SUPPORTING STATEMENT
A. Justification:
1. The Federal Communications Commission ("Commission") is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve a three-year extension of OMB Control No. 3060-1055 (delegated authority collection) titled, “Application for Permit to Deliver Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations (FCC Form 423-IB).” There are no changes in reporting requirements, respondents, burden hours or costs.
After the form has been developed by the Commission, the FCC Form 423-IB will be completed by international broadcasters to apply for authority to locate, use, or maintain a studio in the United States for the purpose of supplying program material to a foreign radio or TV broadcast station whose signals are consistently received in the United States, or for extension of existing authority.
The FCC Form 423-IB has not been developed yet due to a lack of budget resources and technical staff. After the form has been developed by the Commission, the FCC Form 423 will be filed with the Commission in lieu of the "Application for Permit to Deliver Programs to Experimental or Foreign Broadcast Stations," (FCC Form 308). (Note: The OMB approved the FCC Form 308 under OMB Control No. 3060-1035).
The FCC Form 423-IB will be filed with the Commission pursuant to “C.F.R, Part 73, Subpart H Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations.” It is estimated that approximately 10-30 respondents will file the FCC Form 423-IB annually.
The International Bureau will have FCC Form 423-IB available to the public on its Internet-based, user-friendly International Bureau Filing System (“MyIBFS”). International broadcasters will utilize MyIBFS to file FCC Form 423-IB with the Commission. The Commission established the FCC Form 423-IB under a separate OMB control number to facilitate the automation of the form in MyIBFS and any changes to the form in the future.
The FCC Form 423-IB does not affect individuals and, therefore, is not subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended.
The Commission has authority for this collection pursuant to 47 C.F.R., Part 73, Subpart H, Section 73.3580 of the Commission’s rules.
2. The information collected pursuant to the rules set forth in 47 CFR Part 73, Subpart H, are applicable to all AM, FM, TV and Class A TV broadcast services, including both commercial and noncommercial stations. Subpart H consists of rules related to the licensing and operation of such stations such as the station license period; station main studio location; transferring a station; antenna structure, marking and lighting; station inspections by the FCC; broadcasting emergency information; and processing of international broadcast station applications. If this information were not collected from the respondents on the application form, the Commission would not be able to ensure that commercial and noncommercial radio and television broadcasters meet the legal and technical requirements essential to operate radio and TV stations and to prevent harmful interference among broadcast stations and other telecommunications facilities.
Broadcasters are subject to the local public notice provisions stated in Section 73.3580 of Subpart H. The Commission adopted Section 73.3580 in order to ensure that the public is informed of a station’s filing of an application or amendment by advertisements in local newspapers. The public is kept abreast of the stations’ existence in a local area or plans to locate in a specific local area through such advertisements. Section 73.3580 also requires that certain applications be maintained on file for public inspection at a stated address in the community in which the station is located or is proposed to be located. If the Commission did not collect this information from the respondents, the public would not be informed of the existence of new broadcast stations within their local communities. The availability of such information serves the public interest by ensuring that all members of the public are aware of the existence of various radio and TV broadcast services so that they can make informed choices as American consumers.
3. The FCC Form 423-IB has not been developed yet due to a lack of budget resources and technical staff. Therefore, 100 percent of this collection is in paper form. The Commission plans to automate the FCC Form 423-IB in the International Bureau Filing System (“MyIBFS”) in the future. The automation of this form is contingent upon the availability of budget funds in the upcoming fiscal years.
4. These information collection requirements are not duplicated elsewhere in the Commission’s rules.
5. These information collection requirements do not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. The total number of entities subject to the Commission’s broadcast rules is approximately 30 and only a small percentage, if any, of the 30 could be categorized as a small entity. Also, the paperwork burdens accounted for in this collection are minimal.
6. If the Commission did not collect this information, the Commission would not be able to ascertain whether the commercial and noncommercial broadcast stations meet various technical and/or legal requirements that are critical to the operations of a broadcast station (e.g., antenna structure, marking and lighting) and to prevent harmful interference to other broadcast stations or telecommunications facilities. Furthermore, the Commission would not be able to ensure that broadcast licensees keep the public informed of the existence of broadcast stations in the local area or plans to establish broadcast stations in the local area as well as other pertinent information of interest to the public.
7. This Supporting Statement does not contain any new or amended information collection requirements that are not consistent with the general information collection guidelines in
5 C.F.R. § 1320.6.
8. A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register (71 FR 64276) to solicit public comments on the extension of this information collection. The 60-day comment period began on November 1, 2006 and ended on January 2, 2007. No comments were received from the public.
9. The Commission does not provide any payment or gift to respondents.
10. There is no need for confidentiality pertaining to the information collection requirements in this collection.
11. This collection does not contain questions of a sensitive nature.
12. An estimate of the annual hour burden of respondents is as follows:
FCC Form 423-IB |
Respondents |
Frequency of Response & Hours |
Respondents X Hours = Burden Hours |
Complete Application
|
30 |
4 On-occasion filing
|
120 |
Outside Legal and Engineering Assistance
|
30 |
4 |
120 |
Total:
|
30 Respondents Average
|
8 Hours Average |
240 Annual Burden Hours Average
|
13. The estimated costs of $62,400 (rounded down to $62,000) are summarized in the chart below.
FCC Form 420-IB
|
Respondents |
Hours |
Costs |
Total |
Application Fees
|
30 |
N/A |
$80 per application
|
$2,400 |
Outside Legal/Engineering Assistance
|
30 |
10 Hours per submission |
$200 per hour X 10 hours = $2,000 per submission
|
$60,000 |
Total:
|
30 Average Number of Respondents |
10 Hours Average
|
$2,080 Cost Per Submission |
$62,400 (Rounded down to $62,000) Total estimated costs |
14. The estimated annualized costs to the Federal government is $183,000 and is calculated
as follows:
10 international broadcast license applications X 360 annual hours = 3,600 annual hours
GS-855-14/Step 10 Electronics Engineer @ $50.83 per hour X 3,600 annual
hours = $182,988 (rounded to $183,000)
15. There are no program changes or adjustments.
16. The results of this information collection requirement will not be published for statistical use.
17. We are seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection. The Commission will use an edition date in lieu of the OMB expiration date. Additionally, the OMB expiration date and OMB control number are “displayed” in
47 CFR 0.408.
18. There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
Part B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:
Not applicable. This information collection does not employ statistical methods.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Draft/jstify |
| Author | PREITZEL |
| File Modified | 2007-02-23 |
| File Created | 2007-02-23 |