[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 22, 1995)] [Notices] [Pages 57868-57869] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 95-28468] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Public Information Collection Requirement Submitted to OMB for Review November 13, 1995. SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, (44 U.S.C. 3507). Comments concerning the Commission's need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated information techniques, are requested. The Commission has requested an emergency OMB review of the Form 1240 with an approval by December 8, 1995. DATES: Persons wishing to comment on this information collection should submit comments on or before December 8, 1995. ADDRESS: Direct all comments to Timothy Fain, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10236 NEOB, Washington, DC 20503, (202) 395-3561 or via internet at [email protected], and Dorothy Conway, Federal Communications, Room 234, 1919 M St., NW., Washington, DC 20554 or via internet to [email protected]. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or copies of the information collections contact Dorothy Conway at 202-418-0217 or via internet at [email protected]. Copies may also be obtained via fax by contacting the Commission's Fax on Demand System. To obtain fax copies call 202-418-0177 from the handset on your fax machine, and enter the document retrieval number indicated below, when prompted. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 22, 1995, the Commission released a Thirteenth Order on Reconsideration (``Benchmark Cleanup Order''), FCC 95-397, MM Docket No. 92-266, Implementation of Sections of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992. In the ``Benchmark Cleanup Order'', the Commission adopts a new optional rate adjustment methodology where cable operators will be permitted to make annual rate changes to their BSTs and CPSTs. Operators that elect to use this new methodology will adjust their rates once per year to reflect reasonably certain and reasonably quantifiable changes in external costs, inflation, and the number of regulated channels that are projected for the 12 months following the rate change. Because operators will be permitted to estimate cost changes that will occur in the 12 months following the rate filing, we expect that this methodology will limit delays in recovering costs that operators may experience under the current system. Any incurred cost that is underestimated or overestimated may be accrued with interest and added to rates at a later time. If actual and projected costs are different during the rate year, a ``true up'' mechanism is available to correct estimated costs with actual cost changes. The ``true up'' requires [[Page 57869]] operators to decrease their rates or alternatively, permits them to increase their rates to make adjustments for over- or under- estimations of these cost changes. Operators would not lose the right to make a rate increase at a later date if they choose not to implement a rate adjustment at the beginning of the next rate year. Finally, in order that operators not feel compelled to make rate filings or increase rates when they otherwise would not, we will eliminate the ``use or lose'' requirement for operators that elect this methodology. Filing Instructions for the Form 1240 If this is your first time filing Form 1240 (assuming your franchise area is already subject to regulation), and if your most recent Form 1210 does not incorporate changes through June 30, 1995, there are two circumstances under which you must file a Form 1210 which records the changes in your system's costs which have occurred between the last Form 1210 and June 30, 1995. The first is if you moved any channels between regulated tiers in this time period. The second is if you have added channels to your regulated tier(s) during this time period and you wish to claim Caps Method or Markup Method adjustments for these channels. Any Form 1210 you file to meet these two conditions should not be treated as a separate filing, but rather as an attachment to your Form 1240. If your most recent Form 1210 does incorporate changes through June 30, 1995, you do not have to perform this first step. If this is your first time filing Form 1240 and you have never been subject to CPST regulation, in order to meet your burden of showing that your CPST rate is not unreasonable, you may have to provide details about your previous increases. If your local franchising authority becomes certified to regulate the basic service tier (``BST'', see the General Instructions section for a full definition), you are required to follow the Commission's existing rules and file a Form 1200, a Form 1205, and a Form 1210. Once those have been filed, you may switch to the annual filing system. The Commission's rules recognize seven categories of external costs: retransmission consent fees, copyright fees, programming costs, certain cable specific taxes, franchise-related costs, franchise fees and Commission regulatory fees. You may adjust your maximum permitted rate for changes in these categories of costs except for franchise fees, which are not included in your permitted rates but rather are simply added to them. Form 1240 must be filed with your local franchising authority at least 90 days before you plan to implement a change in your basic rates if your local franchising authority is certified to regulate basic rates. You must notify your local franchising authority of the annual filing date prior to filing Form 1240. If the Commission found your cable programming service rates to be unreasonable less than one year ago, or if a complaint about a CPST rate is pending before the Commission, and you now wish to increase your CPST rates, you must submit FCC Form 1240 to the Commission at least 30 days before raising your rates. The Commission's mailing address for Form 1240 filings is: Federal Communications Commission, Form 1240, P.O. Box 18658, Washington, DC 20036. OMB Approval Number: New Collection. Title: Annual Updating of Maximum Permitted Rates for Regulated Cable Services. Form No.: FCC Form 1240. Type of Review: New Collection. Respondents: Business or other for-profit; State, Local or Tribal Governments. Number of Respondents: 5,850. Estimated Time Per Response: 15 hours. Total Annual Burden: 116,438 hours. Needs and Uses: The Commission has created the FCC Form 1240 Annual Updating of Maximum Permitted Rates for Regulated Cable Services as a filing alternative to the FCC Form 1210, which is filed quarterly. The Form 1240, like the Form 1210, is filed by cable operators seeking to adjust maximum permitted rates for regulated services to reflect changes in external costs. Cable operators will submit the Form 1240 to their respective local franchising authorities upon certification to regulate basic service tier rates and associated equipment; or with the Commission (in situations where the Commission has assumed jurisdiction). The Form 1240 will also be filed with the Commission when responding to a complaint filed with the Commission about cable programming service rates and associated equipment. The data will be used by the Commission and local franchising authorities to adjudicate permitted rates for regulated cable services and equipment, for the addition of new programming tiers and to account for the addition and deletion of channels and the allowance for pass throughs of external costs and costs due to inflation. Fax Document Retrieval Number: 601240. Federal Communications Commission. William F. Caton, Acting Secretary. [FR Doc. 95-28468 Filed 11-21-95; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6712-01-F