of information. 

Privacy Act Assessment: The 

Commission prepared a system of 

records notice (SORN), FCC/MB–2, 

‘‘Broadcast Station Public Inspection 

Files,’’ that covers the PII contained in 

the broadcast station public inspection 

files located on the Commission’s Web 

site. The Commission will revise 

appropriate privacy requirements as 

necessary to include any entities and 

information added to the online public 

file in this proceeding. 

Needs and Uses: In FCC 14–209, the 

Commission proposes to expand the 

requirement that public inspection files 

be posted to the FCC-hosted online 

public file database to commercial and 


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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 30 / Friday, February 13, 2015 / Proposed Rules 8033 

noncommercial broadcast radio 

licensees, among other entities. The 

Commission’s goal is to make 

information that these entities are 

already required to make publicly 

available more accessible, by placing 

this information online, while also 

reducing costs both for the government 

and the public sector. Among other 

things, the public and FCC use the 

information in the public file to evaluate 

information about the broadcast 

licensee’s performance and to ensure 

that the station is addressing issues 

concerning the community which it is 

licensed to serve. In addition, 

maintenance of political files by 

broadcast and cable entities enables the 

public to assess money expended and 

time allotted to a political candidate and 

to ensure that equal access was afforded 

to other legally qualified candidates for 

public office. 

OMB Control Number: 3060–0316. 

Title: 47 CFR Sections 76.1700, 

Records to be maintained locally by 

Cable System Operators; 76.1702, Equal 

Employment Opportunity; 76.1703, 

Commercial Records on Children’s 

Programs; 76.1707, Leased Access; 

76.1711, Emergency Alert System (EAS) 

Tests and Activation. 

Form Number: Not applicable. 

Type of Review: Revision of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents: Business or other for 

profit entities. 

Number of Respondents/Responses: 

3,000 respondents; 3,000 responses. 

Estimated Hours per Response: 18 

hours. 

Frequency of Response: 

Recordkeeping requirement. 

Total Annual Burden: 54,000 hours. 

Total Annual Cost: $591,840. 

Obligation to Respond: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. The statutory 

authority for this information collection 

is contained in Sections 151, 152, 153, 

154, 301, 302, 302a, 303, 303a, 307, 308, 

309, 312, 315, 317, 325, 339, 340, 341, 

503, 521, 522, 531, 532, 534, 535, 536, 

537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 549, 552, 

554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 571, 572, and 

573 of the Communications Act of 1934, 

as amended. 

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: 

There is no need for confidentiality with 

this collection of information. 

Privacy Act Assessment: The 

Commission prepared a system of 

records notice (SORN), FCC/MB–2, 

‘‘Broadcast Station Public Inspection 

Files,’’ that covers the PII contained in 

the broadcast station public inspection 

files located on the Commission’s Web 

site. The Commission will revise 

appropriate privacy requirements as 

necessary to include any entities and 

information added to the online public 

file in this proceeding. 

Needs and Uses: In FCC 14–209, the 

Commission proposes to expand the 

requirement that public inspection files 

be posted to the FCC-hosted online 

public file database to cable operators, 

among other entities. The Commission’s 

goal is to make information that these 

entities are already required to make 

publicly available more accessible, by 

placing this information online, while 

also reducing costs both for the 

government and the public sector. 

Among other things, the public and FCC 

use the information in the public file to 

evaluate information about the 

broadcast licensee’s performance and to 

ensure that the station is addressing 

issues concerning the community which 

it is licensed to serve. In addition, 

maintenance of political files by 

broadcast and cable entities enables the 

public to assess money expended and 

time allotted to a political candidate and 

to ensure that equal access was afforded 

to other legally qualified candidates for 

public office. Section 76.1700 contains 

the recordkeeping requirements 

applicable to cable systems, including 

public inspection file requirements. 

This NPRM proposes to revise Section 

76.1700 to reflect the requirement that 

cable operators maintain their public 

inspection file online on the Web site 

hosted by the FCC. In addition, this 

NPRM proposes a reorganization of 

Section 76.1700 to more clearly address 

which records must be maintained in 

the public inspection file versus those 

that must be made available to the 

Commission or franchising authority 

upon request. Among other changes, the 

Commission proposes to clarify that 

proof-of-performance test data and 

signal leakage logs and repair data must 

be made available only to the 

Commission and, in the case of proofof-performance test data, also to the 

franchisor, and not to the public. 

Accordingly, this information would not 

be required to be included in the public 

inspection file or in the online public 

inspection file. 

Summary of the Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking 

I. Introduction 

1. In this Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (‘‘NPRM’’), we propose to 

expand to cable operators, satellite TV 

(also referred to as ‘‘Direct Broadcast 

Satellite’’ or ‘‘DBS’’) providers, 

broadcast radio licensees, and satellite 

radio (also referred to as ‘‘Satellite 

Digital Audio Radio Services’’ or 

‘‘SDARS’’) licensees the requirement 

that public inspection files be posted to 

the FCC’s online database. In 2012, we 

adopted online public file rules for 

broadcast television stations that 

required them to post public file 

documents to a central, FCC-hosted 

online database rather than maintaining 

the files locally at their main studios. 

Standardized and Enhanced Disclosure 

Requirements for Television Broadcast 

Licensee Public Interest Obligations, 

Second Report and Order, 77 FR 27631 

(May 11, 2012) (‘‘Second Report and 

Order’’). Our goal was to modernize the 

procedures television broadcasters use 

to inform the public about how they are 

serving their communities, to make 

information concerning broadcast 

service more accessible to the public 

and, over time, to reduce the cost of 

broadcasters’ compliance. We initiate 

this proceeding to extend our 

modernization effort to include the 

public file documents that cable 

operators, DBS providers, and broadcast 

and satellite radio licensees are required 

to maintain. While the Commission first 

included only television broadcasters in 

its public file database to ‘‘ease the 

initial implementation of the online 

public file,’’ television broadcasters 

have successfully transitioned to the 

online file over the past two years. 

Accordingly, we now believe it is 

appropriate to commence the process of 

expanding the online file to other media 

entities in order to extend the benefits 

of improved public access to public 

inspection files and, ultimately, reduce 

the burden on these other entities of 

maintaining these files. 

II. Background 

2. One of a broadcaster’s fundamental 

public interest obligations is to air 

programming responsive to the needs 

and interests of its community of 

license. To ensure that stations meet 

this obligation, the Commission relies 

on viewers and listeners as an important 

source of information about the nature 

of a station’s programming, operations, 

and compliance with Commission rules. 

To provide the public with access to 

information about station operations, 

the Commission’s rules have long 

required television and radio broadcast 

stations to maintain a physical public 

inspection file, including a political file, 

at their respective stations or 

headquarters and to place in the file 

records that provide information about 

station operations. The purpose of the 

public inspection file requirement is to 

‘‘make information to which the public 

already has a right more readily 

available, so that the public will be 

encouraged to play a more active part in 

dialogue with broadcast licensees.’’ 


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3. The Commission promulgated its 

first political file rule in 1938. That 

initial rule was essentially identical to 

our current political file regulation in its 

requirement that the file be available for 

public inspection and include both 

candidate requests for time and the 

disposition of those requests, including 

the ‘‘charges made’’ for the broadcast 

time. In 1965, following action by 

Congress to allow greater public 

participation in the broadcast licensing 

process, the Commission adopted a 

broader public inspection file rule to 

enable local inspection of broadcast 

applications, reports, and related 

documents. The Commission noted that 

Congress’ actions ‘‘zealously guarded 

the rights of the general public to be 

informed’’ and that the Commission’s 

goal was to make ‘‘practically accessible 

to the public information to which it is 

entitled.’’ 

4. Cable, DBS, and SDARS entities 

also have public and political file 

requirements modeled, in large part, on 

the longstanding broadcast 

requirements. In 1974, the Commission 

adopted a public inspection file 

requirement for cable, noting that ‘‘[i]f 

the public is to play an informed role in 

the regulation of cable television, it 

must have at least basic information 

about a local system’s operations and 

proposals.’’ The Commission also noted 

that ‘‘[r]equiring cable systems to 

maintain a public file merely follows 

our policy for broadcast licensees and is 

necessary for similar reasons’’ and that 

‘‘[t]hrough greater disclosure we hope to 

encourage a greater interaction between 

the Commission, the public, and the 

cable industry.’’ With respect to DBS 

providers, the Commission adopted 

public and political inspection file 

requirements in 1998 in conjunction 

with the imposition of certain public 

interest obligations, including political 

broadcasting requirements, on those 

entities. DBS providers were required to 

‘‘abide by political file obligations 

similar to those requirements placed on 

terrestrial broadcasters and cable 

systems’’ and were also required to 

maintain a public file with records 

relating to other DBS public interest 

obligations. Finally, the Commission 

imposed equal employment opportunity 

and political broadcast requirements on 

SDARS licensees in 1997, noting that 

the rationale behind imposing these 

requirements on broadcasters also 

applies to satellite radio. 

5. In 2002, Congress adopted the 

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 

(‘‘BCRA’’) which amended the political 

file requirements in section 315 of the 

Communications Act of 1934. 47 U.S.C. 

315. The amendments apply to 

broadcast television, cable, and DBS. 

The BCRA essentially codified the 

Commission’s existing political file 

obligations by requiring that 

information regarding any request to 

purchase advertising time made on 

behalf of a legally qualified candidate 

for public office be placed in the 

political file. In addition, the BCRA 

expanded political file obligations by 

requiring that television, cable, and DBS 

entities also place in the political file 

information related to any 

advertisements that discuss a ‘‘political 

matter of national importance,’’ 

including in the case of an issue 

advertisement the name of the person or 

entity purchasing the time and a list of 

the chief executive officers or members 

of the executive committee or of the 

board of directors of any such entity. 

A. Online Public File 

6. In 2012 the Commission replaced 

the decades-old requirement that 

commercial and noncommercial 

television stations maintain public files 

at their main studios with a requirement 

to post most of the documents in those 

files to a central, online public file 

hosted by the Commission. See Second 

Report and Order, 77 FR 27631 (May 11, 

2012). As noted above, the 

Commission’s goals were to modernize 

the procedures television broadcasters 

use to inform the public about how they 

are serving their communities, make 

information concerning broadcast 

service more accessible to the public, 

and reduce broadcasters’ cost of 

compliance. The television online 

public file rules were the culmination of 

a more than decade-long effort to make 

information regarding how a television 

broadcast station serves the public 

interest ‘‘easier to understand and more 

accessible,’’ ‘‘promote discussion 

between the licensee and its 

community,’’ and ‘‘lessen the need for 

government involvement in ensuring 

that a station is meeting its public 

interest obligation.’’ 

7. In June 2011, the Commission staff 

released ‘‘The Information Needs of 

Communities’’ Report (‘‘INC Report’’), a 

comprehensive report on the current 

state of the media landscape created by 

a working group including Commission 

staff, scholars, and consultants. See 

www.fcc.gov/infoneedsreport. The INC 

Report discussed both the need to 

empower citizens to ensure that 

broadcasters serve their communities in 

exchange for the use of public spectrum, 

and the need to remove unnecessary 

burdens on broadcasters who aim to 

serve their communities. The INC 

Report recommended an online system 

for public inspection files in order to 

ensure greater public access. The INC 

Report further suggested that 

governments at all levels collect and 

publish data in forms that make it easy 

for citizens, entrepreneurs, software 

developers, and reporters to access and 

analyze information to enable them to 

present the data in more useful formats, 

and noted that greater transparency by 

government and media companies can 

help reduce the cost of reporting, 

empower consumers, and foster 

innovation. 

8. Based upon commenter 

suggestions, in the Second Report and 

Order the Commission determined that 

each television station’s entire public 

file would be hosted online by the 

Commission. The Commission took a 

number of steps to minimize the burden 

of the online file on stations. 

Broadcasters were required to upload 

only those items required to be in the 

public file but not otherwise filed with 

the Commission or available on the 

Commission’s Web site. Any document 

or information required to be kept in the 

public file and that is required to be 

filed with the Commission 

electronically in the Consolidated 

DataBase System (‘‘CDBS’’) is imported 

to the online public file and updated by 

the Commission. In addition, television 

stations were not required to upload 

their existing political files to the online 

file; rather, stations were required only 

to upload new political file content on 

a going-forward basis. Because of 

privacy concerns, stations also were not 

required to upload letters and emails 

from the public to the online file; rather, 

they must continue to retain them in a 

correspondence file at the main studio. 

9. In addition, to smooth the 

transition for both television stations 

and the Commission and to allow 

smaller broadcasters additional time to 

begin posting their political files online, 

the Commission phased-in the new 

political file posting requirement. 

Stations affiliated with the top four 

national networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and 

Fox) and licensed to serve communities 

in the top 50 Designated Market Areas 

(‘‘DMAs’’) were required to begin 

posting their political file documents 

online starting August 2, 2012, but other 

stations were exempted from posting 

their political file documents online 

until July 1, 2014. In the Second Report 

and Order, the Commission also 

rejected several proposals in the FNPRM 

to increase public file requirements in 

conjunction with implementation of the 

online file. Rather, the Commission 

determined that stations would be 

required to place in their online files 

only material that is already required to 

be placed in their local files. 


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10. The Commission stated in the 

Second Report and Order that it was 

deferring consideration of whether to 

adopt online posting for radio licensees 

and multichannel video programming 

distributors (‘‘MVPDs’’) until it had 

gained experience with online posting 

of public files of television broadcasters. 

The Commission noted that starting the 

online public file process with the much 

smaller number of television licensees, 

rather than with all broadcasters and 

MVPDs, would ‘‘ease the initial 

implementation of the online public 

file.’’ In response to the FNPRM, a group 

of public television licensees requested 

that the Commission permit NCE radio 

stations, or at least those licensed to the 

same entity as, or under common 

control with, an NCE–TV station, to 

maintain their public inspection files 

online on the Commission’s Web site on 

a voluntary basis. While the 

Commission declined to grant this 

request, it stated that ‘‘as we and the 

broadcasting industry gain more 

experience with the online public file 

we will revisit the possibility of 

allowing stations not required to use the 

online public file to use it on a 

voluntary basis.’’ In addition, the 

Commission delegated to the 

Commission staff ‘‘the authority to 

allow (but not require) radio stations to 

voluntarily post their public files at 

such time the staff determines that such 

an option is feasible and desirable.’’ To 

date, the Commission staff has not made 

this option available to radio stations, 

instead focusing initially on ensuring 

that the database was functioning 

smoothly and was capable of handling 

the increase in volume once all 

television stations were required to use 

the online file beginning July 1, 2014. 

B. Petition for Rulemaking 

11. In July 2014, the Campaign Legal 

Center, Common Cause, and the 

Sunlight Foundation (collectively, 

‘‘Petitioners’’ or ‘‘CLC’’) filed a joint 

Petition for Rulemaking requesting that 

the Commission initiate a rulemaking to 

expand to cable and satellite systems 

the requirement that public and 

political file documents be posted to the 

FCC’s online database. See Campaign 

Legal Center, et al., Petition for 

Rulemaking, MB Docket No. 14–127, at 

1 (July 31, 2014) (‘‘Petition’’). The 

Petitioners argue that cable and satellite 

services have increasingly become 

outlets for political advertising. 

