SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

OMB Control Number: 3060-0761.

Title: Section 79.1, Closed Captioning of Video Programming, CG Docket No. 05-231.

Form No.: N/A.

Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities; Individuals or households; and Not-for-profit entities.

Number of Respondents and Responses: 64,218 respondents; 521,074 responses.

Estimated Time per Response: 0.5 (30 minutes) to 30 hours.

Frequency of Response: Annual reporting requirement; Third party disclosure requirement; Recordkeeping requirement.

Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The statutory authority for this obligation is found at section 713 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 613, and implemented at 47 CFR 79.1.

Total Annual Burden: 727,143 hours.

Annual Cost Burden: $34,350,444.

Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: Confidentiality is an issue to the extent that individuals and households provide personally identifiable information, which is covered under the FCC's system of records notice (SORN), FCC/CGB-1, “Informal Complaints, Inquiries, and Requests for Dispute Assistance.” As required by the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Commission also published a SORN, FCC/CGB-1 “Informal Complaints, Inquiries, and Requests for Dispute Assistance” in the Federal Register on August 15, 2014, published at 79 FR 48152, which became effective on September 24, 2014.

Privacy Act Impact Assessment: Yes.

Needs and Uses: The Commission seeks to extend existing information collection requirements in its closed captioning rules (47 CFR 79.1), which require that, with some exceptions, all new video programming, and 75 percent of “pre-rule” programming, be closed captioned. The existing collections include petitions by video programming providers, producers, and owners for exemptions from the closed captioning rules, responses by commenters, and replies; complaints by viewers alleging violations of the closed captioning rules, responses by video programming distributors (VPDs) and video programmers, recordkeeping in support of complaint responses, and compliance ladder obligations in the event of a pattern or trend of violations; recordkeeping of monitoring and maintenance activities; caption quality best practices procedures; making video programming distributor contact information available to viewers in phone directories, on the Commission's website and the websites of video programming distributors (if they have them), and in billing statements (to the extent video programming distributors issue them); and video programmers filing of contact information and compliance certifications with the Commission.

On February 19, 2016, the Commission adopted the Closed Captioning Quality Second Report and Order, published at 81 FR 57473, August 23, 2016, amending its rules to allocate the responsibilities of VPDs and video programmers with respect to the provision and quality of closed captioning. The Commission took the following actions, among others:

(a) Required video programmers to file certifications with the Commission that (1) the video programmer (i) is in compliance with the rules requiring the inclusion of closed captions, and (ii) either is in compliance with the captioning quality standards or has adopted and is following related Best Practices; or (2) is exempt from the captioning obligation and specifies the exemption claimed.

(b) Revised the procedures for receiving, serving, and addressing television closed captioning complaints in accordance with a burden-shifting compliance model.

(c) Established a compliance ladder for the Commission's television closed captioning quality requirements.

(d) Required VPDs to use the Commission's web form when providing contact information to the VPD registry.

(e) Required video programmers to register their contact information with the Commission for the receipt and handling of written closed captioning complaints.

85 FR 69625