Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 28, 2005 / Notices 56703 

1Commission Rule 4.2(d), 16 CFR 4.2(d). The 

comment must be accompanied by an explicit 

request for confidential treatment, including the 

factual and legal basis for the request, and must 

identify the specific portions of the comment to be 

withheld from the public record. The request will 

be granted or denied by the Commission’s General 

Counsel, consistent with applicable law and the 

public interest. See Commission Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 

4.9(c). 

2Available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/ 

violence/vioreport.pdf. 

3As indicated on its website, the ESRB ‘‘is a selfregulatory body for the interactive entertainment 

software industry established in 1994 by the 

Entertainment Software Association, formerly the 

Interactive Digital Software Association. ESRB 

independently applies and enforces ratings, 

advertising guidelines, and online privacy 

principles adopted by the computer and video game 

industry. The ESRB rating system helps parents and 

other consumers choose the games that are right for 

their families. ESRB ratings have two parts: rating 

symbols that suggest what age group the game is 

best for, and content descriptors that indicate 

elements in a game that may have triggered a 

particular rating and/or may be of interest or 

concern.’’

4See 2000 Report, Appendix F at http:// 

www.ftc.gov/reports/violence/appendicesviorpt.pdf. 

Appendix F also contains a detailed discussion of 

the underlying methodology and findings. 

5Available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/ 

violence/violence010423.pdf. 

6Available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2001/12/ 

violencereport1.pdf. 

7Available at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/ 

violence/mvecrpt0206.pdf. 

8Available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2004/07/ 

040708kidsviolencerpt.pdf. 

9Mature-rated games contain content that may be 

suitable for persons 17 years of age and older. 

10See July 2004 Report, Appendix B at http:// 

www.ftc.gov/reports/violence/appendicesviorpt.pdf. 

William Blumenthal, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 05–19319 Filed 9–27–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Reinstatement of Existing 

Collection; Comment Request 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Trade 

Commission (‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘Commission’’) 

intends to conduct a survey of parents 

who have one or more children, age 11–

16 years, who play video or personal 

computer games. The FTC will also 

survey children, between the ages of 11 

and 16, who play video or personal 

computer games. The surveys are a 

follow up to the Commission’s surveys 

conducted in 2000 on consumers’ use of 

and familiarity with the Entertainment 

Software Rating Board (‘‘ESRB’’) rating 

system. Before gathering this 

information, the FTC is seeking public 

comments on its proposed consumer 

research. Comments will be considered 

before the FTC submits a request for 

Office of Management and Budget 

(‘‘OMB’’) review under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (‘‘PRA’’), 44 U.S.C. 3501–

3520. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before November 28, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are 

invited to submit written comments. 

Comments should refer to 

‘‘Entertainment Industry Study: FTC 

File No. P994511’’ to facilitate the 

organization of comments. A comment 

filed in paper form should include this 

reference both in the text and on the 

envelope and should be mailed or 

delivered, with two complete copies, to 

the following address: Federal Trade 

Commission/Office of the Secretary, 

Room H–135 (Annex G), 600 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20580. Because paper 

mail in the Washington area and at the 

Commission is subject to delay, please 

consider submitting your comments in 

electronic form, (in ASCII format, 

WordPerfect, or Microsoft Word) as part 

of or as an attachment to e-mail 

messages directed to the following email box: entstudy@ftc.gov. However, if 

the comment contains any material for 

which confidential treatment is 

requested, it must be filed in paper 

form, and the first page of the document 

must be clearly labeled ‘‘Confidential.’’ 1

The FTC Act and other laws the 

Commission administers permit the 

collection of public comments to 

consider and use in this proceeding as 

appropriate. All timely and responsive 

public comments will be considered by 

the Commission and will be available to 

the public on the FTC Web site, to the 

extent practicable, at www.ftc.gov. As a 

matter of discretion, the FTC makes 

every effort to remove home contact 

information for individuals from the 

public comments it receives before 

placing those comments on the FTC 

Web site. More information, including 

routine uses permitted by the Privacy 

Act, may be found in the FTC’s privacy 

policy at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/ 

privacy.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information 

should be addressed to Keith R. 