According to Petitioners, political 

spending on cable is projected to 

constitute as much as 25 percent of total 

projected political television spending 

in the 2014 election cycle. Petitioners 

also assert that, due to advances in 

technology, satellite television providers 

are preparing to sell household-specific 

‘‘addressable advertising,’’ a feature that 

has attracted interest from advertising 

campaigns. Petitioners assert that 

moving the television public file online 

has resulted in ‘‘unquestionably 

substantial’’ public benefits, which 

would also arise if cable and satellite 

systems were required to upload their 

public and political files online. In 

addition, Petitioners argue that 

television broadcasters experienced few 

problems moving to the online file, and 

cable and satellite systems would also 

likely not be burdened by the online 

filing requirement. 

12. On August 7, 2014, the Media 

Bureau issued a Public Notice seeking 

comment on the Petition and, in 

addition, on whether it should initiate 

a rulemaking to expand online public 

file obligations to broadcast radio 

stations. See Public Notice, Commission 

Seeks Comment on Petition for 

Rulemaking Filed by the Campaign 

Legal Center, Common Cause, and the 

Sunlight Foundation Seeking Expansion 

of Online Public File Obligations to 

Cable and Satellite TV Operators, 

Bureau Also Seeks Comment on 

Expanding Online Public File 

Obligations to Radio Licensees, 79 FR 

51136–01 (August 27, 2014)(‘‘Public 

Notice’’). The National Association of 

Broadcasters (‘‘NAB’’) filed comments 

supporting the extension of the online 

public file to cable and satellite 

providers, stating that there is ‘‘no 

rational basis’’ for requiring television 

broadcasters, but not their competitors 

in the video marketplace, to disclose 

public and political file material online. 

The National Cable & 

Telecommunications Association 

(‘‘NCTA’’) argued that, if the 

Commission were to open a proceeding 

to expand online file obligations, it 

should examine how to tailor any online 

posting requirements to minimize 

burdens on cable operators and avoid 

requiring them to upload files of little 

interest to the public. With respect to 

radio, while CLC and the American 

Public Media Group supported the 

initiation of a rulemaking to require all 

radio stations to post their public and 

political files to the FCC’s online 

database, the majority of commenters 

addressing this issue either objected to 

extending the online filing requirement 

to radio and/or argued that the 

Commission should carefully consider 

the financial burden on struggling radio 

stations as well as the technical and 

financial challenges to the FCC that 

would be posed by expanding the 

online file to include radio. In addition, 

a number of commenters also argued 

that extending the online public file to 

radio at this time is premature and that, 

at most, the Commission should first 

consider a voluntary online public file 

for radio before mandating online filing. 

III. Discussion 

13. We propose to adopt a phased-in 

approach to expanding the online file 

requirements to cable and DBS 

providers and broadcast and satellite 

radio entities. The implementation of 

the television online file represents a 

significant achievement in the 

Commission’s ongoing effort to 

modernize disclosure procedures to 

improve access to public file material. 

Since it was launched on August 2, 

2012, more than 650,000 documents 

have been successfully uploaded into 

the online file, and the site has 

generated close to six million page 

views. Despite initial concerns, NAB 

characterized the first wave of 

implementation as ‘‘uneventful.’’ As of 

July 1, 2014, all television broadcast 

stations have fully transitioned to the 

online file and, with this transition now 

complete, it is time to seek comment on 

expanding the online file to encompass 

cable, satellite, and radio public file 

material. 

14. As the Commission stated in the 

Second Report and Order, this 

modernization of the public inspection 

file is ‘‘plain common sense.’’ The 

evolution of the Internet and the spread 

of broadband infrastructure have 

transformed the way society accesses 

information today. It is no longer 

reasonable to require the public to incur 

the substantial expense and 

inconvenience of traveling to a station 

or headquarters’ office to review the 

public file and make paper copies when 

a centralized, online file would permit 

review with a quick and essentially 

costless Internet search. 

A. Benefits of Expanding the Online 

Public File 

15. Our goal in this proceeding is to 

modernize the outdated procedures for 

providing public access to cable, DBS, 

radio, and SDARS files in a manner that 

avoids unnecessary burdens on these 

entities. By taking advantage of the 

efficiencies made possible by digital 

technology, we intend to make 

information that cable and DBS 

providers and broadcast and satellite 

radio licensees are already required to 

make publicly available more accessible 

while also reducing costs both for the 

government and the private sector. The 

Internet is an effective, low-cost means 

of maintaining contact with, and 

distributing information to, viewers and 


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listeners. Placing the public file online 

will permit 24-hour access from any 

location, without requiring a visit to the 

site where the paper file is maintained, 

thereby improving access to information 

about how cable, satellite, and radio 

entities are serving their communities 

and meeting their public interest 

obligations. As the Commission stated 

in the Second Report and Order, the 

public benefits of posting public file 

information online, while difficult to 

quantify with exactitude, are 

unquestionably substantial. 

16. Expansion of the online public file 

to more media is particularly important 

with respect to improving public access 

to political files. As Petitioners point 

out, political advertising is increasingly 

shifting from broadcast television to 

cable and satellite television, and the 

advent of technological advances such 

as addressable advertising are likely to 

further this trend. Political advertising 

on radio is also on the rise. According 

to CLC, political advertising 

expenditures on radio in 2012 ranked 

third behind spending on broadcast 

television and cable and could reach as 

high as 7 percent of overall spending on 

political advertising in 2014. Adding 

cable, satellite television, and broadcast 

and satellite radio political file material 

to the existing television online 

database would facilitate public access 

to disclosure records for all these media 

and allow the public to view and 

analyze political advertising 

expenditures more easily in each market 

as well as nationwide. 

17. We propose to take the same 

general approach to transitioning cable, 

DBS, broadcast radio, and SDARS to the 

online file that the Commission took 

with television broadcasters, tailoring 

the requirements as necessary to the 

different services. We also propose to 

take similar measures to minimize the 

effort and cost entities must undertake 

to move their public files online. 

Specifically, we propose to require 

entities only to upload to the online file 

public file documents that are not 

already on file with the Commission or 

that the Commission maintains in its 

own database. We also propose to 

exempt existing political file material 

from the online file requirement and to 

require only that political file 

documents be uploaded on a goingforward basis. 

18. With only minor exceptions— 

requiring cable operators to provide 

information about the geographic areas 

they serve, clarifying the documents 

required to be included in the cable 

public file, and requiring cable, DBS, 

broadcast radio, and SDARS entities to 

provide the location and contact 

information for their local file—we do 

not propose new or modified public 

inspection file requirements in this 

proceeding. Our goal is simply to adapt 

our existing public file requirements to 

an online format. We seek comment on 

this approach. While we propose to 

place the entire public file online, we 

invite comment on whether we should 

instead require only that certain 

components of the public file be placed 

on the Commission’s online database. 

We note that limiting online file 

requirements to certain components of 

the public file would require entities to 

upload certain documents and maintain 

others in the local public file, thereby 

potentially imposing a greater burden 

than moving documents to the online 

file over time. We seek comment on 

these issues. One benefit of this 

proceeding, however, is to ensure that, 

within a short timeframe, there will be 

less need for the public to visit the 

affected entities, which will enable such 

entities to improve security and 

minimize risks to employees. We seek 

comment on these issues, including 

ways to further reduce the burdens of 

the public file and limit visits to the 

affected entities. 

B. Expansion of the Online File to 

Broadcast Radio 

19. While no commenter responding 

to the Public Notice opposed the 

extension of the online public file to 

cable or DBS providers, as discussed 

above a number of commenters either 

opposed imposing online public file 

obligations on broadcast radio or urged 

the Commission carefully to consider a 

number of obstacles unique to radio 

before requiring radio stations to use the 

online file. In general, these commenters 

argue that many radio stations are very 

small and have limited financial 

resources and small staffs. Some argue 

that, for many stations, the additional 

responsibility of maintaining an online 

file would take time and resources that 

would be better devoted to providing 

local programming and information. 

Other commenters note that many small 

stations already face significant 

economic challenges simply to stay on 

the air and might be unable to withstand 

any additional financial pressure an 

online public file obligation would 

impose. Finally, some commenters 

argue that local radio listeners that 

might be interested in accessing the 

current public file can do so easily. 

These commenters contend that moving 

the public file online would not 

improve access for current listeners but 

only encourage complaints from 

advocacy groups and that responding to 

these complaints would further strain 

stations’ limited resources. 

20. In the television online public file 

proceeding, the Commission rejected 

similar arguments regarding the burden 

an online file requirement would pose 

and concluded that the benefits of the 

online file outweighed any potential 

burden. The Commission also took a 

number of steps to minimize the costs 

of moving public files online, most of 

which we propose to take in this 

proceeding as well. With respect to 

radio, we recognize that concerns 

regarding the potential cost of an online 

public file requirement carry more 

weight, particularly for very small radio 

stations, which may struggle financially 

and have fewer resources than small 

television stations. While we believe 

that moving toward an online public file 

makes sense in today’s world for all 

entities that currently have public file 

requirements, we are committed to 

considering carefully all concerns raised 

in this proceeding with respect to 

potential online file requirements. With 

respect to broadcast radio licensees, as 

discussed further below, we propose to 

commence the transition to an online 

file with commercial stations in larger 

markets with five or more full-time 

employees, while postponing 

temporarily all online file requirements 

for other radio stations. We believe that 

this approach addresses the concerns 

raised by commenters and will help 

ensure that the transition to the online 

file is not unduly burdensome. 

21. We reject the argument that we 

should not expand the online file 

requirement to broadcast radio because 

doing so will benefit only non-local 

advocacy groups. Making the file 

available online will make it easier for 

the public generally to access the file, 

including local listeners, and will give 

the Commission and the public the 

information needed to evaluate whether 

stations are meeting their 

responsibilities to their local 

community. 

C. Online File Capacity and Technical 

Issues 

22. We recognize that adding cable, 

DBS, broadcast radio, and SDARS 

entities to the Commission’s online file 

will greatly increase the number of users 

of the file and the volume of material 

that must be uploaded. NAB notes that, 

if radio stations are required to use the 

online file, there could be more than 

17,500 broadcast entities uploading 

quarterly issues/programs lists on the 

same four dates in a year. In addition, 

we recognize that there is likely to be a 

heavy demand on the online file during 

peak political seasons, when many 


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broadcast stations take new advertising 

orders and modify existing orders on a 

daily basis. NAB urges the Commission 

to consider increasing its online 

capacity to accommodate the significant 

increase in network traffic that will 

occur when a large number of filings 

must be uploaded on the same date and 

consider ways to stagger filings to 

relieve network congestion. Other 

commenters argue the Commission 

should consider expanding the 

traditional 10-day filing window for 

many broadcast reports to a 30-day 

filing window to place less stress on the 

database. We seek comment on these 

proposals to stagger or otherwise alter 

filing deadlines and any other 

suggestions for ways in which the 

Commission could improve 

performance of its online public file 

database. 

23. The Commission noted in the 

Second Report and Order that allowing 

the use of private web hosting services 

in connection with the online file would 

allow for greater station efficiencies. As 

several commenters note, work to 

establish an interface between the 

online file database and web hosting 

services has not yet been finished. Once 

work on this interface is completed, we 

anticipate that this would enable an 

entity to establish a link between its 

own privately-maintained electronic file 

database at the system or station to 

enable automatic synchronization with 

the database hosted at the FCC. We 

recognize that web hosting services 

could assist many entities with their 

obligation to maintain the online public 

file, particularly smaller entities, and 

continue to examine issues related to 

implementation of such services. We 

also intend to investigate adding the 

capability to permit entities to upload 

documents to multiple online files using 

a single upload. 

24. Television stations are not 

required to upload material to the 

online file that is already filed with the 

Commission or available on a 

Commission database, and we propose 

to take a similar approach with respect 

to cable, DBS, broadcast radio, and 

SDARS entities. Broadcast radio 

licensees, like television broadcasters, 

file material electronically with the 

Commission via CDBS (which is 

currently being migrated to LMS), 

which is already connected to the 

online public file. Filings and data 

concerning cable systems, however, are 

currently maintained in the 

Commission’s Cable Operations and 

Licensing System (‘‘COALS’’) database, 

which does not currently interface with 

the Commission’s online file database. 

The Commission intends to create a 

connection between this database and 

the online file database as appropriate 

and plans to complete that process 

before the effective date of any cable 

online filing requirement that may be 

adopted in this proceeding. 

D. Proposed Online File Rules for Cable, 

DBS, Broadcast Radio, and SDARS 

25. In general, we propose to adopt a 

similar approach with respect to cable, 

DBS, broadcast and satellite radio 

online file requirements as we did for 

the television online file. Specifically, 

we propose that these entities’ entire 

public files be hosted online by the 

Commission and that entities be 

responsible for uploading only items 

now required to be in the public file but 

not otherwise filed with the 

Commission or available on the 

Commission’s Web site. As with the 

television online file, we propose that 

the Commission itself upload to the 

online public file material that is 

already on file with the Commission or 

that currently resides in a Commission 

database. 

26. Political file. With respect to the 

political file, we also propose that cable 

operators, broadcast radio licensees, 

DBS operators, and SDARS entities not 

be required to upload their existing 

political files to the online file. Instead, 

as we required with television licensees, 

we propose that these entities be 

permitted to maintain at the station 

those documents already in place in 

their political file at the time the new 

rules become effective, and only upload 

documents to the online political files 

on a going-forward basis. Under this 

proposal, existing political file material 

must be retained in the local political 

file at the station or cable system for the 

remainder of the two-year retention 

period. Exempting existing political file 

material from the online file will 

substantially reduce the burden of 

transitioning to the online public file 

while allowing online access to the 

political file material most likely to be 

of interest to the public. The retention 

period for the political file for cable, 

DBS, and radio is two years, similar to 

the political file retention period for 

television stations. Consequently, as the 

Commission noted in the Second Report 

and Order, exempting the existing 

political file will require entities to 

continue to maintain this file locally 

only for a relatively short period. 

Consistent with the requirement we 

imposed on television broadcasters in 

the Second Report and Order, we also 

propose that, following the effective 

date of the new rules, cable, DBS, 

broadcast radio, and SDARS entities be 

required to upload new records to their 

online political file immediately absent 

unusual circumstances. We seek 

comment generally on these proposals. 

27. Organization. In light of the 

expansion of the online file we propose 

herein, we invite comment on any steps 

we might take to improve the 

organization of the online file and 

facilitate the uploading and 

downloading of material. With respect 

to the television online political file, the 

Commission designed an organizational 

structure of folders and subfolders that 

ensures that the contents of the files are 

orderly as required by our rules. Each 

political file is first organized by year, 

then by type. Beyond that, we 

‘‘populated’’ some additional subfolders 

by creating folders for major races and 

jurisdictions. The Commission then 

provided stations with the ability to 

create additional subfolders and 

subcategories for specific candidates, or 

other organizing structure, in 

compliance with their own practices. 

