Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2008 / Notices 6749 

2 17 CFR 242.608. 

3On July 28, 2000, the Commission approved a 

national market system plan for the purpose of 

creating and operating an intermarket options 

market linkage (‘‘Linkage’’) proposed by Amex, 

CBOE, and ISE. See Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 43086 (July 28, 2000), 65 FR 48023 

(August 4, 2000). Subsequently, Phlx, Pacific 

Exchange, Inc. (n/k/a NYSE Arca), and BSE joined 

the Linkage Plan. See Securities Exchange Act 

Release Nos. 43573 (November 16, 2000), 65 FR 

70851 (November 28, 2000); 43574 (November 16, 

2000), 65 FR 70850 (November 28, 2000); and 49198 

(February 5, 2004), 69 FR 7029 (February 12, 2004). 

4See Section 2(16) of the Linkage Plan. For the 

purposes of this Joint Amendment No. 25 only, 

references to ‘‘Linkage Orders’’ herein pertain to 

P/A Orders and Principal Orders. For definitions of 

‘‘P/A Order’’ and ‘‘Principal Order,’’ see Section 

2(16)(a) and (b) of the Linkage Plan, respectively. 

5The term ‘‘member,’’ as used herein, includes 

NYSE Arca OTP Holders and OTP Firms and 

Boston Options Exchange (‘‘BOX’’) Options 

Participants. See NYSE Arca Rules 1.1(q) and 1.1(r) 

and Chapter I, Sec. 1(a)(40) of BOX Rules, 

respectively. 

6See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56893, 

72 FR 70353 (December 11, 2007). 

7 17 CFR 242.608. 

8See supra note 6. 

9 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

10 17 CFR 242.608. 

11 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

12 17 CFR 242.608. 

13 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(29). 

1 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

2 17 CFR 242.608. 

3The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan 

approved by the Commission pursuant to Section 

11A of the Act and Rule 608 thereunder (formerly 

Rule 11Aa3–2). See Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. 

Docket 484 (March 31, 1981). The full text of the 

OPRA Plan is available at http:// 

www.opradata.com. 

The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and 

dissemination of last sale and quotation information 

on options that are traded on the participant 

exchanges. The six participants to the OPRA Plan 

are the American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston 

Stock Exchange, Inc., the Chicago Board Options 

Exchange, Incorporated, the International Securities 

Exchange, Inc., the NYSE Arca, Inc., and the 

Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. 

4See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56926 

(December 7, 2007), 72 FR 70907 (‘‘Notice’’). 

608 thereunder 2 an amendment (‘‘Joint 

Amendment No. 25’’) to the Plan for the 

Purpose of Creating and Operating an 

Intermarket Option Linkage (‘‘Linkage 

Plan’’).3 In Joint Amendment No. 25, the 

Participants propose to reduce (i) the 

amount of time a member must wait 

after sending a Linkage Order 4 to 

another market before the member 5 can 

trade through that market and (ii) the 

time frame within which a Participant 

must respond to a Linkage Order after 

receipt of that Linkage Order. On 

December 4, 2007, the Commission 

summarily put into effect Joint 

Amendment No. 25 on a temporary 

basis not to exceed 120 days and 

solicited comment on Joint Amendment 

No. 25 from interested persons.6 The 

Commission received no comments on 

Joint Amendment No. 25. This order 

approves Joint Amendment No. 25. 

II. Description of the Proposed 

Amendment 

In Joint Amendment No. 25, the 

Participants proposed to reduce the 

amount of time a member must wait 

after sending a Linkage Order to another 

market before the member can trade 

through that market. The Participants 

proposed to decrease this time period 

from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. The 

Participants also proposed to reduce the 

time frame in which a Participant must 

respond to a Linkage Order from 5 

seconds to 3 seconds after receipt of that 

Linkage Order. 

III. Discussion and Commission 

Findings 

The Commission previously 

determined, pursuant to Rule 608 under 

the Act,7 to put into effect summarily on 

a temporary basis not to exceed 120 

days, the changes to the Linkage Plan 

detailed above in Joint Amendment No. 

25.8 After careful consideration of Joint 

Amendment No. 25, the Commission 

finds that approving Joint Amendment 

No. 25 is consistent with the 

requirements of the Act and the rules 

and regulations thereunder. 

Specifically, the Commission finds that 

Joint Amendment No. 25 is consistent 

with Section 11A of the Act 9 and Rule 

608 of Regulation NMS thereunder 10 in 

that it is in the public interest, for the 

protection of investors, and the 

maintenance of fair and orderly markets. 