Fentonmiller, (202) 326–2775, or 

Richard F. Kelly, (202) 326–3304, 

Attorneys, Federal Trade Commission, 

Bureau of Consumer Protection, 

Division of Advertising Practices, 600 

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, 

DC 20580. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

September 2000, the Commission issued 

a report requested by the President and 

Congress entitled, Marketing Violent 

Entertainment to Children: A Review of 

Self-Regulation and Industry Practices 

in the Motion Picture, Music Recording 

& Electronic Game Industries (hereafter 

‘‘2000 Report’’).2 The Commission 

found that the electronic game industry 

had engaged in widespread marketing of 

violent electronic games to children 

that: (1) Was inconsistent with the 

Electronic Software Rating Board 

(‘‘ESRB’’) rating system; and (2) 

undermined parents’ attempts to make 

informed decisions about their 

children’s exposure to violent content.3

Similar results were found for the 

motion picture and music recording 

industries. The Commission also found 

that advertisements for electronic games 

frequently failed to contain rating 

information. Further, the Commission’s 

national surveys of parents and children 

found that only 61% of parents were 

aware of the ESRB system, and nearly 

half of those parents reported that they 

rarely or never use the ESRB system.4

In April 2001,5 December 2001,6 June 

2002,7 and July 2004,8 the Commission 

issued follow-up reports to assess 

changes in industry practices. The first 

two follow-up reports documented 

progress by the electronic game industry 

to limit advertising in popular teen 

media. The third follow-up report found 

that the game industry was in 

substantial compliance with ESRB 

standards governing ad placements and 

disclosure of rating information in 

advertising. There were, however, some 

advertisements for Mature-rated games 

placed on television programs with 

large numbers of teen viewers and 

continued placement of such ads in 

game enthusiast magazines with large 

youth readership.9 The Commission’s 

July 2004 report found substantial 

compliance with ESRB standards 

governing ad placements and that 

industry members generally were 

prominently disclosing rating 

information in advertising and on 

product packaging. A ‘‘mystery 

shopper’’ survey of retailers conducted 

on behalf of the Commission in 2003, 

however, found that 69% of young teen 

shoppers (age 13–16) were able to buy 

Mature-rated games, although there was 

some improvement from earlier 

undercover shopping surveys conducted 

in 2000 and 2001.10

Members of Congress and parental 

advocacy groups continue to voice 

concern about parents’ knowledge and 

use of the ESRB system, the accuracy of 

56704 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 28, 2005 / Notices 

11The children will be selected from the same 

household as the adult survey respondents. 

the ratings that the ESRB has assigned 

to some games, and children’s ability to 

purchase Mature-rated games at the 

retail level. In response to these 

concerns and as part of the agency’s 

ongoing monitoring of the electronic 

game industry’s self-regulatory system, 

the FTC is soliciting public comments 

on obtaining information on these issues 

through proposed consumer research. 

The Commission intends to seek OMB 

clearance under the PRA before 

engaging in the proposed consumer 

research. 

Under the PRA, Federal agencies must 

obtain approval from OMB for each 

collection of information they conduct 

or sponsor. ‘‘Collection of information’’

means agency requests or requirements 

that members of the public submit 

reports, keep records, or provide 

information to a third party. 44 U.S.C. 

3502(3), 5 CFR 1320.3(c). In 2000, OMB 

approved the FTC’s request to conduct 

surveys on consumers’ use of and 

familiarity with the rating or labeling 

systems of the following entertainment 

industries: (1) Motion picture; (2) 

recording; and (3) video and personal 

computer games (OMB Control Number 

3084–120). After receiving OMB 

approval, the FTC conducted the 

consumer research and issued the 2000 

Report in September 2000. As required 

by section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, the 

FTC is providing this opportunity for 

public comment before requesting that 

OMB reinstate the clearance for the 

surveys, which expired in May, 2003. 

The FTC invites comments on: (1) 

Whether the proposed collections of 

information are necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the FTC, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of 

the FTC’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collections of information; (3) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of collecting information on 

those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology, e.g., permitting electronic 

submission of responses. All comments 

should be filed as prescribed in the 

ADDRESSES section above, and must be 

received on or before November 28, 

2005. 

1. Description of the Collection of 

Information and Proposed Use 

The FTC proposes to conduct two 

focus groups of ten parents in two 

different cities (for a total of four focus 

groups) regarding their assessment of 

the accuracy of the ESRB ratings. In 

order to qualify as a participant, the 

parents must have one or more children, 

age 11–16 years, who play video or 

personal computer games. The focus 

groups are exploratory qualitative 

research that would be used in 

formulating a questionnaire for use in a 

subsequent telephone survey of parents 

regarding their use and knowledge of 

the ESRB ratings and their assessment of 

the accuracy of the ratings. 