We intend to take the same approach in 

designing the online political file for 

cable, DBS, broadcast radio, and SDARS 

entities, and invite comment on this 

approach. We expect entities required to 

upload material to the online political 

file to do so in an organized manner so 

that candidates and members of public 

seeking information can easily navigate 

it. 

28. Compliance dates. We intend to 

give entities sufficient time to 

familiarize themselves with the online 

public file before the effective date of 

any posting requirement. With respect 

to documents required to be placed in 

the file on a ‘‘going forward’’ basis, 

television stations were required to 

begin using the online public file upon 

the effective date of the Second Report 

and Order, which was 30 days after the 

Commission announced in the Federal 

Register that OMB had completed its 

review under the Paperwork Reduction 

Act and had approved the information 

collection. Should we follow the same 

timeline for documents required to be 

placed in the file on a ‘‘going forward’’ 

basis in this proceeding? 

29. With respect to existing public file 

materials, we also seek comment on the 

amount of time we should provide 

entities to upload these documents to 

the online public file. Television 

stations were given six months from the 

effective date of the Second Report and 

Order to complete the uploading 

process. Is this amount of time sufficient 

for cable, DBS, and broadcast and 

satellite radio? Should we adopt a 

staggered date by service (cable, DBS, 

broadcast radio, and SDARS) or by some 

other basis? Should any of these entities 

be given more time to upload existing 


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files? We note that we propose below to 

temporarily exempt radio stations in 

smaller markets from online public file 

requirements, and seek comment on 

whether also to temporarily exempt 

stations with few employees. We 

propose to permit these stations to 

commence uploading material to the 

online file early on a voluntary basis. 

This would provide these radio stations 

with more time to upload existing 

public file material and to budget for 

any additional cost or staff resources 

necessary to accomplish this task. 

30. Back-up files. In addition, 

consistent with the approach the 

Commission took in the Second Report 

and Order, we propose that cable, DBS, 

and broadcast and satellite radio entities 

not be required to maintain back-up 

copies of all public file materials. 

Instead, as we do for the television 

online file, the Commission itself will 

create a mirror copy of each public file 

daily to ensure that, if the data in the 

online public file are compromised, the 

file can be reconstituted using the backup copy. If the Commission’s online file 

becomes temporarily inaccessible for 

the uploading of new documents, we 

will require entities to maintain those 

documents and upload them to the file 

once it is available again for upload. 

However, consistent with the approach 

taken with respect to television 

broadcasters, we propose that cable, 

DBS, and all radio entities be required 

to maintain local back-up files for the 

political file to ensure that they can 

comply with their statutory obligation to 

make that information available to 

candidates, the public, and others as 

soon as possible. Stations will only be 

required to make these backups 

available if and during such rare times 

as the Commission’s online public file 

is unavailable and the Commission has 

tools available to entities that will 

minimize any burden caused by this 

requirement. We seek comment on this 

approach. 

31. Format. The Commission 

determined in the Second Report and 

Order that it would not establish 

specific formatting requirements for 

documents posted to the online file and 

we do not anticipate changes to that 

approach at this time. We propose to 

require cable, DBS, and broadcast and 

satellite radio entities to upload any 

electronic documents in their existing 

format to the extent feasible; we will 

then display the documents in both the 

uploaded format and in a pdf version. 

To the extent that a required document 

already exists in a searchable format, we 

propose to require these entities to 

upload the filing in that format to the 

extent technically feasible. We seek 

comment on these proposals. 

32. Announcements and links. 

Consistent with the Commission’s 

approach in the Second Report and 

Order, we propose to require cable 

operators, DBS providers, and broadcast 

and satellite radio licensees that have 

Web sites to place a link to the online 

public file on their home pages. We also 

propose that these entities that have 

Web sites include on their home page 

contact information for a representative 

who can assist any person with 

disabilities with issues related to the 

content of the public file. We do not 

propose that cable and DBS operators or 

broadcast or satellite radio stations be 

required to make on-air announcements 

regarding the change in location of their 

public file. As required of television 

stations in the Second Report and 

Order, however, we propose to require 

radio stations to revise their on-air preand post-filing renewal announcements 

to reflect the availability of a station’s 

renewal application on the 

Commission’s Web site, as reflected in 

Appendix B. We invite comment on 

these proposals. 

33. Location of public inspection file 

and designated contact information. As 

the Commission required with respect 

to television stations, we also propose 

that cable and DBS operators and 

broadcast and satellite radio licensees 

be required to provide information in 

the online public file about the location 

of the local public file and the 

individual who may be contacted for 

questions about the file. This 

information would be provided when 

the operator or licensee first establishes 

its online public file, but should be 

updated if and when staffing or location 

changes occur. We believe this 

information is necessary to inform the 

public of the location of the existing 

political file (until its retention period 

expires in two years), which will be 

publicly available at the local public file 

location, as well as the correspondence 

folder retained by commercial 

broadcasters. We seek comment on this 

proposal. 

34. EEO materials. In the Second 

Report and Order, we continued to 

require that television stations make 

their EEO materials available on their 

Web sites, if they have one, and we 

propose to take the same approach in 

this proceeding with respect to cable 

operators, DBS providers, and broadcast 

and satellite radio licensees. Similar to 

television stations, we propose to permit 

these entities to fulfill this Web site 

posting requirement by providing, on 

their own Web site, a link to the EEO 

materials on their online public file 

page on the Commission’s Web site. We 

seek comment on this proposal. 

35. No major changes to public file 

obligations. Finally, with only minor 

exceptions, we do not propose to 

impose new public file obligations on 

cable, DBS, or broadcast or satellite 

radio entities in connection with this 

transition to the online public file. 

While we propose below a 

reorganization of the existing cable 

public file rules for purposes of 

clarification and seek comment on other 

minor changes to those rules, our 

intention for purposes of the initial 

transition to a centralized, online file for 

cable operators, DBS providers, and 

broadcast and satellite radio licensees is 

to simply adapt our existing 

requirements to the online file format. 

We seek comment generally on these 

proposals. 

36. OVS. We note that Open Video 

System (‘‘OVS’’) operators have several 

public file obligations. Should OVS 

operators be required to make this 

information available on the 

Commission’s online public file 

database, or is it sufficient that this 

information be made available by the 

operator locally? How can we identify 

those entities that do not have Physical 

System IDs (‘‘PSIDs’’) or facility ID 

numbers? 

E. Requirements and Issues Unique to 

Each Service 

37. Certain issues related to the online 

public file requirement are unique to 

each service. Accordingly, we address 

each service separately below and also 

address whether and how to phase-in 

certain requirements for each service. 

1. Cable Public Inspection File 

a. Current Rules 

38. The FCC’s rules regarding records 

to be maintained by cable systems 

distinguish between records that must 

be retained for inspection by the public 

and those that must be made available 

to Commission representatives or local 

franchisors only. The rules also impose 

different recordkeeping requirements 

based on the number of subscribers to 

the cable system. Operators of cable 

systems with fewer than 1,000 

subscribers are exempt from many 

public inspection file requirements, 

including the political file, sponsorship 

identification, EEO records, and records 

regarding children’s commercial 

programming. Operators of systems with 

between 1,000 and 5,000 subscribers 

must provide certain information ‘‘upon 

request’’ but must also ‘‘maintain for 

public inspection’’ a political file, while 

operators of systems having 5,000 or 


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more subscribers must ‘‘maintain for 

public inspection’’ a political file and 

records regarding, among other things, 

sponsorship identification, EEO, and 

children’s programming commercials. 

The rules state that the public 

inspection file must be maintained ‘‘at 

the office which the system operator 

maintains for the ordinary collection of 

subscriber charges, resolution of 

subscriber complaints, and other 

business or at any accessible place in 

the community served by the system 

unit(s).’’ 

39. Cable system political file 

requirements are similar to those for 

television stations. The political file 

must contain a ‘‘complete and orderly 

record . . . of all requests for cablecast 

time made by or on behalf of a 

candidate for public office’’ including 

the disposition of such requests. The file 

must also show the ‘‘schedule of time 

purchased, when spots actually aired, 

the rates charged, and the classes of 

time purchased.’’ With respect to issue 

advertisements, the file must disclose 

the name of the purchasing organization 

and a list of the board of directors. 

These records must be filed 

‘‘immediately absent unusual 

circumstances,’’ and must be retained 

for at least two years. 

b. Proposed Online Public File 

Requirements 

(i) Content Required To Be Maintained 

in the Online File 

40. As discussed above, consistent 

with the rules we adopted for television 

broadcasters, we propose to require that 

cable operators upload to the online 

public file all documents and 

information that are required to be in 

the public file but which are not also 

filed in COALS or maintained by the 

Commission on its own Web site. The 

Commission proposes to import these 

latter documents or information into the 

online public file itself. 

41. We note that the only document 

that cable operators file with the 

Commission that must also be retained 

in their public inspection files is the 

EEO program annual report, which we 

propose that the Commission upload to 

the online file. Cable operators are not 

required to maintain in their public 

inspection files documents similar to 

The Public and Broadcasting manual, 

which television and radio broadcasters 

must retain in their public files and 

which the Commission makes available 

to the online file for television stations 

and will make available to the online 

file for radio stations. Accordingly, as 

the Commission maintains very few 

documents cable operators must retain 

in their public inspection files, most 

documents in the cable online file will 

be required to be uploaded by cable 

operators themselves. 

42. Certain information that must be 

included in cable operators’ public files 

is collected through FCC Form 325 

(Annual Cable Operator Report), which 

is filed annually by cable systems with 

20,000 or more subscribers. For 

example, operators must maintain at the 

‘‘local office’’ a ‘‘current’’ listing of the 

cable television channels delivered to 

subscribers and must ‘‘maintain for 

public inspection’’ a list of all broadcast 

television stations carried in fulfillment 

of the must-carry requirements. Some of 

this information is also collected on 

FCC Form 325. Cable operators required 

to file the form are required to identify 

on the form whether a broadcast station 

is carried pursuant to must-carry 

obligations, but the form does not 

request all of the specific information 

about the system’s must-carry channels 

that is required to be placed in the 

public file pursuant to 47 CFR 76.1709. 

We invite comment on whether the 

Commission should make FCC Form 

325 available in the online file for those 

systems required to file this form 

annually. We also invite comment on 

any other ways we can import to the 

online file information cable operators 

would otherwise be required to upload 

to the file themselves in order to reduce 

the burden on operators of uploading 

information to the online file. 

43. NCTA requests that the 

Commission review the ongoing need 

for channel lineups to be placed in the 

public inspection file as this 

information is provided to consumers in 

paper format and, according to NCTA, is 

available on operators’ Web sites. We 

seek comment on this request. If most 

operators maintain this information 

electronically, we believe it would not 

be burdensome to require operators to 

upload this information to the online 

public file. We seek comment on this 

view. If we were to require all cable 

systems to upload channel lineups to 

the online file, should we require this 

information to be uploaded or updated 

annually or on some other schedule? To 

the extent an operator maintains the 

required information on a channel 

lineup its own Web site, we also seek 

comment on whether the operator 

should be permitted to provide a link 

directly to this channel lineup in lieu of 

uploading this information to the public 

file. 

44. As discussed below, we propose 

to clarify our rules regarding proof-ofperformance test data and signal leakage 

logs and repair data. Specifically, we 

propose to make it clear in our rules that 

this information must be made available 

only to the Commission and, in the case 

of proof-of-performance test data, also to 

the franchisor, and not to the public. 

Accordingly, this information would not 

be required to be included in the online 

public inspection file, thereby reducing 

the amount of material cable operators 

would be required to upload to the file. 

45. We propose that cable systems be 

required to upload other material 

currently required to be maintained for 

public inspection or made available to 

the public ‘‘upon request.’’ For cable 

systems with 1,000 or more subscribers, 

this material would include new 

political file material, sponsorship 

identification information, commercial 

records on children’s programs, certain 

EEO materials, leased access policy 

information, records concerning 

operator interests in video 

programming, and copies of requests for 

waiver of the prohibition on scrambling/ 

encryption. While cable systems with 

1,000 or more subscribers but fewer 

than 5,000 subscribers are currently 

required to provide certain materials to 

the public only ‘‘upon request,’’ we 

believe these systems should be 

required to place these materials in the 

online file as this will facilitate public 

access to these materials. We believe 

this requirement will be no more 

burdensome than placing the materials 

in a physical file and should be less 

burdensome over time. We invite 

comment on this approach. 

46. We also propose to exempt cable 

systems with fewer than 1,000 

subscribers from all online public file 

requirements, either permanently or at 

least initially. As discussed above, these 

systems have far fewer public file 

requirements than larger systems and 

are not required to maintain a political 

file. Alternatively, we could exempt 

systems with fewer than 1,000 

subscribers that maintain public file 

information on their own Web sites. We 

seek comment on these possible 

approaches and any other suggestions 

for ways we should provide regulatory 

relief to very small cable systems. 

47. Political file. As discussed above, 

consistent with the approach we 

adopted for television broadcasters, we 

propose that cable operators not be 

required to upload their existing 

political files to the online file; rather, 

we propose that they be permitted to 

maintain existing material in their 

physical political file and only upload 

documents to the online political file on 

a going-forward basis. We believe this 

approach will minimize the burden of 

transitioning to the online file for cable 

operators, while providing convenient 

access to the information most likely to 


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be of interest to the public, and invite 

comment on this proposal. We note that 

Time Warner Cable, which is not 

currently required to maintain its public 

file online, already posts its political 

files online to save costs and expedite 

access to this material. We invite 

comment on whether there are any 

aspects of our current cable political file 

requirements that are unclear and that 

should be clarified in connection with 

our proposal to transition to an online 

political file. 

48. To smooth the transition for both 

cable operators and the Commission and 

to allow smaller cable systems 

additional time to begin posting their 

political files online, we propose to 

phase-in the requirement to commence 

uploading political file documents to 

the online file for smaller cable systems. 

We invite comment on ways in which 

this phase-in period should be 

structured. One approach would be to 

start by requiring cable systems with 

5,000 or more subscribers to post new 

political file materials online, while 

exempting systems with fewer than 

5,000 subscribers for some period of 

time. As cable systems with fewer than 

1,000 subscribers are exempt from all 

political file requirements, this 

temporary exemption would apply to 

systems with 1,000 or more subscribers 

but fewer than 5,000 subscribers. As 

discussed above, the rules currently 

exempt systems with fewer than 5,000 

subscribers from some recordkeeping 

requirements, and we invite comment 

on whether this 5,000 subscriber cutoff 

should also be used to provide 

regulatory relief in this context. Another 

approach would be to define ‘‘small 

cable system’’ for purposes of the 

exemption as a system with fewer than 

15,000 subscribers that is not affiliated 

with a larger operator serving more than 

10 percent of all MVPD subscribers. The 

Commission used this definition for 

purposes of determining eligibility for a 

streamlined financial hardship waiver 

in the CALM Act Report and Order. The 

Commission explained in that Order 

that it believed that the streamlined 

waiver ‘‘should be available only to 

those systems that are most likely to 

face financial hardships in complying 

with’’ the Commission’s CALM Act 

requirements. We invite comment on 

the appropriate definition of ‘‘small 

cable system’’ for purposes of the 

political file exemption and on the 

appropriate period of time we should 

exempt small systems from the 

requirement to commence posting 

political file material online. Should 

there be a means of providing the public 

with information regarding which 

systems’ political files are included in 

the online file, and which are exempt, 

either temporarily or permanently? 

