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, 6749-6750 [E8-1997]
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2008 / Notices
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
CFR 242.608.
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).
4 See 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.
5 The 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.
6 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56893,
72 FR 70353 (December 11, 2007).
7 17 CFR 242.608.
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.
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.
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.
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
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]
2 17
rmajette on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES
3 On
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:34 Feb 04, 2008
Jkt 214001
6749
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’’),
8 See
supra note 6.
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).
9 15
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II. Description of the Proposal
1 15
U.S.C. 78k–1.
CFR 242.608.
3 The 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 https://
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.
4 See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56926
(December 7, 2007), 72 FR 70907 (‘‘Notice’’).
2 17
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6750
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 24 / Tuesday, February 5, 2008 / Notices
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
rmajette on PROD1PC64 with NOTICES
5 Any
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.
6 See 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.’’
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:34 Feb 04, 2008
Jkt 214001
7 Specifically, 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).
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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
1 15
U.S.C. 78k–1.
CFR 242.608.
3 The 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 https://
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’’).
4 Amendment No. 1 replaced the original filing in
its entirety.
2 17
E:\FR\FM\05FEN1.SGM
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 5, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6749-6750]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1997]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
\2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
\3\ The 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 https://
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.
\4\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56926 (December 7,
2007), 72 FR 70907 (``Notice'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
[[Page 6750]]
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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Any 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ See 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.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ Specifically, OPRA plans to charge a fee of $.50 per 1,000
households reached. See proposed ``Television Display Fee'' on the
OPRA Fee Schedule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1(a)(1)(C)(iii).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
\13\ 17 CFR 242.608.
For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets,
pursuant to delegated authority.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-1997 Filed 2-4-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011-01-P