The Commission believes that reducing 

the time required by a Participant to 

respond to a Linkage Order and the 

amount of time a member sending a 

Linkage Order must wait before trading 

through a nonresponsive Participant 

should facilitate the more timely 

execution of orders across the options 

exchanges. 

IV. Conclusion 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 11A of the Act 11 and Rule 608 

thereunder,12 that Joint Amendment No. 

25 is approved. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.13

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–2058 Filed 2–4–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–57233; File No. SR–OPRA–

2007–05] 

Options Price Reporting Authority; 

Order Approving an Amendment to the 

Plan for Reporting of Consolidated 

Options Last Sale Reports and 

Quotation Information To Adopt New 

Form of Rider to OPRA’s Vendor 

Agreement for Use by Television 

Companies That Wish To Disseminate 

OPRA Data 

January 30, 2008. 

I. Introduction 

On December 6, 2007, the Options 

Price Reporting Authority (‘‘OPRA’’) 

submitted to the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’), 

pursuant to Section 11A of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 608 thereunder,2 an 

amendment to the Plan for Reporting of 

Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports 

and Quotation Information (‘‘OPRA 

Plan’’).3 The proposed OPRA Plan 

amendment would adopt a new form of 

Television Dissemination Rider to 

OPRA’s Vendor Agreement for use by 

television companies that wish to 

disseminate current OPRA Data via a 

passive scrolling or ticker television 

display (‘‘Rider’’). OPRA’s Fee Schedule 

would be modified to incorporate the 

fee that OPRA would charge for the 

dissemination of OPRA Data in the 

manner discussed below. The proposed 

OPRA Plan amendment was published 

for comment in the Federal Register on 

December 13, 2007.4 The Commission 

received no comment letters in response 

to the Notice. This order approves the 

proposed OPRA Plan amendment. 

II. Description of the Proposal 

Presently, a company that 

disseminates current OPRA Data to 

third parties is a ‘‘Vendor’’ for OPRA’s 

purposes, and is therefore required to 

sign OPRA’s Vendor Agreement. 

Furthermore, OPRA’s Vendor 

Agreement states that any person that 

receives current OPRA Data from a 

Vendor is a ‘‘Subscriber’’ and requires 

the Vendor to cause each of its 

Subscribers to agree to a Subscriber 

Agreement, either with the Vendor for 

the benefit of OPRA, or directly with 

OPRA. OPRA is proposing a new Rider 

to state that this requirement would not 

apply to persons that receive OPRA Data 

in the form of a passive scrolling or 

ticker television display. 

The new Rider would also state that 

the reporting requirements in the 

Vendor Agreement that enable OPRA to 

verify the Vendor’s fees would not 

apply to television dissemination of 

OPRA Data. Instead, the Rider would set 


rmajette on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES
6750 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2008 / Notices 

5Any Vendor has the right under paragraph 1(c) 

of the Rider to terminate the Rider, and under 

paragraph 19(d) of the OPRA form of Vendor 

Agreement to terminate the Vendor Agreement, in 

each case without cause upon thirty days written 

notice. The termination right essentially provides 

comfort to a television company Vendor that, if an 

index ceases to be available to the Vendor on less 

than thirty days notice, the Vendor may terminate 

either the Rider alone or the Rider and Vendor 

Agreement on the date the index ceases to be 

available. 

6See the CTA form of Exhibit C to its form 

Agreement for Receipt and Use of Consolidated 

Network A Data and NYSE Market Data for ‘‘Cable 

Broadcasts.’’

7Specifically, OPRA plans to charge a fee of $.50 

per 1,000 households reached. See proposed 

‘‘Television Display Fee’’ on the OPRA Fee 

Schedule. 

8 In approving this proposed OPRA Plan 

Amendment, the Commission has considered its 

impact on efficiency, competition, and capital 

formation. 15 U.S.C. 78c(f). 

9 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

10 17 CFR 242.608. 

11 15 U.S.C. 78k–1(a)(1)(C)(iii). 

12 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

13 17 CFR 242.608. 

14 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(29). 

1 15 U.S.C. 78k–1. 

2 17 CFR 242.608. 

3The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan 

approved by the Commission pursuant to Section 

11A of the Act and Rule 608 thereunder (formerly 

Rule 11Aa3–2). See Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. 

Docket 484 (March 31, 1981). The full text of the 

OPRA Plan is available at http:// 

www.opradata.com. 

The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and 

dissemination of last sale and quotation information 

on options that are traded on the participant 

exchanges. The six participants to the OPRA Plan 

are the American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston 

Stock Exchange, Inc., the Chicago Board Options 

Exchange, Incorporated, the International Securities 

Exchange, Inc. (‘‘ISE’’), the NYSE Arca, Inc., and the 

Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. (‘‘Phlx’’). 