49. While we are proposing to delay 

the transition to the online political file 

for small cable systems, we propose to 

allow these systems to commence 

uploading documents to the online 

political file on a voluntary basis at the 

same time that online political file 

requirements become effective for larger 

cable systems. In addition, if we were to 

decide to exempt systems with fewer 

than 1,000 subscribers from all online 

public file obligations, we propose to 

allow these systems to participate in the 

online file database on a voluntary 

basis. Regardless of whether we 

determine to delay or exempt small 

systems from online filing requirements, 

we believe it is appropriate to permit 

any system that desires to participate in 

the online database to do so voluntarily. 

We invite comment on this proposal. 

50. Geographic information. We 

propose to require cable operators, 

when first establishing their online 

public file, to provide a list of the 

geographic areas served by the system. 

The Commission currently lacks precise 

information about the geographic areas 

served by cable systems and we believe 

that making this information available 

in the online public file will make the 

information in the file, and especially 

the political file, more useful to 

subscribers, advertisers, candidates, and 

others. We propose to require cable 

systems to provide information 

regarding the ZIP Codes served by the 

system and the Designated Market Area 

(‘‘DMA’’) or areas it serves, and we seek 

comment on this proposal. We also seek 

comment on alternative proposals for 

collecting geographic information, such 

as Census Block or Census Tract 

information. We note that operators 

would have to provide this information 

when they first establish their public 

files on the Commission’s database, and 

update it only to reflect changes. 

Therefore, we do not believe this 

requirement would be burdensome. 

51. We also invite comment on any 

ways to facilitate access to the online 

database by consumers. Cable operators 

are currently required to maintain their 

public files on a per-system basis and 

we tentatively conclude that the same 

should apply to the online database. 

However, as NCTA notes, cable public 

files cannot be organized by call sign 

and the analogous unit, a physical 

system identifier, is not readily known 

by consumers. If we require cable 

operators to provide information on the 

geographic area served by the system, 

should we use that geographic 

information to help identify cable 

systems in the cable online file? Are 

there other ways in which systems can 

be identified to consumers so that they 

can quickly find the information they 

are seeking? 

(ii) Clarification and Streamlining of 

Current Recordkeeping Requirements 

52. NCTA argues that we should 

streamline cable public file 

requirements to avoid requiring cable 

operators to incur the cost of posting 

unnecessary material. While we decline 

to undertake a comprehensive review of 

cable public inspection file 

requirements in this proceeding, we 

seek comment on several issues raised 

by NCTA and propose to clarify certain 

requirements. First, NCTA asks that we 

eliminate the requirement that proof-ofperformance and signal leakage 

information be retained in the public 

inspection file. We note that the current 

recordkeeping rules regarding this 

information are unclear. While 47 CFR 

76.1700(a), which sets out 

recordkeeping requirements, includes 

‘‘proof-of-performance test data’’ and 

‘‘signal leakage logs and repair records’’ 

in the list of items either to be made 

available ‘‘upon request’’ (for systems 

with 1,000 or more but fewer than 5,000 

subscribers) or to be maintained in the 

public inspection file (for systems with 

5,000 or more subscribers), the rule 

sections specifically addressing these 

requirements require only that this 

information be maintained for 

inspection by the Commission and local 

franchisor. We agree with NCTA that 

this information is unlikely to be of 

interest to the general public and does 

not need to be made available online. 

Accordingly, we propose to clarify that 

this information must be maintained 

and made available to the Commission 

and franchisor upon request, but does 

not need to be maintained in the 

system’s public inspection file or 

uploaded to the online file. We seek 

comment on this proposal. 

53. Second, NCTA requests that the 

Commission evaluate whether it should 

exclude headend location information 

from any online public inspection file as 

it is of no interest to the general public 

and revealing this information in a 

centralized database available to 

Internet users ‘‘raises potentially serious 

security risks.’’ We propose to exclude 

headend location information from the 

online public file and seek comment on 

this proposal. 

54. Third, NCTA requests that the 

Commission consider eliminating the 

current requirement that cable operators 

post certain EEO materials on the 

system’s own Web site, if it has one, as 

these materials would be available on 


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the Commission’s online public file. As 

discussed above, in the Second Report 

and Order, we continued to require that 

television stations make certain EEO 

materials available on their Web sites, if 

they have one, and we propose to take 

the same approach in this proceeding 

with respect to cable operators, DBS 

providers, and broadcast and satellite 

radio licensees. Consistent with the 

rules for television stations, however, 

we propose to permit these entities to 

fulfill this Web site posting requirement 

by providing, on their own Web site, a 

link to the EEO materials on their online 

public file page on the Commission’s 

Web site. 

(iii) Reorganization of the Cable Public 

Inspection File Rules 

55. We believe that a limited 

reorganization and clarification of the 

public inspection file rules would make 

them easier to locate and understand. 

The public inspection file rules for 

broadcasters are contained in two rule 

sections that identify all public 

inspection file requirements for 

commercial and noncommercial 

educational broadcasters, with 

references to other rule sections as 

appropriate. In contrast, the cable 

recordkeeping requirements are spread 

over several rule sections in part 76, 

subpart U (Documents to be Maintained 

for Inspection), with some requirements 

contained in a separate rule subpart. 

While 47 CFR 76.1700 of the rules 

includes references to many of these 

recordkeeping requirements it does not 

cite them all. Revising our rules to 

identify all cable recordkeeping 

requirements in a single rule section, 

with references to other sections as 

appropriate, would make these 

requirements easier to locate and 

facilitate compliance. Moreover, as 

confirmed by our discussion above 

regarding maintenance of proof-ofperformance and signal leakage 

information, some of the current rules 

are confusing and inconsistent. We 

propose to revise 47 CFR 76.1700 to 

include references to all public 

inspection file requirements and to 

more clearly address which records 

must be maintained in the file versus 

those that must be made available to the 

Commission or franchising authority. 

We invite comment on these proposed 

revisions, which are set out in 

Appendix B. 

2. DBS Public Inspection File 

a. Current Rules 

56. DBS providers are required to 

maintain a public file containing four 

categories of information: Information 

regarding compliance with the carriage 

obligation for noncommercial 

programming (the ‘‘noncommercial setaside’’); information regarding 

compliance with the commercial limits 

in children’s programming; certain EEO 

materials; and a political file. With 

respect to the noncommercial set-aside, 

the rules require that DBS providers 

‘‘keep and permit public inspection of a 

complete and orderly record of,’’ among 

other things, measurements of channel 

capacity, a record of entities to whom 

noncommercial capacity is being 

provided, the rates paid by the entity to 

whom capacity is provided, and a 

record of entities requesting capacity 

and the disposition of those requests. 

With respect to compliance with the 

children’s programming commercial 

limits, DBS providers airing children’s 

programming must maintain records 

sufficient to verify compliance with the 

rules and ‘‘make such records available 

to the public.’’ With respect to EEO 

materials, DBS operators are required to 

maintain in their public file EEO reports 

and certain EEO program information. 

57. DBS providers are also required to 

‘‘keep and permit public inspection of a 

complete and orderly political file’’ and 

to ‘‘prominently disclose the physical 

location of the file and the telephonic 

and electronic means to access’’ it. The 

file must include, among other things, 

records of ‘‘all requests for DBS 

origination time’’ and the schedule of 

time purchased, when spots actually 

aired, the rates charged, and the classes 

of time purchased for each request. 

These records must be placed in the file 

‘‘as soon as possible’’ and must be 

retained for at least two years. Unlike 

broadcasters and cable systems, DBS 

providers must ‘‘make available via fax, 

email, or by mail upon telephone 

request, photocopies of documents in 

their political files and shall assist 

callers by answering questions about the 

contents of their political files.’’ In 2004, 

the Commission explained that it was 

requiring DBS providers to abide by 

political file obligations similar to those 

requirements placed on terrestrial 

broadcasters and cable systems. Because 

DBS is a national service and each 

provider’s headquarters is not 

necessarily readily accessible to most of 

its viewers and to candidates, we 

require DBS providers to make their 

political files available upon telephone 

or electronic request. They may provide 

access to the file by fax, email, via 

Internet Web site access, or, if so 

requested, by mailing photocopies of the 

documents in their political files. We 

expect that DBS providers will assist 

callers by promptly answering questions 

about how to access the contents of the 

DBS providers’ political files. DBS 

providers may require individuals 

requesting documents to pay for 

photocopying if the requester prefers 

delivery by mail, but the DBS provider 

must pay for postage. DBS providers are 

encouraged to put their political files on 

their respective Web sites but must 

provide alternatives for individuals who 

do not have Internet access. In view of 

these requirements and expectations, we 

do not find it necessary to require that 

a provider maintain a public file in 

every community that receives its 

signal. We do, however, require, that 

DBS providers prominently disclose the 

toll-free telephone number and email 

address of the department responsible 

for responding to requests for access to 

the political file. In addition, because 

DBS experience with the political 

broadcasting rules is relatively new, and 

to facilitate a future Staff Report, we 

will require that DBS providers 

maintain all requests for time from 

candidates or individuals on behalf of 

candidates, including general requests 

for availabilities and rate information. In 

addition, and for the same reasons, DBS 

providers will be required to retain 

information in their political files for 

four years, until 2006, and thereafter for 

two years, as is required of cable 

operators and terrestrial broadcast 

stations. 

b. Proposed Online Public File 

Requirements 

58. We propose to treat DBS providers 

in the same manner as television, cable, 

and broadcast and satellite radio entities 

by requiring them to upload to the 

online file only material that is not 

already on file at the Commission. 

Similar to cable operators, the only 

document that DBS providers file with 

the Commission that must also be 

retained in their public inspection files 

is the EEO program annual report, 

which we propose that the Commission 

upload to the online file. Like cable 

operators, the other information DBS 

providers are required to maintain in 

their public inspection files is not 

currently filed with or maintained by 

the Commission. Accordingly, most 

material required to be kept in the 

online file would have to be uploaded 

by DBS providers themselves, which 

includes channel capacity 

measurements and other records related 

to the use of and requests for 

noncommercial capacity, records related 

to compliance with children’s 

commercial limits, certain EEO 

materials, and political file material. 

59. We do not believe that requiring 

DBS providers to upload this material to 


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the online file would be onerous. As 

compared to television and radio 

broadcasters and cable operators, DBS 

providers have the fewest number of 

public file requirements. In addition, 

there are currently only two U.S. DBS 

operators, each of which has sufficient 

financial resources to comply with any 

online file requirements we ultimately 

adopt in this proceeding. We agree with 

Petitioners that the transition to an 

online file is particularly important for 

DBS because of that service’s 

nationwide reach. Each DBS provider is 

required to maintain only one public 

and political file for the entire U.S. at its 

headquarters, making in-person access 

very difficult. While staff members must 

copy and mail public and political file 

documents upon request under the 

current rules, making this material 

available online would considerably 

improve public access. Moreover, we 

believe that, for DBS providers, 

maintaining an online file hosted by the 

Commission will prove to be more 

efficient and less expensive over time 

than maintaining a local file, 

particularly in light of the extra steps 

DBS providers are required to take to 

assist callers requesting materials from 

the file. 

60. We tentatively conclude, 

consistent with our approach for 

television stations and our proposal 

herein for cable systems and broadcast 

radio licensees, that DBS providers 

should not be required to upload their 

existing political files to the online file 

but rather should be permitted to 

maintain existing material in their 

physical political file and only upload 

documents to the online political file on 

a going-forward basis. If we require DBS 

providers to upload their political files, 

we propose to eliminate the requirement 

that they mail photocopies of 

documents in that file to individuals 

requesting copies, as these materials 

would be available online Additionally, 

to the extent that political file materials 

relate to ads shown on a local or hyperlocal basis, we seek comment on how 

DBS providers can indicate in their 

public files the area in which such ads 

were or will be shown. We also invite 

comment on whether there are any 

aspects of our current DBS political file 

requirements that are unclear and that 

should be clarified in connection with 

our proposal to transition to an online 

political file. 

3. Broadcast Radio Public Inspection 

File 

a. Current Rules 

61. The public inspection file rules for 

radio broadcasters are generally similar 

to those for television broadcasters. 

Every permittee or licensee of an AM or 

FM station in the commercial or 

noncommercial educational broadcast 

service must maintain a public 

inspection file containing, among other 

things, FCC authorizations, 

applications, contour maps, ownership 

reports, EEO materials, issues/programs 

lists, and time brokerage (also known as 

‘‘local marketing’’) and joint sales 

agreements. The file must be maintained 

at the station’s main studio. 

62. Radio stations must maintain a 

political file as part of the public 

inspection file. The political file must 

contain a ‘‘complete and orderly record’’ 

of requests for broadcast time made by 

or on behalf of a candidate for public 

office.’’ The file must also show the 

‘‘schedule of time purchased, when 

spots actually aired, the rates charged, 

and the classes of time purchased.’’ 

With respect to issue advertisements, 

stations must disclose the name of the 

purchasing organization and a list of the 

board of directors. These records must 

be filed ‘‘as soon as possible, meaning 

immediately, absent unusual 

circumstances,’’ and must be retained 

for at least two years. 

b. Proposed Online Public File 

Requirements 

(i) Content Required To Be Maintained 

in the Online File 

63. As discussed above, consistent 

with the rules we adopted for television 

broadcasters we propose to require that 

radio broadcast licensees upload to the 

online public file all documents and 

information that are required to be in 

the public file but that are not also filed 

in CDBS (or LMS) or otherwise 

maintained by the Commission on its 

own Web site. Under this proposal, 

radio stations would be required to 

upload citizen agreements, certain EEO 

materials, issues/programs lists, local 

public notice announcements, time 

brokerage agreements, joint sales 

agreements, materials related to FCC 

investigations or complaints (other than 

investigative information requests from 

the Commission), and any new political 

file material. We propose that any 

document or information required to be 

in the public file that is electronically 

filed with CDBS (or LMS) will be 

imported to the online file by the 

Commission. For radio broadcasters, 

under this proposal the documents the 

Commission would upload to the online 

file include authorizations, applications 

and related materials, contour maps, 

ownership reports and related materials, 

EEO Reports, The Public and 

Broadcasting manual, and Letters of 

Inquiry and other investigative requests 

from the Commission, unless otherwise 

directed by the inquiry itself. 

64. While all stations will have 

issues/programs lists and materials 

related to local public notice 

announcements, few will have time 

brokerage agreements and very few will 

have citizen agreements or materials 

related to an FCC investigation or 

complaint. While many stations will 

have political file material, in general 

we expect that these files will be smaller 

for radio stations than for television 

stations as fewer political 

advertisements air on radio. In addition, 

radio stations with fewer than five fulltime employees are exempt from many 

of the EEO recordkeeping requirements. 

We seek comment on these issues. 