Based on insights obtained from the 

focus groups, the FTC staff will develop 

a questionnaire and survey a random 

sample of 250 adult respondents who 

are parents of one or more children, age 

11–16 years, who play video or personal 

computer games. The FTC intends to 

also pretest the survey questions on 24 

parent respondents to ensure that all 

questions are easily understood. In 

many respects, the questionnaire will be 

similar to the one used for the 2000 

Report. For example, the survey will 

continue to explore parents’ attitudes 

regarding and awareness of the ESRB 

system. In addition, the FTC staff 

intends to develop new questions based 

upon the information collected via focus 

groups, such as parents’ perception of 

the accuracy of the ESRB ratings. 

The FTC also will survey 150 children 

between the ages of 11 and 16 who play 

video or personal computer games.11

The survey will explore children’s 

attitudes regarding the ESRB system, as 

well as children’s perception of the 

accuracy of the ESRB ratings. Like the 

parent survey, the FTC intends to 

pretest the survey questions on 24 child 

respondents to ensure that all questions 

are easily understood and the questions 

will be based upon those used for the 

2000 Report. 

The information from the focus 

groups and the surveys will be collected 

on a voluntary basis, and the identities 

of the consumers will remain 

confidential. The FTC will contract with 

a consumer research firm to identify 

consumers, conduct the focus groups, 

and carry out the surveys. The results 

will assist the FTC in determining 

whether and how consumers use the 

ESRB rating system and whether they 

perceive ESRB game ratings to be 

accurate. 

2. Estimated Hours Burden 

For the focus groups, the contractor 

will identify respondents either by 

drawing names from a pre-assembled 

parent list or by conducting telephone 

screening within the general population. 

If telephone screening is used, the 

contractor would contact parents and 

ask whether they have at least one child 

between the ages of 11 and 16 who 

plays electronic games. FTC staff 

estimates that the screening questions 

will be asked of approximately 500 

respondents in order to obtain a large 

enough random sample for the focus 

groups. 

For the parental telephone survey, the 

contractor will first identify eligible 

parents using screening questions in a 

telephone survey then ask whether 

respondents, with a child between the 

ages of 11 and 16, would participate in 

the children’s survey. Allowing for nonresponse, the screening questions will 

be asked of approximately 1,000 

respondents to provide a large enough 

random sample for the surveys. As 

noted, the children’s survey will be 

conducted as an adjunct to the parents’

survey, i.e., by speaking to a child in the 

same household as the adult 

respondents identified in the paragraph 

above. As a result, the extra time 

required to screen for child respondents 

will be de minimis. 

The FTC staff estimates that the 

screening for the focus groups and the 

surveys will require no more than two 

minutes of each respondent’s time. 

Thus, cumulatively, screening should 

require a maximum of 50 hours (1500 

total respondents × 2 minutes for each). 

The FTC intends to pretest both the 

parental and children’s surveys on 24 

parent and 24 child respondents to 

ensure that all questions are easily 

understood. This pretest will take 

approximately 15 minutes per person. 

The hours burden imposed by the 

pretest will be approximately 12 hours 

(48 respondents × 15 minutes per 

survey). Participating in the focus 

groups will take approximately three 

hours per respondent. With ten 

respondents per focus group and four 

total focus groups, the total burden will 

be 120 hours. Answering the parental 

and children’s surveys will impose a 

burden per respondent of approximately 

15 minutes, totaling 100 hours for all 

respondents to the surveys ((250 parent 

respondents + 150 children 

respondents) × 15 minutes per survey). 

Thus, total hours burden attributable to 

the consumer research is approximately 

282 hours (50 + 12 + 120 + 100). 

3. Estimated Cost Burden 

The cost per respondent should be 

negligible. Participation is voluntary, 

and will not require any labor 

expenditures by respondents. There are 

no capital, start-up, operation, 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 28, 2005 / Notices 56705 

maintenance, or other similar costs to 

the respondents. 

William Blumenthal, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 05–19320 Filed 9–27–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

Granting of Request for Early 

Termination of the Waiting Period 

Under the Premerger Notification 

Rules 

Section 7A of the Clayton Act, 15 

U.S.C. 18a, as added by Title II of the 

Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust 

Improvements Act of 1976, requires 

persons contemplating certain mergers 

or acquisitions to give the Federal Trade 

Commission and the Assistant Attorney 

General advance notice and to wait 

designated periods before 

consummation of such plans. Section 

7A(b)(2) of the Act permits the agencies, 

in individual cases, to terminate this 

waiting period prior to its expiration 

and requires that notice of this action be 

published in the Federal Register. 

