SUPPORTING STATEMENT OMB 3060-1133 (03-08-23) final

Application for Permit to Deliver OMB Control No: 3060-1133 Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations June 2023

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

A. Justification:

1. The Federal Communications Commission ("Commission") is requesting that the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) approve a revision of OMB Control No. 3060-1133 titled, "Application for Permit to Deliver Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations FCC Form 308) – 47 C.F.R. 73.3545 and 73.3580."

The Commission has updated the International Bureau Filing System (IBFS) to allow for filing of electronic forms directly into the system through an integrated web-based program with fillable fields. The integrated web-based program requires the use of an FCC Registration Number (FRN) and includes support for Form 308.¹ Applicants will be required to submit Form 308 through the integrated web-based program. Therefore, this information collection is being revised to reflect the new form format and the addition of a requirement to provide an FRN on the Form.

Application for Permit to Deliver Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations (FCC Form 308)

Pursuant to 47 C.F.R. Section 73.3545, applicants use the FCC Form 308 to apply, under Section 325(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 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. Approximately 75 percent of all applicants submit the FCC Form 308 to the Commission using the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS).

Section 73.3545 states that “application under section 325(c) of the Communications Act for authority to locate, use, or maintain a broadcast studio in connection with a foreign station consistently received in the United States, should be made on FCC Form 308, Application for Permit to Deliver Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations.” An informal application may be used by applicants holding an AM, FM or TV broadcast station license or construction permit. Informal applications must, however, contain a description of the nature and character of the programming proposed, together with other information requested on Page 4 of Form 308.”

The form consists of the questions that are essential to obtain the legal and technical information in order to grant authority to U.S. broadcasters to supply program material to a foreign radio or TV broadcast station whose signals are consistently received in the U.S., or to extend the current authority.

FCC Form 308 applicants now file their applicants in the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) and make their payment of their application filing fees electronically in the FCC Fee Filer System.  To reduce application errors, questions, and processing time, the Commission has updated IBFS with an integrated web-based program with fillable fields and error messages for standard issues. The requirement to file with the integrated web-based program in IBFS will provide a number of benefits to applicants and Commission staff, including cost savings, convenience, administrative ease, and speed, thereby reducing the annual cost burden.

The FCC Form 308 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 Section 325(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.

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. Currently, the FCC Form 308 is in paper form and in an Excel spreadsheet format. This

form can be printed from the FCC’s webpage and completed by hand. Approximately 75 percent of applicants file the completed form with the Commission using the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). The form is often included as an Excel attachment to an E-Mail in ECFS.

By requiring applications filed in IBFS with an associated FRN, the applicants will be interfacing directly with the system where subsequent pleadings, comments, public notices, and actions with respect to their application will be administered. Moreover, the new system has fillable fields with data validation notices to reduce the number of errors in submitted applications and questions to staff on in progress applications. The requirement to file with the integrated web-based program in IBFS will provide a number of benefits to applicants and Commission staff, including cost savings, convenience, administrative ease, and speed, thereby reducing the annual cost burden.

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 26 and only a small percentage, if any, of the 26 could be categorized as a small entity. Also, the paperwork burdens accounted for in this collection are minimal.

6. Without this collection of information, the Commission would not be able to ascertain whether the main studio owner in the US meets various legal requirements or the foreign broadcast facility, which receives and retransmits programming from the main studio in the U.S. meets various technical requirements that prevent harmful interference to other broadcast stations or telecommunications facilities.

7. This information collection does not contain any new information collection requirements that are not consistent with the general information collection guidelines in 5 C.F.R. § 1320.

8. A 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register (88 FR 22028) to solicit comments from the public on the extension of this collection. The 60-day comment period began ended on April 12, 2023. 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 burden hours for the 26 respondents is as follows:

FCC Form 308	Number of Responses	Frequency of Response & Hours	Number of Responses X Hour/Response = Burden Hours
47 CFR 73.3545 Complete FCC Form 308 for authority to locate, use, or maintain a studio in the U.S.	22	0.75 hour/response On-occasion	16.5 hours
47 CFR 73.3545 Informal application made by letter for authority to locate, use or maintain a studio in the U.S.	1	1 hour/response On-occasion	1 hour
47 CFR 73.3545 Complete FCC Form 308 for Special Temporary Authority (STA)	3	1.5 hours/response On-occasion	4.5 hours
47 CFR 73.3580 Local public notice provisions to inform public of stations’ existence in local area or plans to relocate in a specific local area	22	1 hour/response On-occasion	22 hours
47 CFR 73.3580 Recordkeeping requirement – Certain applications must 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	22	1 hour/ recordkeeping requirement/response	22 hours
Total:	70 Annual Responses	0.75 – 1.5 Hours Per Response	66 Annual Burden Hours

The annual “in-house costs” to the applicants is calculated as follows: 66 annual burden hours

x $60/hour = $3,960.00. Therefore, the total annual “in-house cost” to the respondents for this collection of information is $3,960.00.

13. The cost estimates are as follows: (a) total capital and start-up cost component: $0.

and (b) total operation and maintenance and purchase of services component: $26,681.

A cost summary is provided below.

FCC Form 308	Responses	Hours	Costs	Total
Application Fees2	23	N/A	$105 per application	$2,415
Outside Legal/Engineering Assistance	26	2 Hours per submission	$2753 per hour	$14,300
Newspaper notices pursuant to 47 CFR § 73.35804	22	N/A	$4535	$9,966
Total:				$26,681 Total Estimated Costs

14. The estimate of annualized cost to the Federal government is summarized in the chart below. As shown in the chart, the annualized costs to the Federal government are $22,116.90

Federal Government Staff	Number of Staff	Salary Per Hour	Annual Burden Hours	Annualized Costs
GS-13/Step 5 Telecommunications Specialist	1	$60.83	30	$1,824.90
GS-15/Step 5 Engineers	3	$84.55	60	$15,219,00
GS-15/Step 5 Attorney	1	$84.55	60	$5,073.00
	5			$22,116.90

15. The Commission has program changes/increases to this information collection as follows 22 to the annual number of responses, 25 to the annual burden hours and $8,039 to the annual cost. These program changes are due to the information collection requirements adopted in FCC 21-87.

There are no adjustments to this collection.

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.

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.

1 See Mandatory Electronic Filing of Section 325(c) Applications, International Broadcast Applications,

and Dominant Carrier Section 63.10(c) Quarterly Reports, FCC 21-87, released on July 13, 2021

2 There is no application fee for filing a Special Temporary Authority (STA) with the Commission. However, applicants who choose to file an informal application with the Commission by letter pay the same fee as applicants who file the FCC Form 308 with the Commission.

3 The Commission calculated the hourly salary for the attorney as $300.00/hour and the engineer as $250/hour for an average figure of $275.00/hour.

4 This notice must be published in a local newspaper of general circulation at least twice a week for two consecutive weeks in a three-week period (4 publications).

5 This figure was calculated as follows: 113.25 publication fee/notice x 4 publications = $453 in publication costs.

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