65. Political file. As discussed above, 

consistent with the approach we 

adopted for television broadcasters and 

that we propose herein for cable 

operators, we propose that broadcast 

radio licensees not be required to 

upload their existing political files to 

the online file, but rather that they be 

permitted to maintain existing material 

in their local political file and only 

upload documents to the online 

political file on a going-forward basis. 

We believe this approach will minimize 

the burden of transitioning to the online 

file for radio licensees. We seek 

comment on this approach. 

66. Delay in implementation for small 

market stations. We propose to 

implement the online public file for 

broadcast radio stations by imposing 

requirements, at first, only on stations 

with more resources. We propose to 

delay all mandatory online filing for 

other radio stations for some period of 

time. As discussed above, several 

commenters express concern about 

whether radio stations have sufficient 

resources to implement and maintain an 

online public file, particularly small 

stations with limited financial resources 

and small staffs. Some commenters 

argue that we should postpone any 

consideration of moving to an online 

file for broadcast radio or, if we do 

adopt online file obligations for that 

medium in this proceeding, that we 

exempt smaller stations and/or NCE 

stations. Those advocating an 

exemption for NCE stations argue that 

many of these stations have very small 

staffs and limited resources and that 

compliance with an online requirement 

would create a severe financial and 

staffing hardship. Ampers and NFCB 

also note that NCEs are prohibited from 

accepting funds from political 

candidates and organizations advocating 

on behalf of a candidate or political 

issue, making online access to the 


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political file less important for these 

stations. Other commenters argue that, 

in order to minimize the risk of online 

public file requirements becoming the 

‘‘proverbial straw that breaks the 

camel’s back’’ for already struggling 

small radio stations, the Commission 

should not require small stations to 

upload the contents of their existing 

public files, or at least should provide 

stations with an extended period of time 

during which they could incrementally 

add those materials to the online file. 

67. Another issue raised by radio 

commenters is the lack of computer or 

Internet access at some small, rural 

stations. According to NAB, some radio 

stations in remote locations, including 

Alaska, Maine, and areas of the 

Southwest, do not have access to 

reliable Internet service or even are 

without Internet access altogether. Other 

stations have no in-house computing 

resources or broadband capacity. 

According to Native Public Media, 

many Native-owned NCE radio stations 

operate on Tribal lands where 

broadband penetration rates are between 

five and 10 percent. Moreover, 

according to these commenters, in 

communities where broadband is 

theoretically available actual access is 

often severely hampered by high 

latency, slow dial-up speeds, and 

unreliable coverage. Native Public 

Media argues that it would be difficult, 

if not impossible, to require stations 

facing these circumstances to upload 

large files to the Commission’s online 

database. In addition, these commenters 

argue that the cost of maintaining an 

online file would significantly outweigh 

the benefits in communities where 

listeners have limited Internet access. 

68. We recognize that some radio 

stations may face financial or other 

obstacles that could make the transition 

to an online public file more difficult. 

Accordingly, we believe that it is 

reasonable to commence the transition 

to an online public file for radio with 

stations with more resources while 

delaying, for some period of time, all 

mandatory online public file 

requirements for other stations. We 

propose that other stations be permitted 

to voluntarily transition to the online 

file early, but not be required to 

participate until we have gained some 

experience with the inclusion of 

stations with greater resources. Adding 

radio stations to the online file 

incrementally over time will give us 

more time to address any technical 

issues that may arise in connection with 

our online file database as the volume 

of users increases. Given the large 

number of radio stations and the volume 

of material they will be uploading to the 

online file, we believe it makes sense to 

proceed in stages to include radio 

stations in the Commission’s online 

database. 

69. We seek comment generally on 

this approach. Is it appropriate to 

temporarily exempt a certain category of 

radio stations from all online public file 

requirements or should we instead 

temporarily exempt some stations from 

only the online political file? How 

should we define the category of 

stations that should be eligible for a 

temporary exemption? We note that, in 

the television online file proceeding, we 

implemented the online political file 

first with television stations in the top 

50 DMAs that were also affiliated with 

the top four networks. With respect to 

radio, however, network affiliation is 

not a useful way to identify stations 

with more resources. Accordingly, we 

propose to begin implementation of 

online public file requirements for radio 

with commercial stations in markets 1 

through 50, as defined by Nielsen Audio 

(formerly Arbitron), that have five or 

more full-time employees. We propose 

that these stations commence 

compliance with online public file 

requirements at the same time as cable, 

DBS, and SDARS entities. With respect 

to all other radio stations, we propose to 

delay all online public file requirements 

for two years. This two-year delay is the 

same length of time we delayed, in the 

television online file proceeding, the 

implementation of political file 

obligations for television stations in 

smaller markets and those unaffiliated 

with the top four networks. We propose 

to initially exempt NCE radio stations as 

well as those with fewer than five fulltime employees from the online public 

file to help ensure that we commence 

online file requirements for radio with 

stations with greater resources. With 

respect to radio stations with fewer than 

five full-time employees, as noted above 

our rules exempt these stations from 

many EEO requirements. One advantage 

of tying an exemption for small radio 

stations to this EEO exemption is that 

information regarding the stations that 

are exempt from EEO requirements is 

readily available to the public, as this 

information is filed with the FCC and is 

available via the FCC’s Web site. We 

seek comment on this and any other 

possible approach to structuring the 

temporary delay in online file 

requirements for certain radio stations. 

We also seek comment on whether we 

should permanently exclude certain 

radio stations, such as NCEs and 

stations with fewer than five full-time 

employees, from all online public file 

requirements, rather than simply 

delaying implementation of online file 

requirements for these stations. 

70. While we are proposing to delay 

the transition to the online public file 

for certain radio stations, we also 

propose to allow these stations to 

commence uploading all or part of their 

public file documents to the online file 

on a voluntary basis before the delayed 

effective date of any online file 

requirement for these stations. As 

discussed above, public television 

licensees in the television online file 

proceeding requested that we allow NCE 

radio stations, or at least those licensed 

to the same entity as, or under common 

control with, an NCE television station, 

to maintain their public inspection files 

online on the Commission’s Web site on 

a voluntary basis. Public television 

licensees argued that this would allow 

radio stations that were jointly owned or 

operated with television stations to 

avoid duplicative efforts from having to 

maintain two separate public file 

systems, involving some of the same 

documents. If we decide to delay 

implementation of online file 

requirements for all or some NCEs in 

this proceeding, we believe it is 

appropriate to allow them and any other 

smaller radio station to voluntarily 

transition to the Commission’s online 

file early. We seek comment on this 

proposal. 

71. We believe our proposal addresses 

many of the concerns raised regarding 

radio stations that may have fewer 

resources and, therefore, might find 

transitioning to the online file more 

burdensome. These stations would not 

be required to commence uploading 

documents to the Commission’s 

database until stations with more 

resources have completed part or all of 

their transition to the online file. This 

delayed transition will assist small 

stations to budget for any initial costs to 

upload documents to the file and any 

extra staff time required for this effort. 

In the meantime, stations may 

commence uploading documents to the 

online database early on a voluntary 

basis. We invite comment on this 

approach and on ways we can help 

ensure that permitting stations to 

commence uploading documents early 

on a voluntary basis is not confusing to 

members of the public trying to locate 

and access public file material. 

(ii) Contour Map and Main Studio 

Information 

72. Radio stations are currently 

required to include in their public 

inspection files ‘‘any service contour 

maps submitted with any application’’ 

together with ‘‘any other information in 

the application showing service 


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contours and/or main studio and 

transmitter location.’’ We propose to 

have the Commission create contour 

maps for the online file based upon 

existing data. Given the complexities of 

AM contour mapping, we may not be 

able to use the same tools that we used 

to map TV contours and that we 

anticipate using to map FM contours. 

We seek comment on ways to address 

this issue. Should AM stations be 

required to upload contour maps to the 

online file? 

73. We also propose to require 

stations to provide information to the 

online file regarding the location of the 

station’s main studio. The Commission’s 

rules do not currently require the 

reporting of this information and it is 

not included on contour maps. We 

believe that information regarding the 

location of the main studio would help 

members of the public to engage in an 

active dialogue with radio licensees 

regarding their service, which is one of 

the goals of this proceeding. In addition, 

we believe this information is necessary 

to inform the public of the location of 

the correspondence file and existing 

political file (until its retention period 

expires in two years), both of which will 

be publicly available at the station. 

Therefore, consistent with the approach 

we took in the television station online 

file proceeding, we propose to require 

stations to include in the online public 

file the station’s main studio address 

and telephone number, and the email 

address of the station’s designated 

contact for questions about the public 

file. In addition, we propose that 

stations with a main studio located 

outside of their community of license be 

required to list the location of the 

correspondence file and existing 

political file, as well as the required 

local or toll free number. We seek 

comment on this proposal. 

(iii) Letters From the Public 

74. In the Second Report and Order, 

the Commission exempted letters and 

emails from the public from the online 

public file and instead required that 

such material be maintained at the 

station in a correspondence file. The 

Commission determined that including 

these documents in the online file could 

risk exposing personally identifiable 

information and that requiring stations 

to redact such information prior to 

uploading these documents would be 

overly burdensome. The Commission 

determined that letters and emails from 

the public should be maintained at the 

station’s main studio either in a paper 

file or electronically on a computer. 

Further, the Commission clarified that, 

as required under the current public 

inspection file rules, this file should 

include all letters and emails from the 

public regarding operation of the station 

unless the letter writer has requested 

that the letter not be made public or the 

licensee feels that it should be excluded 

due to the nature of its content. Finally, 

the Commission determined that it 

would not require stations to retain 

social media messages in their 

correspondence file. We propose to take 

the same approach with respect to 

broadcast radio stations and the letters 

and emails they receive from the public, 

and seek comment on this proposal. 

(iv) Donor Lists 

75. NCE stations are required to retain 

in the public inspection file lists of 

donors supporting specific programs. 

Native Public Media asks that, for the 

same reason the Commission excluded 

letters and emails from the public from 

the television online file requirement, 

donor lists also be excluded from any 

NCE online file requirements to ensure 

the privacy of donors. In the Second 

Report and Order we required NCE 

television broadcasters to include donor 

lists in their online public files, and we 

propose to take the same approach with 

respect to radio. We seek comment on 

this issue. Is there a reason to treat NCE 

radio station donor lists differently from 

NCE television station donor lists? 

4. Satellite Radio Public Inspection File 

a. Current Requirements 

76. Licensees in the satellite radio 

service are required to maintain a public 

file with two categories of material. 

First, as discussed above, SDARS 

licensees are required to comply with 

EEO requirements similar to those 

imposed on broadcasters, including the 

requirement to file EEO reports and to 

maintain those reports in their public 

file together with other EEO program 

information. Second, also as discussed 

above, satellite radio licensees are 

required to maintain a political file. In 

addition, SiriusXM, the current, sole 

U.S. SDARS licensee, is required to 

retain a third category of material in the 

public file. SiriusXM made a voluntary 

commitment to make capacity available 

for noncommercial educational and 

informational programming, similar to 

the requirement imposed on DBS 

providers, in connection with its merger 

application. As part of its approval of 

the merger, the Commission required 

that the merged entity reserve channels 

for educational and informational 

programming, offer those channels to 

qualified programmers, and comply 

with the public file requirements of 47 

CFR 25.701(f)(6), which sets forth public 

file requirements for the noncommercial 

set-aside for DBS providers. 

b. Proposed Online Public File 

Requirements 

77. We propose to treat satellite radio 

licensees in the same manner as 

television, cable, DBS, and broadcast 

radio entities by requiring them to 

upload to the online file only material 

that is not already on file at the 

Commission. We seek comment on this 

proposal. Similar to cable operators and 

DBS providers, the only document that 

SDARS entities file with the 

Commission that must be retained in the 

public inspection file is the EEO 

program annual report, which we 

propose that the Commission upload to 

the online file. We do not believe that 

requiring SDARS licensees to upload to 

the online file other material required to 

be maintained in the public file would 

be burdensome as the number of public 

file requirements for this service is 

fewer than for other services and 

entities discussed in this item and 

because the current, sole U.S. SDARS 

licensee has ample financial resources 

to comply with any online file 

requirement we ultimately adopt in this 

proceeding. We also believe that, similar 

to DBS, the transition to an online file 

is particularly important for satellite 

radio because of that service’s 

nationwide reach and the fact that the 

current licensee maintains only one 

public and political file for the entire 

U.S., making in-person access very 

difficult. 

78. With respect to the political file, 

we propose to treat satellite radio 

similar to DBS, as they are both 

nationwide services with few licensed 

service providers. As we do with respect 

to the DBS political file herein, we 

tentatively conclude, consistent with 

our approach for television stations and 

our proposal herein for cable systems 

and radio broadcasters, that SDARS 

licensees should not be required to 

upload their existing political files to 

the online file but rather should be 

permitted to maintain existing material 

in their physical political file, and only 

upload documents to the online 

political file on a going-forward basis. In 

addition, to the extent that political file 

materials relate to ads shown on a local 

or hyper-local basis, we seek comment 

on how satellite radio licensees can 

indicate in their public files the area in 

which such ads were or will be shown. 


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IV. Procedural Matters 

A. Initial Regulatory Flexibility Act 

Analysis 

1. As required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended 

(‘‘RFA’’), the Commission has prepared 

this Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (‘‘IRFA’’) concerning the 

possible significant economic impact on 

small entities of the policies and rules 

proposed in this Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (‘‘NPRM’’). Written public 

comments are requested on this IRFA. 

Comments must be identified as 

responses to the IRFA and must be filed 

by the deadlines for comments provided 

on the first page of this NPRM. The 

Commission will send a copy of this 

NPRM, including this IRFA, to the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 

Business Administration (‘‘SBA’’). In 

addition, this NPRM and IRFA (or 

summaries thereof) will be published in 

the Federal Register. 

2. This NPRM proposes to expand to 

cable and Direct Broadcast Satellite 

(‘‘DBS’’) operators and broadcast and 

satellite radio (‘‘SDARS’’) licensees the 

requirement that public and political 

files be posted to the online public file 

database hosted by the Commission. In 

2012, the Commission adopted online 

public file rules for broadcast television 

stations which required them to post 

public file documents to a central, FCChosted online database rather than 

maintaining the files locally at their 

main studios. The Commission’s goal 

was to modernize the procedures 

television broadcasters use to inform the 

public about how they are serving their 

communities by harnessing current 

technology to make information more 

accessible to the public and, over time, 

to reduce the cost of compliance. We are 

initiating this proceeding to extend our 

modernization effort to include the 

public file documents required to be 

maintained by cable operators, DBS 

providers, broadcast radio licensees, 

and SDARS licensees. While the 

Commission first included only 

television broadcasters in its public file 

database to ‘‘ease the initial 

implementation of the online public 

file,’’ television broadcasters have now 

successfully transitioned to the online 

file over the past two years. 

Accordingly, we now believe it is 

appropriate to commence the process of 

expanding the online file to other media 

in order to extend the benefits of 

improved public access to public 

inspection files and, ultimately, reduce 

the burden on these other entities of 

maintaining those files. 

3. In general, this NPRM proposes to 

adopt a similar approach with respect to 

cable, DBS, and broadcast and satellite 

radio online file requirements as we did 

for the television online file. 