The following transactions were 

granted early termination of the waiting 

period provided by law and the 

premerger notification rules. The grants 

were made by the Federal Trade 

Commission and the Assistant Attorney 

General for the Antitrust Division of the 

Department of Justice. Neither agency 

intends to take any action with respect 

to these proposed acquisitions during 

the applicable waiting period. 

Trans # Acquiring Acquired Entities 

Transactions Granted Early Termination—08/29/2005 

20051403 ................ Newell Rubbermaid, Inc ....................... Esselte Group Holdings AB ................. Esselte BVBA, Esselte Holdings Inc., 

Goldcup D 892 AB 

20051444 ................ Grupo Ferrovial, S.A ............................ Wayne W. Webber ............................... Southern Crushed Concrete, Inc., 

Webber Management Group, Inc. 

20051449 ................ School Specialty, Inc ............................ Wicks Communications & Media Partners, L.P.Delta Education, LLC 

20051451 ................ Credit Suisse Group ............................. The PMI Group, Inc ............................. SPS Holding Corp. 

20051457 ................ PBI Media Holdings LLC ...................... PRIMEDIA Inc ...................................... PRIMEDIA Business Magazine and 

Media Inc. 

20051459 ................ MetroCast Cablevision of New Hampshire, LLC.Paul F. Harron, Jr ................................ Gans Communications, L.P. 

20051460 ................ Waste Connections, Inc ....................... Mr. Gregory L. Gibson ......................... Mountain Jack Environmental Services, Inc. 

20051466 ................ Starwood Capital Hospitality Fund 1–2, 

L.P.

Groupe Taittinger SA ........................... Groupe Taittinger SA 

20051467 ................ The Veritas Capital Fund II, L.P .......... Mitchell J. Wade ................................... MZM, Inc. 

20051468 ................ Alan B. Miller ........................................ KEYS Group Holdings LLC .................. KEYS Group Holdings LLC 

20051471 ................ First Reserve Fund X, L.P ................... Chart Industries, Inc ............................. Chart Industries, Inc. 

20051477 ................ GGC Investment Fund II, L.P .............. CCG Investments BVI, L.P .................. Concerto Software, Inc. 

20051478 ................ GGC Investment Fund II–A, L.P .......... CCG Investments BVI, L.P .................. Concerto Software, Inc. 

20051480 ................ First Data Corporation .......................... Citigroup Inc ......................................... New Payment Services, Inc. 

20051485 ................ SSA Global Technologies, Inc ............. E.piphany, Inc ...................................... E.piphany, Inc. 

20051486 ................ New York State Catholic Health Plan, 

Inc.

Rayan Community Health Network, Inc CenterCare, Inc. 

20051490 ................ ShoreView Capital Partners, L.P ......... Protective Industries, LLC .................... Caplugs, LLC, Niagara Plastics, LLC, 

Protective Industries, LLC 

Transactions Granted Early Termination—08/31/2005 

20051394 ................ Dover Corporation ................................ Michael Inglis ....................................... Harbor Electronics, Inc. 

20051406 ................ Invitrogen Corporation .......................... BioSource International, Inc ................. BioSource International, Inc. 

20051407 ................ Oracle Corporation ............................... i-flex Solutions Limited ......................... i-flex Solutions Limited 

20051440 ................ Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc ................ Brazos Equity Fund, L.P ...................... SDI Holding, Inc. 

Transactions Granted Early Termination—09/01/2005 

20051484 ................ ValueClick, Inc ..................................... Fastclick, Inc ........................................ Fastclick, Inc. 

Transactions Granted Early Termination—09/02/2005 

20051476 ................ Grupo Ferrovial, S.A ............................ The Wayne and Joan Webber Foundation.W.W. Webber, Inc. 

20051489 ................ E*TRADE Financial Corporation .......... Bank of Montreal .................................. Harrisdirect LLC 

20051494 ................ PAR Investment Partners, L.P ............. US Airways Group, Inc ........................ US Airways Group, Inc. 

20051497 ................ LS Power Equity Partners, L.P ............ Calpine Corporation ............................. Calpine Construction Finance Company, L.P., Calpine Leasing, Inc., 

Calpine Philadelphia, Inc., 

Ontelaunee Power Operating Company, Inc., Philadelphia Biogas Supply, Inc. 

20051499 ................ QBE Insurance Group Limited ............. White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd National Farmers Union Property and 

Casualty Company 

20051501 ................ Spectrum Equity Investors IV, L.P ....... Mortgagebot LLC ................................. Mortgagebot LLC