Elimination of Termination Dates in the Commission's Retransmission Consent Rules, 26185-26186 [2021-10019]

Agencies

• FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 91 (Thursday, May 13, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 26185-26186]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10019]



[[Page 26185]]

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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 76

[DA 21-496; FR ID 25315]


Elimination of Termination Dates in the Commission's 
Retransmission Consent Rules

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, Media Bureau updates the Commission's rules 
by eliminating termination dates related to retransmission consent to 
conform to the latest Congressional amendments.

DATES: Effective June 14, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information on this 
proceeding, contact Steven Broeckaert, [email protected], of 
the Policy Division, Media Bureau, (202) 418-1075.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Media Bureau's 
Order, DA 21-496, adopted and released on April 29, 2021. This document 
will be available via ECFS at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/. Documents will 
be available electronically in ASCII, Microsoft Word, and/or Adobe 
Acrobat. Alternative formats are available for people with disabilities 
(Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), by sending an 
email to [email protected] or calling the Commission's Consumer and 
Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 
(TTY).

Synopsis

    1. In this Order, we update our rules by eliminating the 
termination dates provided in sections 76.64(l) and 76.65(f) of the 
Commission's rules relating to retransmission consent to conform to the 
latest Congressional amendments to section 325(b)(3)(C) of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the Act).
    2. In 1999, Congress enacted the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement 
Act (SHVIA), which adopted standards governing retransmission consent 
negotiations between broadcasters and multichannel video programming 
distributors (MVPDs). Specifically, Congress directed the Commission to 
require television stations to negotiate retransmission consent with 
MVPDs in good faith and to prohibit broadcasters from entering into 
exclusive retransmission consent agreements.\1\ Originally, section 
325(b)(3)(C) of the Act specified that the good faith negotiation and 
exclusivity provisions would terminate after January 1, 2006. Through 
successive reauthorizations of these provisions, the termination date 
in section 325(b)(3)(C) was extended to January 1, 2010, then 
subsequently to March 1, 2010, March 29, 2010, May 1, 2010, June 1, 
2010, January 1, 2015, and finally, to January 1, 2020. The termination 
date is set forth in sections 76.64(l) and 76.65(f) of the Commission's 
rules, and was last updated in February 2015 to reflect the January 1, 
2020 date.\2\
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    \1\ Although SHVIA imposed the good faith negotiation obligation 
only on broadcasters, in 2004 Congress made the good faith 
negotiation obligation reciprocal between broadcasters and MVPDs.
    \2\ Section 76.64(l) states: ``This paragraph shall terminate at 
midnight on January 1, 2020, provided that if Congress further 
extends this date, the rules remain in effect until the statutory 
authorization expires.'' Section 76.65(f) states: ``This section 
shall terminate at midnight on January 1, 2020, provided that if 
Congress further extends this date, the rules remain in effect until 
the statutory authorization expires.''
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    3. In 2019, section 1002 of the Television Viewer Protection Act of 
2019 (TVPA) eliminated the ``until January 1, 2020'' language from each 
place that it previously appeared in section 325(b)(3)(C).\3\ As a 
result, the authority for sections 76.64(l) and 76.65(f) now continues 
indefinitely, yet the text of these specific rule provisions still 
contains the ``until January 1, 2020'' termination language. This 
discrepancy has led to confusion among interested parties as to whether 
these provisions are still in effect.
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    \3\ Section 1002 states: ``Section 325(b) of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 325(b)) is amended . . . in paragraph (3)(C), 
by striking `until January 1, 2020,' each place it appears.''
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    4. In this Order, we eliminate the termination dates set forth in 
sections 76.64(l) and 76.65(f) of the Commission's rules. This change 
simply conforms to the statutory amendments in the TVPA, which 
eliminated the termination dates in section 325(b)(3)(C) and thus made 
the provisions effective indefinitely. Eliminating the outdated 
termination dates from the Commission's rules conforms with the 
directive in the TVPA and therefore will alleviate any confusion as to 
whether the rules remain in effect.
    5. We find that notice and comment procedures are unnecessary under 
the ``good cause'' exception of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) 
because deleting the termination dates in sections 76.64(l) and 
76.65(f) entails no exercise of our administrative discretion. The 
elimination of the termination dates is already effective as a matter 
of law under the TVPA. Moreover, the text of our rules already states 
that if Congress extends the termination date, as it did in the TVPA, 
the rules remain in effect until the statutory authorization expires. 
Thus, this rule modification simply updates the Commission's 
implementing regulations to conform with the TVPA amendments recently 
enacted into law.\4\ The rule change does not establish additional 
regulatory obligations or burdens on regulated entities. Consequently, 
we find notice and comment procedures are unnecessary for this action.
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    \4\ The Commission has found the ``good cause'' exception to 
apply in similar circumstances.
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    6. Because these rule changes are being adopted without notice and 
comment, the Regulatory Flexibility Act does not apply.
    7. This document does not contain any new or modified information 
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA). In addition, therefore, it does not contain any new or modified 
information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer 
than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act 
of 2002.
    8. Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to the authority found 
in sections 4(i), 4(j), 303(r), 325 and 614 of the Communications Act 
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 303(r), 325, and 534, 
and in section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 
U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B), this Order is adopted.
    9. It is further ordered that, pursuant to the authority found in 
sections 4(i), 4(j), 303(r), 325 and 614 of the Communications Act of 
1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 303(r), 325, and 534, and 
in section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 
553(b)(3)(B), the Commission's rules are hereby amended as set forth in 
the final rules below, effective as of thirty (30) days after the date 
of publication in the Federal Register.
    10. It is further ordered that the Commission shall send a copy of 
this Order in a report to be sent to Congress and the Government 
Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see 5 
U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 76

    Cable television; Communications.

Federal Communications Commission.
Thomas Horan,
Chief of Staff, Media Bureau.

Final Rules

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal 
Communications

[[Page 26186]]

Commission amends 47 CFR part 76 as follows:

PART 76--MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE

0
1. The authority citation for part 76 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 153, 154, 301, 302, 302a, 303, 
303a, 307, 308, 309, 312, 315, 317, 325, 338, 339, 340, 341, 503, 
521, 522, 531, 532, 534, 535, 536, 537, 543, 544, 544a, 545, 548, 
549, 552, 554, 556, 558, 560, 561, 571, 572, 573.


0
2. Section 76.64 is amended by revising paragraph (l) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  76.64  Retransmission consent.

* * * * *
    (l) Exclusive retransmission consent agreements are prohibited. No 
television broadcast station shall make or negotiate any agreement with 
one multichannel video programming distributor for carriage to the 
exclusion of other multichannel video programming distributors.
* * * * *


Sec.  76.65  [Amended]

0
3. Amend Sec.  76.65 by removing paragraph (f).

[FR Doc. 2021-10019 Filed 5-12-21; 8:45 am]
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