Specifically, we propose that these 

entities’ entire public files be hosted 

online by the Commission and that 

entities be responsible for uploading 

only items now required to be in the 

public file but not otherwise filed with 

the Commission or available on the 

Commission’s Web site. As with the 

television online file, we propose that 

the Commission itself upload to the 

online public file material that is 

already on file with the Commission or 

that currently resides in a Commission 

database. With respect to the political 

file, we also propose that cable, DBS, 

broadcast radio, and satellite radio 

entities not be required to upload their 

existing political files to the online file. 

Instead, as we required with television 

licensees, we propose that these entities 

be permitted to maintain at the station 

those documents already in place in 

their political file at the time the new 

rules become effective, and only upload 

documents to the online political file on 

a going-forward basis. With respect to 

radio, this NPRM proposes to commence 

the transition to the online file with 

commercial stations in larger markets 

with five or more full-time employees. 

In addition, the item invites comment 

on whether to temporarily delay the 

requirement to upload new political file 

material to the online file for small cable 

systems. 

4. The proposed action is authorized 

pursuant to sections 1, 2, 4(i), 303, 315, 

317, 335, 601, 611, 651 and 653 of the 

Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. 151, 

152, 154(i), 303, 315, 317, 335, 601, 611, 

651, and 653. 

5. The RFA directs agencies to 

provide a description of, and where 

feasible, an estimate of the number of 

small entities that may be affected by 

the proposed rules, if adopted. The RFA 

generally 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. 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. Below, we 

provide a description of such small 

entities, as well as an estimate of the 

number of such small entities, where 

feasible. 

6. Cable Companies and Systems. The 

Commission has developed its own 

small business size standards for the 

purpose of cable rate regulation. Under 

the Commission’s rules, a ‘‘small cable 

company’’ is one serving 400,000 or 

fewer subscribers nationwide. Industry 

data shows that there were are currently 

660 cable operators. Of this total, all but 

ten cable operators nationwide are small 

under this size standard. In addition, 

under the Commission’s rate regulation 

rules, a ‘‘small system’’ is a cable system 

serving 15,000 or fewer subscribers. 

Current Commission records show 4,629 

cable systems nationwide. Of this total, 

4,057 cable systems have less than 

20,000 subscribers, and 572 systems 

have 20,000 or more subscribers, based 

on the same records. Thus, under this 

standard, we estimate that most cable 

systems are small entities. 

7. Cable System Operators (Telecom 

Act Standard). The Communications 

Act of 1934, as amended, also contains 

a size standard for small cable system 

operators, which is ‘‘a cable operator 

that, directly or through an affiliate, 

serves in the aggregate fewer than 1 

percent 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.’’ There are approximately 

54 million cable video subscribers in the 

United States today. Accordingly, an 

operator serving fewer than 540,000 

subscribers shall be deemed a small 

operator if its annual revenues, when 

combined with the total annual 

revenues of all its affiliates, do not 

exceed $250 million in the aggregate. 

Based on available data, we find that all 

but ten incumbent cable operators are 

small entities under this size standard. 

We note that the Commission neither 

requests nor collects information on 

whether cable system operators are 

affiliated with entities whose gross 

annual revenues exceed $250 million. 

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. 

8. Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) 

Service. DBS service is a nationally 

distributed subscription service that 

delivers video and audio programming 

via satellite to a small parabolic ‘‘dish’’ 

antenna at the subscriber’s location. 

DBS, by exception, is now included in 

the SBA’s broad economic census 

category, Wired Telecommunications 

Carriers, which was developed for small 

wireline businesses. Under this 

category, the SBA deems a wireline 


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business to be small if it has 1,500 or 

fewer employees. Census data for 2007 

shows that there were 3,188 firms that 

operated for that entire year. Of this 

total, 2,940 firms had fewer than 100 

employees, and 248 firms had 100 or 

more employees. Therefore, under this 

size standard, the majority of such 

businesses can be considered small 

entities. However, the data we have 

available as a basis for estimating the 

number of such small entities were 

gathered under a superseded SBA small 

business size standard formerly titled 

‘‘Cable and Other Program 

Distribution.’’ As of 2002, the SBA 

defined a small Cable and Other 

Program Distribution provider as one 

with $12.5 million or less in annual 

receipts. Currently, only two entities 

provide DBS service, which requires a 

great investment of capital for operation: 

DIRECTV and DISH Network. Each 

currently offers subscription services. 

DIRECTV and DISH Network each 

report annual revenues that are in 

excess of the threshold for a small 

business. Because DBS service requires 

significant capital, we believe it is 

unlikely that a small entity as defined 

under the superseded SBA size standard 

would have the financial wherewithal to 

become a DBS service provider. 

9. Radio Broadcasting. The SBA 

defines a radio broadcast station as a 

small business if such station has no 

more than $38.5 million in annual 

receipts. Business concerns included in 

this industry are those ‘‘primarily 

engaged in broadcasting aural programs 

by radio to the public.’’ According to 

review of the BIA Publications, Inc. 

Master Access Radio Analyzer Database 

as of November 26, 2013, about 11,331 

(or about 99.9 percent) of the then 

number of commercial radio stations 

(11,341) have revenues of $35.5 million 

or less and thus qualify as small entities 

under the SBA definition. The 

Commission has estimated the number 

of licensed noncommercial radio 

stations to be 4,082. The Commission 

does not compile and otherwise does 

not have access to information on the 

revenue of NCE stations that would 

permit it to determine how many such 

stations would qualify as small entities. 

These stations rely primarily on grants 

and contributions for their operations, 

so we will assume that all of these 

entities qualify as small businesses. We 

note that in assessing whether a 

business entity qualifies as small under 

the above definition, business control 

affiliations must be included. This 

estimate, therefore, likely overstates the 

number of small entities that might be 

affected, because the revenue figure on 

which it is based does not include or 

aggregate revenues from affiliated 

companies. 

10. In addition, an element of the 

definition of ‘‘small business’’ is that the 

entity not be dominant in its field of 

operation. The Commission is unable at 

this time to define or quantify the 

criteria that would establish whether a 

specific radio station is dominant in its 

field of operation. Accordingly, the 

estimate of small businesses to which 

rules may apply does not exclude any 

radio station from the definition of a 

small business on this basis and 

therefore may be over-inclusive to that 

extent. Also, as noted, an additional 

element of the definition of ‘‘small 

business’’ is that the entity must be 

independently owned and operated. 

The Commission notes that it is difficult 

at times to assess these criteria in the 

context of media entities and the 

estimates of small businesses to which 

they apply may be over-inclusive to this 

extent. 

11. Satellite Radio. The rules 

proposed in this NPRM would affect the 

sole, current U.S. provider of satellite 

radio (‘‘SDARS’’) services, XM-Sirius, 

which offers subscription services. XMSirius reported revenue of $3.8 billion 

in 2013 and a net income of $377 

million. In light of these figures, we 

believe it is unlikely that this entity 

would be considered small. 

12. Open Video Systems. The open 

video system (OVS) framework was 

established in 1996, and is one of four 

statutorily recognized options for the 

provision of video programming 

services by local exchange carriers. The 

OVS framework provides opportunities 

for the distribution of video 

programming other than through cable 

systems. Because OVS operators provide 

subscription services, OVS falls within 

the SBA small business size standard 

covering cable services, which is 

‘‘Wired Telecommunications Carriers.’’ 

The SBA has developed a small 

business size standard for this category, 

which is: All such businesses having 

1,500 or fewer employees. Census data 

for 2007 shows that there were 3,188 

firms that operated for that entire year. 

Of this total, 2,940 firms had fewer than 

100 employees, and 248 firms had 100 

or more employees. Therefore, under 

this size standard, we estimate that the 

majority of these businesses can be 

considered small entities. 

13. Certain rule changes proposed in 

this NPRM would affect reporting, 

recordkeeping, or other compliance 

requirements. Cable, DBS, radio, and 

SDARS entities are currently required to 

maintain a ‘‘local’’ copy of their public 

inspection files. This NPRM proposes to 

require that these files be maintained 

online in the database hosted by the 

Commission. Entities subject to this 

requirement would be required to 

upload certain documents currently 

maintained in their local files to the 

online database. 

14. The RFA requires an agency to 

describe any significant alternatives that 

it has considered in reaching its 

proposed approach, which may include 

the following four alternatives (among 

others): (1) The establishment of 

differing compliance or reporting 

requirements or timetables that take into 

account the resources available to small 

entities; (2) the clarification, 

consolidation, or simplification of 

compliance or reporting requirements 

under the rule for small entities; (3) the 

use of performance, rather than design, 

standard; and (4) an exemption from 

coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, 

for small entities. 

15. This NPRM proposes a number of 

measures to minimize the effort and cost 

entities must undertake to move their 

pubic files online. Specifically, we 

propose to require entities only to 

upload to the online file public file 

documents that are not already on file 

with the Commission or that the 

Commission maintains in its own 

database. We also propose to exempt 

existing political file material from the 

online file requirement and to require 

only that political file documents be 

uploaded on a going-forward basis. In 

addition, with only minor exceptions— 

requiring cable operators to provide 

information about the geographic areas 

they serve, clarifying the documents 

required to be included in the cable 

public file, and requiring cable, DBS, 

broadcast radio, and SDARS entities to 

provide the location and contact 

information for their local file—we do 

not propose new or modified public 

inspection file requirements in this 

proceeding. Our goal is simply to adapt 

our existing public file requirements to 

an online format. While we recognize 

that entities may incur a modest, onetime transitional cost to upload some 

portions of their existing public file to 

the online database, we believe this 

initial expense will be offset by the 

public benefits of online disclosure. We 

also believe that, over time, entities will 

benefit from the lower costs of sending 

documents electronically to the 

Commission as opposed to creating and 

maintaining a paper file at the local or 

headquarters’ office or main studio and 

assisting the public in accessing it. 

While we propose to place the entire 

public file online, we invite comment 

on whether we should instead require 

only that certain components of the 


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public file be placed on the 

Commission’s online database. We note 

that limiting online file requirements to 

certain components of the public file 

would require entities to upload certain 

documents and maintain others in the 

local public file, thereby potentially 

imposing a greater burden than moving 

documents to the online file over time. 

16. In addition, with respect to radio 

licensees this NPRM proposes to 

commence the transition to an online 

file with commercial stations in larger 

markets with five or more full-time 

employees, while postponing 

temporarily all online file requirements 

for other radio stations. This NPRM also 

proposes to exempt small cable systems 

temporarily from the requirement to 

commence uploading new political file 

material to the online public file and 

proposes to exempt very small cable 

systems from all requirements to upload 

documents to the Commission’s online 

database. Finally, this NPRM also seeks 

comment on whether we should 

exclude certain radio stations from all 

online public file requirements, rather 

than simply delaying implementation of 

certain requirements. 

Federal Rules That May Duplicate, 

Overlap, or Conflict With the Proposed 

Rule 

None. 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act Analysis 

17. This document contains proposed 

information collection requirements. 

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 comment on the information 

collection requirements contained in 

this document, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. In 

addition, pursuant to the Small 

Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 

we seek specific comment on how we 

might ‘‘further reduce the information 

collection burden for small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 

employees.’’ 

C. Ex Parte Rules 

18. Permit-But-Disclose. This 

proceeding will be treated as a ‘‘permitbut-disclose’’ proceeding in accordance 

with the Commission’s ex parte rules. 

Persons making ex parte presentations 

must file a copy of any written 

presentation or a memorandum 

summarizing any oral presentation 

within two business days after the 

presentation (unless a different deadline 

applicable to the Sunshine period 

applies). Persons making oral ex parte 

presentations are reminded that 

memoranda summarizing the 

presentation must (1) list all persons 

attending or otherwise participating in 

the meeting at which the ex parte 

presentation was made, and (2) 

summarize all data presented and 

arguments made during the 

presentation. If the presentation 

consisted in whole or in part of the 

presentation of data or arguments 

already reflected in the presenter’s 

written comments, memoranda or other 

filings in the proceeding, the presenter 

may provide citations to such data or 

arguments in his or her prior comments, 

memoranda, or other filings (specifying 

the relevant page and/or paragraph 

numbers where such data or arguments 

can be found) in lieu of summarizing 

them in the memorandum. Documents 

shown or given to Commission staff 

during ex parte meetings are deemed to 

be written ex parte presentations and 

must be filed consistent with rule 

§ 1.1206(b). In proceedings governed by 

rule § 1.49(f) or for which the 

Commission has made available a 

method of electronic filing, written ex 

parte presentations and memoranda 

summarizing oral ex parte 

presentations, and all attachments 

thereto, must be filed through the 

electronic comment filing system 

available for that proceeding, and must 

be filed in their native format (e.g., .doc, 

.xml, .ppt, searchable.pdf). Participants 

in this proceeding should familiarize 

themselves with the Commission’s ex 

parte rules. 

D. Filing Requirements 

19. Comments and Replies. Pursuant 

to §§ 1.415 and 1.419 of the 

Commission’s rules, 47 CFR 1.415, 

1.419, interested parties may file 

comments and reply comments on or 

before the dates indicated on the first 

page of this document. Comments may 

be filed using the Commission’s 

Electronic Comment Filing System 

(ECFS). See Electronic Filing of 

Documents in Rulemaking Proceedings, 

63 FR 24121 (1998). 

D Electronic Filers: Comments may be 

filed electronically using the Internet by 

accessing the ECFS: http://

fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs2/. 

D Paper Filers: Parties who choose to 

file by paper must file an original and 

one copy of each filing. If more than one 

docket or rulemaking number appears in 

the caption of this proceeding, filers 

must submit two additional copies for 

each additional docket or rulemaking 

number. 

D Filings can be sent by hand or 

messenger delivery, by commercial 

overnight courier, or by first-class or 

overnight U.S. Postal Service mail. All 

filings must be addressed to the 

Commission’s Secretary, Office of the 

Secretary, Federal Communications 

Commission. 

D All hand-delivered or messengerdelivered paper filings for the 

Commission’s Secretary must be 

delivered to FCC Headquarters at 445 

12th St. SW., Room TW–A325, 

Washington, DC 20554. The filing hours 

are 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. All hand 

deliveries must be held together with 

rubber bands or fasteners. Any 

envelopes and boxes must be disposed 

of before entering the building. 

D Commercial overnight mail (other 

than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail 

and Priority Mail) must be sent to 9300 

East Hampton Drive, Capitol Heights, 

MD 20743. 

D U.S. Postal Service first-class, 

Express, and Priority mail must be 

addressed to 445 12th Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20554. 

D 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 (tty). 

20. Additional Information. For 

additional information on this 

proceeding, please contact Kim 

Matthews of the Media Bureau, Policy 

Division, Kim.Matthews@fcc.gov, (202) 

418–2154. 

V. Ordering Clauses 

21. Accordingly, it is ordered that, 

pursuant to the authority contained in 

sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), 303(r), and 335 of 

the Communications Act of 1934, as 

amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 

303(r), and 335 this Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking is adopted. 