4Amendment No. 1 replaced the original filing in 

its entirety. 

out requirements that are intended to 

elicit only the information that OPRA 

would need in order to verify the fees 

paid by a television company for 

television dissemination. 

In addition, to accommodate the 

possibility that some owners of the 

indexes that OPRA disseminates may 

not wish to grant television companies 

the right to disseminate their indexes 

separately from the dissemination of 

related options market data, the new 

Rider would include language providing 

OPRA with the ability to grant 

permission to Vendor television 

companies to display index values 

separately from the dissemination of 

related options market data, and to 

revoke that permission. OPRA would 

treat all television companies that sign 

Riders identically with respect to 

permission to display index values. 

However, if OPRA revokes permission 

to display particular index values 

separately from the dissemination of 

related options market data, and, as a 

consequence, the television company 

Vendor no longer wishes to display 

OPRA Data values and to pay fees for 

doing so, language in the Rider would 

allow the television company Vendor to 

terminate the Rider and its Vendor 

Agreement, or only the Rider, effective 

as of the date that the index values cease 

to be available to the television 

company Vendor.5

Furthermore, Section 2 of the Rider 

would require a television company 

Vendor to display a legend on its 

television display at least three times a 

day. OPRA represents that the form of 

the legend would be the same as the 

legend required by the Consolidated 

Tape Association (‘‘CTA’’) for its 

counterpart Network A service, and the 

requirement with respect to the display 

of the legend would be the same as the 

CTA requirement.6

Finally, OPRA proposes to charge a 

fee for the dissemination via television 

of current OPRA Data on the basis of the 

number of ‘‘thousands of households 

reached’’ by the Vendor television 

company’s programming.7 OPRA 

represents that this metric is widely 

used in the television industry and is 

used by CTA for its counterpart service. 

III. Discussion 

After careful review, the Commission 

finds that the proposed OPRA Plan 

amendment is consistent with the 

requirements of the Act and the rules 

and regulations thereunder.8

Specifically, the Commission finds that 

the proposed OPRA Plan amendment is 

consistent with Section 11A of the Act 9

and Rule 608 thereunder 10 in that it is 

appropriate in the public interest, for 

the protection of investors and the 

maintenance of fair and orderly markets, 

and to remove impediments to, and 

perfect the mechanism of, a national 

market system. 

The Commission believes the new 

Rider to allow television companies to 

disseminate current OPRA data via a 

passive scrolling or ticker television 

display is consistent with, and would 

further one of the principal objectives 

for the national market system set forth 

in Section 11A(a)(1)(C)(iii) of the Act 11

because it would help to assure the 

availability of information with respect 

to options information to brokers, 

dealers, and investors. Furthermore, the 

Commission believes that the proposed 

OPRA Plan amendment provides for an 

equitable allocation of reasonable fees 

for the dissemination via television of 

current OPRA Data. 

IV. Conclusion 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 11A of the Act,12 and Rule 608 

thereunder,13 that the proposed OPRA 

Plan amendment (SR–OPRA–2007–05) 

be, and it hereby is, approved. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.14

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–1997 Filed 2–4–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–57230; File No. SR–OPRA–

2007–03] 

Options Price Reporting Authority; 

Order Granting Permanent Approval to 

an Amendment to the Plan for 

Reporting of Consolidated Options 

Last Sale Reports and Quotation 

Information, as Modified by 

Amendment No. 1 Thereto, To Modify 

Various Provisions of the OPRA Plan 

and the OPRA Fee Schedule To Reflect 

the Elimination of Separate Fees for 

Access to Market Data Concerning 

Foreign Currency Options 

January 29, 2008. 

I. Introduction 

On October 9, 2007, the Options Price 

Reporting Authority (‘‘OPRA’’) 

submitted to the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’), 

pursuant to Section 11A of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 608 thereunder,2 an 

amendment to the Plan for Reporting of 

Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports 

and Quotation Information (‘‘OPRA 

Plan’’).3 The proposed OPRA Plan 

amendment would amend various 

provisions of the OPRA Plan in order to 

reflect the elimination of the separate 

fees for access to market data 

concerning Foreign Currency Options 

(‘‘FCOs’’) that currently apply to certain 

FCOs traded on the Phlx. The OPRA Fee 

Schedule would similarly be revised to 

reflect the elimination of the separate 

FCO service access fees. On November 

14, 2007, OPRA submitted Amendment 

No. 1 to the proposal.4 On December 11, 

2007, OPRA submitted a revised version 

of Exhibit II to Amendment No. 1 to the 

proposal, which it requested to be 


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