This submission is being made to the Office of Management (OMB) for the approval of information collection requirements contained in the Commissionâs Incentive Auction Order, which adopted rules for holding an Incentive Auction, as required by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Spectrum Act). The Spectrum Act directs the Commission to hold a âreverse auctionâ in which broadcasters can voluntarily return some or all of their broadcast spectrum usage rights in exchange for incentive payments. The Spectrum Act also requires the Commission to reorganize the broadcast television band, which will be accomplished by repacking stations, or moving broadcast stations to different channels. The Spectrum Act directs the Commission to hold a forward auction of the ultra-high frequency (UHF) spectrum obtained as a result of the reverse auction and channel repacking. This UHF spectrum will be auctioned as flexible-use licenses suitable for providing mobile broadband service. The Spectrum Act establishes a TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund (Fund) to reimburse reassigned broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) that incur expenses associated with continuing to carry relocated stations, for their reasonable expenses resulting from the post-auction channel reassignment. The rules governing these processes are codified at 47 C.F.R. Parts 0, 1, 27, 73 and 74.
The Commission delegated to the Media Bureau the authority to develop a form for use by each full power and Class A broadcast licensee reassigned to a new channel following the Incentive Auction to claim reimbursement from the Fund (FCC Form 2100, Schedule 399, TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund Reimbursement Form). The Commission also delegated to the Media Bureau the authority to adopt the necessary policies and procedures relating to allocations, draw downs, payments, obligations, and expenditures of money from the Fund in order to protect against waste, fraud and abuse and in the event of bankruptcy.
Please see the non-substantive change request justification for the reason(s) behind this change request submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval.
The Commission has program changes/increases to this collection. They are as follows: 1,900 respondents, 22,800 responses, 31,100 annual hours and annual cost of $5,625,000 which are due to the information collection requirements adopted in FCC 14-50.
$2,629,828
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Raphael Sznajder 202 418-1648
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.