22. It is further ordered that the 

Commission’s Consumer and 

Governmental Affairs Bureau, Reference 

Information Center, shall send a copy of 

this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 

including the Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief 

Counsel for Advocacy of the Small 

Business Administration. 

23. It is further ordered that the 

Petition for Rulemaking filed by the 

Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, 

and the Sunlight Foundation is granted. 

List of Subjects 

47 CFR Part 25 

Direct Broadcast Satellite, Satellite 

radio. 

47 CFR Part 73 

Broadcast radio. 


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47 CFR Part 76 

Cable television. 

Federal Communications Commission. 

Marlene H. Dortch, 

Secretary. 

Proposed Rules 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Federal Communications 

Commission proposes to amend 47 CFR 

parts 25, 73, and 76 as follows: 

PART 25—SATELLITE 

COMMUNICATIONS 

■ 1. The Authority citation for Part 25 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Interprets or applies sections 4, 

301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 319, 332, 705, and 

721 of the Communications Act, as amended, 

47 U.S.C. 154, 301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 319, 

332, 605, and 721, unless otherwise noted. 

■ 2. Section 25.601 is revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 25.601 Equal employment opportunities. 

Notwithstanding other EEO 

provisions within these rules, an entity 

that uses an owned or leased FixedSatellite Service or Direct Broadcast 

Satellite Service or 17/24 GHz 

Broadcasting-Satellite Service facility 

(operating under this part) to provide 

video programming directly to the 

public on a subscription basis must 

comply with the equal employment 

opportunity requirements set forth in 

part 76, subpart E, of this chapter, if 

such entity exercises control (as defined 

in part 76, subpart E, of this chapter) 

over the video programming it 

distributes. Notwithstanding other EEO 

provisions within these rules, a licensee 

or permittee of a direct broadcast 

satellite station operating as a 

broadcaster, and a licensee or permittee 

in the satellite DARS service, must 

comply with the equal employment 

opportunity requirements set forth in 

part 73. 

■ 3. Section 25.701 is amended by 

revising the section heading and 

paragraphs (d), (e)(3), and (f)(6) to read 

as follows: 

§ 25.701 Other DBS public interest 

obligations. 

* * * * * 

(d) Political file. Each DBS provider 

shall maintain a complete and orderly 

political file. 

(1) The political file shall contain, at 

a minimum: 

(i) A record of all requests for DBS 

origination time, the disposition of 

those requests, and the charges made, if 

any, if the request is granted. The 

‘‘disposition’’ includes the schedule of 

time purchased, when spots actually 

aired, the rates charged, and the classes 

of time purchased; and 

(ii) A record of the free time provided 

if free time is provided for use by or on 

behalf of candidates. 

(2) All records required to be retained 

by this section must be placed in the 

political file as soon as possible and 

must be retained for a period of two 

years. After the effective date of this 

section, DBS providers shall place all 

new political file material required to be 

retained by this section in the online file 

hosted by the Commission. 

(3) DBS providers shall assist callers 

by answering questions about the 

contents of their political files. 

(e) * * * 

(3) DBS providers airing children’s 

programming must maintain in the 

online file hosted by the Commission 

records sufficient to verify compliance 

with this rule. Such records must be 

maintained for a period sufficient to 

cover the limitations period specified in 

47 U.S.C. 503(b)(6)(B). 

* * * * * 

(f) * * * 

(6) Public file. (i) In addition to the 

political file requirements in § 25.701, 

each DBS provider shall maintain in the 

online file hosted by the Commission a 

complete and orderly record of: 

(A) Quarterly measurements of 

channel capacity and yearly average 

calculations on which it bases its four 

percent reservation, as well as its 

response to any capacity changes; 

(B) A record of entities to whom 

noncommercial capacity is being 

provided, the amount of capacity being 

provided to each entity, the conditions 

under which it is being provided and 

the rates, if any, being paid by the 

entity; 

(C) A record of entities that have 

requested capacity, disposition of those 

requests and reasons for the disposition. 

(ii) All records required by paragraph 

(f)(6)(i) of this section shall be placed in 

the online file hosted by the 

Commission as soon as possible and 

shall be retained for a period of two 

years. 

(iii) Each DBS provider must also 

place in the online file hosted by the 

Commission the records required to be 

placed in the public inspection file by 

§ 25.701(e) (commercial limits in 

children’s programs) and by § 25.601 

and 47 CFR part 76, subpart E (equal 

employment opportunity requirements) 

and retain those records for the period 

required by those rules. 

(iv) Each DBS provider must provide 

a link to the public inspection file 

hosted on the Commission’s Web site 

from the home page of its own Web site, 

if the provider has a Web site, and 

provide on its Web site contact 

information for a representative who 

can assist any person with disabilities 

with issues related to the content of the 

public files. Each DBS provider also 

must include in the online public file 

the address of the provider’s local 

public file and the name, phone 

number, and email address of the 

provider’s designated contact for 

questions about the public file. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. Section 25.702 is added to read as 

follows: 

§ 25.702 Other SDARS Public interest 

obligations. 

(a) Political broadcasting 

requirements. The following political 

broadcasting rules shall apply to all 

SDARS licensees: 47 CFR 73.1940 

(Legally qualified candidates for public 

office), 73.1941 (Equal opportunities), 

and 73.1944 (Reasonable access). 

(b) Political file. Each SDARS licensee 

shall maintain a complete and orderly 

political file. 

(1) The political file shall contain, at 

a minimum: 

(i) A record of all requests for SDARS 

origination time, the disposition of 

those requests, and the charges made, if 

any, if the request is granted. The 

‘‘disposition’’ includes the schedule of 

time purchased, when spots actually 

aired, the rates charged, and the classes 

of time purchased; and 

(ii) A record of the free time provided 

if free time is provided for use by or on 

behalf of candidates. 

(2) SDARS licensees shall place all 

records required by this section in the 

political file as soon as possible and 

shall retain the records for a period of 

two years. After the effective date of this 

section, SDARS licensees shall place all 

new political file material required to be 

retained by this section in the online file 

hosted by the Commission. 

(c) Public inspection file. Each SDARS 

applicant or licensee must also place in 

the online file hosted by the 

Commission the records required to be 

placed in the public inspection file by 

47 CFR 25.601 and 73.2080 (equal 

employment opportunities (EEO)) and 

retain those records for the period 

required by those rules. Each SDARS 

licensee must provide a link to the 

public inspection file hosted on the 

Commission’s Web site from the home 

page of its own Web site, if the licensee 

has a Web site, and provide on its Web 

site contact information for a 

representative who can assist any 

person with disabilities with issues 

related to the content of the public files. 

Each SDARS licensee also must include 


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in the online public file the address of 

the licensee’s local public file and the 

name, phone number, and email address 

of the licensee’s designated contact for 

questions about the public file. 

PART 73—RADIO BROADCAST 

SERVICES 

■ 5. The Authority citation for Part 73 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 154, 303, 334, 336, 

and 339. 

■ 6. Section 73.1943 is amended by 

revising paragraph (d) to read as 

follows: 

§ 73.1943 Political file. 

* * * * * 

(d) Location of the file. A licensee or 

applicant must post all of the contents 

added to its political file after the 

effective date of this subsection in the 

political file component of its online 

public file hosted by the Commission. A 

station must retain in its political file 

maintained at the station, at the location 

specified in § 73.3526(b) or § 73.3527(b), 

all material required to be included in 

the political file and added to the file 

prior to the effective date of this 

subsection. The online political file 

must be updated in the same manner as 

paragraph (c) of this section. 

■ 7. Section 73.3526 is amended by 

revising paragraph (b) to read as follows: 

§ 73.3526 Local public inspection file of 

commercial stations. 

* * * * * 

(b) Location of the file. The public 

inspection file shall be located as 

follows: 

(1) For radio licensees temporarily 

exempt from the online file, as 

discussed in paragraph (b)(2) of this 

section, a hard copy of the public 

inspection file shall be maintained at 

the main studio of the station. For all 

licensees, letters and emails from the 

public, as required by paragraph (e)(9) 

of this section, shall be maintained at 

the main studio of the station. An 

applicant for a new station or change of 

community shall maintain its file at an 

accessible place in the proposed 

community of license or at its proposed 

main studio. 

(2)(i) A television station licensee or 

applicant, and any radio station licensee 

or applicant not temporarily exempt as 

described in this paragraph, shall place 

the contents required by paragraph (e) of 

this section, of its public inspection file 

on the online file hosted by the 

Commission, with the exception of 

letters and emails from the public as 

required by paragraph (e)(9) of this 

section, which shall be retained at the 

station in the manner discussed in 

paragraph (b)(1) of this section; and the 

political file as required by paragraph 

(e)(6) of this section, as discussed in 

paragraph (b)(3) of this section. Any 

radio station not in the top 50 Nielsen 

Audio markets, and any radio station 

with fewer than five full-time 

employees, shall continue to retain the 

public inspection file at the station in 

the manner discussed in paragraph 

(b)(1) of this section until [2 years 

following the effective date of the 

Report and Order in MB Docket No. 14– 

127]. However, any radio station that is 

not required to place its public 

inspection file in the online file hosted 

by the Commission before [2 years 

following the effective date of the 

Report and Order in MB Docket No. 14– 

127] may choose to do so, instead of 

retaining the public inspection file at 

the station in the manner discussed in 

paragraph (b)(1) of this section. 

(ii) A station must provide a link to 

the public inspection file hosted on the 

Commission’s Web site from the home 

page of its own Web site, if the station 

has a Web site, and provide contact 

information on its Web site for a station 

representative that can assist any person 

with disabilities with issues related to 

the content of the public files. A station 

also is required to include in the online 

public file the station’s main studio 

address and telephone number, and the 

email address of the station’s designated 

contact for questions about the public 

file. To the extent this section refers to 

the local public inspection file, it refers 

to the public file of an individual 

station, which is either maintained at 

the station or on the Commission’s Web 

site, depending upon where the 

documents are required to be 

maintained under the Commission’s 

rules. 

(3)(i) A licensee or applicant shall 

place the contents required by 

paragraph (e)(6) of this section of its 

political inspection file in the online file 

hosted by the Commission. Political 

inspection file material in existence 30 

days after the effective date of this 

provision shall continue to be retained 

at the station in the manner discussed 

in paragraph (b)(1) of this section until 

the end of its retention period. 

(ii) Any television station not in the 

top 50 DMAs, and any station not 

affiliated with one of the top four 

broadcast networks, regardless of the 

size of the market it serves, shall 

continue to retain the political file at the 

station in the manner discussed in 

paragraph (b)(1) of this section until July 

1, 2014. For these stations, effective July 

1, 2014, any new political file material 

shall be placed in the online file hosted 

by the Commission, while the material 

in the political file as of July 1, 2014, if 

not placed in the Commission’s Web 

site, shall continue to be retained at the 

station in the manner discussed in 

paragraph (b)(1) of this section until the 

end of its retention period. However, 

any station that is not required to place 

its political file in the online file hosted 

by the Commission before July 1, 2014 

may choose to do so, instead of 

retaining the political file at the station 

in the manner discussed in paragraph 

(b)(1) of this section. 

(iii) Any radio station not in the top 

50 Nielsen Audio markets, and any 

radio station with fewer than five fulltime employees, shall continue to retain 

the political file at the station in the 

matter discussed in paragraph (b)(1) of 

this section until [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127]. For these 

stations, effective [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127], any new 

political file material shall be placed in 

the online file hosted by the 

Commission, while the material in the 

political file as of [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127], if not placed in 

the online file hosted by the 

Commission, shall continue to be 

retained at the station in the manner 

discussed in paragraph (b)(1) of this 

section until the end of its retention 

period. However, any station that is not 

required to place its political file on the 

Commission’s Web site before [2 years 

following the effective date of the 

Report and Order in MB Docket No. 14– 

127] may choose to do so, instead of 

retaining the political file at the station 

in the manner discussed in paragraph 

(b)(1) of this section. 

(4) The Commission will 

automatically link the following items 

to the electronic version of all licensee 

and applicant public inspection files, to 

the extent that the Commission has 

these items electronically: 

Authorizations, applications, contour 

maps; ownership reports and related 

materials; portions of the Equal 

Employment Opportunity file held by 

the Commission; ‘‘The Public and 

Broadcasting’’; Letters of Inquiry and 

other investigative information requests 

from the Commission, unless otherwise 

directed by the inquiry itself; Children’s 

television programming reports; and 

DTV transition education reports. In the 

event that the online public file does not 

reflect such required information, the 

licensee will be responsible for posting 

such material. 

* * * * * 


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■ 8. Section 73.3527 is amended by 

revising paragraph (b) to read as follows: 

§ 73.3527 Local public inspection file of 

noncommercial educational stations. 

* * * * * 

(b) Location of the file. The public 

inspection file shall be located as 

follows: 

(1) For radio licensees, a hard copy of 

the public inspection file shall be 

maintained at the main studio of the 

station until [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127] except that, as 

discussed in paragraph (b)(2)(ii) of this 

section, any radio station may 

voluntarily place its public inspection 

file online before [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127] if it chooses to 

do so instead of retaining the file at the 

station. An applicant for a new station 

or change of community shall maintain 

its file at an accessible place in the 

proposed community of license or at its 

proposed main studio. 

(2)(i) A noncommercial educational 

television station licensee or applicant 

shall place the contents required by 

paragraph (e) of its public inspection 

file in the online file hosted by the 

Commission, with the exception of the 

political file as required by paragraph 

(e)(5) of this section, which may be 

retained at the station in the manner 

discussed in paragraph (b)(1) of this 

section until July 1, 2014. Effective July 

1, 2014, any new political file material 

shall be placed in the online file hosted 

by the Commission, while the material 

in the political file as of July 1, 2014, if 

not placed on the Commission’s Web 

site, shall continue to be retained at the 

station in the manner discussed in 

paragraph (b)(1) of this section until the 

end of its retention period. However, 

any noncommercial educational station 

that is not required to place its political 

file in the online file hosted by the 

Commission before July 1, 2014 may 

choose to do so instead of retaining the 

political file at the station in the manner 

discussed in paragraph (b)(1) of this 

section. 

(ii) Beginning [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127], noncommercial 

educational radio station licensees and 

applicants shall place the contents 

required by paragraph (e) of this section 

in the online public inspection file 

hosted by the Commission. For these 

stations, effective [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127], any new 

political file material shall be placed on 

the Commission’s Web site, while the 

material in the political file as of [2 

years following the effective date of the 

Report and Order in MB Docket No. 14– 

127], if not placed in the online file 

hosted by the Commission, shall 

continue to be retained at the station in 

the manner discussed in paragraph 

(b)(1) of this section until the end of its 

retention period. However, any radio 

station that is not required to place its 

public inspection file in the online file 

hosted by the Commission before [2 

years following the effective date of the 

Report and Order in MB Docket No. 14– 

127] may choose to do so, instead of 

retaining the public inspection file at 

the station in the manner discussed in 

paragraph (b)(1) of this section. 

(iii) A station must provide a link to 

the public inspection file hosted on the 

Commission’s Web site from the home 

page of its own Web site, if the station 

has a Web site, and provide contact 

information for a station representative 

on its Web site that can assist any 

person with disabilities with issues 

related to the content of the public files. 

A station also is required to include in 

the online public file the station’s main 

studio address and telephone number, 

and the email address of the station’s 

designated contact for questions about 

the public file. To the extent this section 

refers to the local public inspection file, 

it refers to the public file of an 

individual station, which is either 

maintained at the station or on the 

Commission’s Web site, depending 

upon where the documents are required 

to be maintained under the 

Commission’s rules. 

(3) The Commission will 

automatically link the following items 

to the electronic version of all licensee 

and applicant public inspection files, to 

the extent that the Commission has 

these items electronically: 

Authorizations; applications; contour 

maps; ownership reports and related 

materials; portions of the Equal 

Employment Opportunity file held by 

the Commission; and ‘‘The Public and 

Broadcasting’’. 

* * * * * 

■ 9. Section 73.3580 is amended by 

revising paragraphs (d)(4)(i) and (ii) to 

read as follows: 

§ 73.3580 Local public notice of filing of 

broadcast applications. 

* * * * * 

(d) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(i) Pre-filing announcements. During 

the period and beginning on the first 

day of the sixth calendar month prior to 

the expiration of the license, and 

continuing to the date on which the 

application is filed, the following 

announcement shall be broadcast on the 

1st and 16th day of each calendar 

month. Stations broadcasting primarily 

in a foreign language should broadcast 

the announcements in that language. 

Radio announcement: On (date of last 

renewal grant) (Station’s call letters) was 

granted a license by the Federal 

Communication Commission to serve 

the public interest as a public trustee 

until (expiration date). 

Our license will expire on (date). We 

must file an application for renewal 

with the FCC (date four calendar 

months prior to expiration date). When 

filed, a copy of this application will be 

available for public inspection at 

www.fcc.gov. It contains information 

concerning this station’s performance 

during the last (period of time covered 

by the application). 

Individuals who wish to advise the 

FCC of facts relating to our renewal 

application and to whether this station 

has operated in the public interest 

should file comments and petitions with 

the FCC by (date first day of last full 

calendar month prior to the month of 

expiration). 

Further information concerning the 

FCC’s broadcast license renewal process 

is available at (address of location of the 

station’s public inspection file) or may 

be obtained from the FCC, Washington, 

DC 20554. 

Television announcement: On (date of 

last renewal grant) (Station’s call letters) 

was granted a license by the Federal 

Communication Commission to serve 

the public interest as a public trustee 

until (expiration date). 

Our license will expire on (date). We 

must file an application for renewal 

with the FCC (date four calendar 

months prior to expiration date). When 

filed, a copy of this application will be 

available for public inspection at 

www.fcc.gov. It contains information 

concerning this station’s performance 

during the last (period of time covered 

by the application). 

Individuals who wish to advise the 

FCC of facts relating to our renewal 

application and to whether this station 

has operated in the public interest 

should file comments and petitions with 

the FCC by (date first day of last full 

calendar month prior to the month of 

expiration). 

Further information concerning the 

FCC’s broadcast license renewal process 

is available at (address of location of the 

station) or may be obtained from the 

FCC, Washington, DC 20554. 

* * * * * 

(ii) Post-filing announcements. During 

the period beginning of the date on 

which the renewal application is filed to 

the sixteenth day of the next to last full 


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calendar month prior to the expiration 

of the license, all applications for 

renewal of broadcast station licenses 

shall broadcast the following 

announcement on the 1st and 16th day 

of each calendar month. Stations 

broadcasting primarily in a foreign 

language should broadcast the 

announcements in that language. 

Television announcement: On (date of 

last renewal grant) (Station’s call letters) 

was granted a license by the Federal 

Communications Commission to serve 

the public interest as a public trustee 

until (expiration date). 

Our license will expire on (date). We 

have filed an application for renewal 

with the FCC. 

A copy of this application is available 

for public inspection at www.fcc.gov. It 

contains information concerning this 

station’s performance during the last 

(period of time covered by application). 

Individuals who wish to advise the 

FCC of facts relating to our renewal 

application and to whether this station 

has operated in the public interest 

should file comments and petitions with 

the FCC by (date first day of last full 

calendar month prior to the month of 

expiration). 

Further information concerning the 

FCC’s broadcast license renewal process 

is available at (address of location of the 

station) or may be obtained from the 

FCC, Washington, DC 20554. 

Radio announcement: On (date of last 

renewal grant) (Station’s call letters) was 

granted a license by the Federal 

Communications Commission to serve 

the public interest as a public trustee 

until (expiration date). 

Our license will expire on (date). We 

have filed an application for renewal 

with the FCC. 

A copy of this application is available 

for public inspection at www.fcc.gov. It 

contains information concerning this 

station’s performance during the last 

(period of time covered by application). 

Individuals who wish to advise the 

FCC of facts relating to our renewal 

application and to whether this station 

has operated in the public interest 

should file comments and petitions with 

the FCC by (date first day of last full 

calendar month prior to the month of 

expiration). 

Further information concerning the 

FCC’s broadcast license renewal process 

is available at (address of location of the 

station’s public inspection file) or may 

be obtained from the FCC, Washington, 

DC 20554. 

* * * * * 

PART 76—MULTICHANNEL VIDEO 

AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE 

■ 10. The Authority citation for Part 76 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154, 

301, 302, 302a, 303, 303a, 307, 308, 309, 312, 

315, 317, 325, 339, 340, 341, 503, 521, 522, 

531, 532, 534, 535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 

545, 548, 549, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 

571, 572, 573. 

■ 11. Section 76.630 is amended by 

revising paragraph (a)(2) to read as 

follows: 

§ 76.630 Compatibility with consumer 

electronics equipment. 

(a) * * * 

(2) Requests for waivers of this 

prohibition must demonstrate either a 

substantial problem with theft of basic 

tier service or a strong need to scramble 

basic signals for other reasons. As part 

of this showing, cable operators are 

required to notify subscribers by mail of 

waiver requests. The notice to 

subscribers must be mailed no later than 

30 calendar days from the date the 

request for waiver was filed with the 

Commission, and cable operators must 

inform the Commission in writing, as 

soon as possible, of that notification 

date. The notification to subscribers 

must state: 

On (date of waiver request was filed with 

the Commission), (cable operator’s name) 

filed with the Federal Communications 

Commission a request for waiver of the rule 

prohibiting scrambling of channels on the 

basic tier of service. 47 CFR 76.630(a). The 

request for waiver states (a brief summary of 

the waiver request). A copy of the request for 

waiver shall be available for public 

inspection at www.fcc.gov. 

Individuals who wish to comment on this 

request for waiver should mail comments to 

the Federal Communications Commission by 

no later than 30 days from (the date the 

notification was mailed to subscribers). 

Those comments should be addressed to the: 

Federal Communications Commission, Media 

Bureau, Washington, DC 20554, and should 

include the name of the cable operator to 

whom the comments are applicable. 

Individuals should also send a copy of their 

comments to (the cable operator at its local 

place of business). 

Cable operators may file comments in reply 

no later than 7 days from the date subscriber 

comments must be filed. 

* * * * * 

■ 12. Section 76.1700 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 76.1700 Records to be maintained by 

cable system operators. 

(a) Public inspection file. The 

following records must be placed in the 

online public file hosted by the 

Commission, except as indicated in 

§ 76.1700(d) and except that the records 

listed in 76.1700(1) (political file) that 

are in existence 30 days after the 

effective date of this provision shall 

continue to be retained at the system 

and made available to the public in the 

manner discussed in paragraph (e) of 

this section until the end of the 

retention period. In addition, any cable 

system with fewer than 5,000 

subscribers shall continue to retain the 

political file at the system in the manner 

discussed in paragraph (e) of this 

section until [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127]. For these 

systems, effective [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127], any new 

political file material shall be placed in 

the online file hosted by the 

Commission, while the material in the 

political file as of [2 years following the 

effective date of the Report and Order in 

MB Docket No. 14–127], if not placed on 

the Commission’s Web site, shall 

continue to be retained at the system in 

the manner discussed in paragraph (e) 

of this section until the end of its 

retention period. However, any system 

that is not required to place its political 

file on the Commission’s Web site 

before [2 years following the effective 

date of the Report and Order in MB 

Docket No. 14–127] may choose to do 

so, instead of retaining the political file 

at the system in the manner discussed 

in paragraph (e) of this section. 

(1) Political file. All requests for 

cablecast time made by or on behalf of 

a candidate for public office and all 

other information required to be 

maintained pursuant to § 76.1701; 

(2) Equal employment opportunity. 

All EEO materials described in 

§ 76.1702 except for any EEO program 

annual reports, which the Commission 

will link to the electronic version of all 

systems’ public inspection files; 

(3) Commercial records on children’s 

programs. Sufficient records to verify 

compliance with § 76.225 in accordance 

with § 76.1703; 

(4) Performance tests (channels 

delivered). The operator of each cable 

television system shall maintain at its 

local office a current listing of the cable 

television channels which that system 

delivers to its subscribers in accordance 

with § 76.1705; 

(5) Leased access. If a cable operator 

adopts and enforces written policy 

regarding indecent leased access 

programming, such a policy shall be 

published in accordance with § 76.1707; 

(6) Principal headend. The operator of 

every cable system shall maintain the 

designation and location of its principal 

headend in accordance with § 76.1708; 

(7) Availability of signals. The 

operator of every cable television system 


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shall maintain a list of all broadcast 

television stations carried by its system 

in fulfillment of the must-carry 

requirements in accordance with 

§ 76.1709; 

(8) Operator interests in video 

programming. Cable operators shall 

maintain records regarding the nature 

and extent of their attributable interests 

in all video programming services as 

well as information regarding their 

carriage of such vertically integrated 

video programming services on cable 

systems in which they have an 

attributable interests in accordance with 

§ 76.1710; 

(9) Sponsorship identification. 

Whenever sponsorship announcements 

are omitted pursuant to § 76.1615(f) of 

subpart T, the cable television system 

operator shall maintain a list in 

accordance with § 76.1715; 

(10) Compatibility with consumer 

electronics equipment. Cable system 

operators generally may not scramble or 

otherwise encrypt signals carried on the 

basic service tier. Copies of requests for 

waivers of this prohibition must be 

available in the public inspection file in 

accordance with § 76.630. 

(b) Information available to the 

franchisor. These records must be made 

available by cable system operators to 

local franchising authorities on 

reasonable notice and during regular 

business hours, except as indicated in 

§ 76.1700(d). 

(1) Proof-of-performance test data. 

The proof of performance tests shall be 

made available upon request in 

accordance with § 76.1704; 

(2) Complaint resolution. Cable 

system operators shall establish a 

process for resolving complaints from 

subscribers about the quality of the 

television signal delivered. Aggregate 

data based upon these complaints shall 

be made available for inspection in 

accordance with § 76.1713. 

(c) Information available to the 

Commission. These records must be 

made available by cable system 

operators to the Commission on 

reasonable notice and during regular 

business hours, except as indicated in 

§ 76.1700(d). 

(1) Proof-of-performance test data. 

The proof of performance tests shall be 

made available upon request in 

accordance with § 76.1704; 

(2) Signal leakage logs and repair 

records. Cable operators shall maintain 

a log showing the date and location of 

each leakage source in accordance with 

§ 76.1706; 

(3) Emergency alert system and 

activations. Every cable system shall 

keep a record of each test and activation 

of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). 

The test is performed pursuant to the 

procedures and requirements of part 11 

of this chapter and the EAS Operating 

Handbook. The records are kept in 

accordance with part 11 and § 76.1711 

of this chapter; 

(4) Complaint resolution. Cable 

system operators shall establish a 

process for resolving complaints from 

subscribers about the quality of the 

television signal delivered. Aggregate 

data based upon these complaints shall 

be made available for inspection in 

accordance with § 76.1713; 

(5) Subscriber records and public 

inspection file. The operator of a cable 

television system shall make the system, 

its public inspection file, and its records 

of subscribers available for inspection 

upon request in accordance with 

§ 76.1716. 

(d) Exceptions to the public 

inspection file requirements. The 

operator of every cable television system 

having fewer than 1,000 subscribers is 

exempt from the online public file and 

from the public record requirements 

contained in § 76.1701 (political file); 

§ 76.1702 (EEO records available for 

public inspection); § 76.1703 

(commercial records for children’s 

programming); § 76.1704 (proof-ofperformance test data); § 76.1706 (signal 

leakage logs and repair records); 

§ 76.1714 (FCC rules and regulations); 

and § 76.1715 (sponsorship 

identification). 

(e) Location of records. Political file 

material that continues to be retained at 

the system shall be retained in a public 

inspection file maintained at the office 

in the community served by the system 

that the system operator maintains for 

the ordinary collection of subscriber 

charges, resolution of subscriber 

complaints, and other business and, if 

the system operator does not maintain 

such an office in the community, at any 

accessible place in the communities 

served by the system (such as a public 

registry for documents or an attorney’s 

office). Public file locations will be open 

at least during normal business hours 

and will be conveniently located. The 

public inspection file shall be available 

for public inspection at any time during 

regular business hours for the facility 

where they are kept. All or part of the 

public inspection file may be 

maintained in a computer database, as 

long as a computer terminal capable of 

accessing the database is made 

available, at the location of the file, to 

members of the public who wish to 

review the file. 

(f) Links and contact and geographic 

information. A system must provide a 

link to the public inspection file hosted 

on the Commission’s Web site from the 

home page of its own Web site, if the 

system has a Web site, and provide 

contact information on its Web site for 

a system representative who can assist 

any person with disabilities with issues 

related to the content of the public files. 

A system also is required to include in 

the online public file the address of the 

system’s local public file and the name, 

phone number, and email address of the 

system’s designated contact for 

questions about the public file. In 

addition, a system must provide on the 

online public file a list of the geographic 

areas served by the system. To the 

extent this section refers to the local 

public inspection file, it refers to the 

public file of a physical system, which 

is either maintained at the location 

described in paragraph (e) of this 

section or on the Commission’s Web 

site, depending upon where the 

documents are required to be 

maintained under the Commission’s 

rules. 

(g) Reproduction of records. Copies of 

any material in the public inspection 

file shall be available for machine 

reproduction upon request made in 

person, provided the requesting party 

shall pay the reasonable cost of 

reproduction. Requests for machine 

copies shall be fulfilled at a location 

specified by the system operator, within 

a reasonable period of time, which in no 

event shall be longer than seven days. 

The system operator is not required to 

honor requests made by mail but may 

do so if it chooses. 

■ 13. Section 76.1709 is amended by 

revising paragraphs (a) and (b) to read 

as follows: 

§ 76.1709 Availability of signals. 

(a) The operator of every cable 

television system shall maintain for 

public inspection a file containing a list 

of all broadcast television stations 

carried by its system in fulfillment of 

the must-carry requirements pursuant to 

§ 76.56. Such list shall include the call 

sign, community of license, broadcast 

channel number, cable channel number, 

and in the case of a noncommercial 

educational broadcast station, whether 

that station was carried by the cable 

system on March 29, 1990. 

(b) Such records must be maintained 

in accordance with the provisions of 

§ 76.1700. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2015–02531 Filed 2–12–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 


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