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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 115 / Thursday, June 17, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
small entities that may be affected by the proposed rule revisions, if adopted.
The RFA generally defines the term small entity as having the same meaning as the terms small business, small organization, and small governmental jurisdiction. In addition, the term small business has the same meaning as the term small business concern under the Small Business Act SBA. A small business concern is one which: 1 Is independently owned and operated; 2 is not dominant in its field of operation; and 3 satisfies any additional criteria established by the SBA. Below, the Commission provides a description of such small entities, as well as an estimate of the number of such small entities, where feasible.
92. Television Broadcasting. This U.S.
Economic Census category comprises establishments primarily engaged in broadcasting images together with sound. These establishments operate television broadcast studios and facilities for the programming and transmission of programs to the public.
These establishments also produce or transmit visual programming to affiliated broadcast television stations, which in turn broadcast the programs to the public on a predetermined schedule.
Programming may originate in their own studio, from an affiliated network, or from external sources. The SBA has created the following small business size standard for such businesses: Those having $41.5 million or less in annual receipts. The 2012 Economic Census reports that 751 firms in this category operated in that year. Of that number, 656 had annual receipts of $25 million or less, 25 had annual receipts between $25 million and $49,999,999 and 70 had annual receipts of $50 million or more.
Based on these data, the Commission estimates that the majority of commercial television broadcast stations are small entities under the applicable size standard.
93. Additionally, the Commission has estimated the number of licensed commercial television stations to be 1,374. Of this total, 1,269 stations or 92% had revenues of $41.5 million or less in 2020, according to Commission staff review of the BIA Kelsey Inc.
Media Access Pro Television Database BIA on April 20, 2021, and therefore these stations qualify as small entities under the SBA definition. In addition, the Commission estimates the number of noncommercial educational stations to be 384. The Commission does not compile and does not have access to information on the revenue of NCE
stations that would permit it to determine how many such stations would qualify as small entities. There
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are also 386 Class A stations. Given the nature of this service, the Commission presumes that all of these stations qualify as small entities under the applicable SBA size standard.
94. Radio Stations. This U.S.
Economic Census category comprises establishments primarily engaged in broadcasting aural programs by radio to the public. Programming may originate in the establishments own studio, from an affiliated network, or from external sources. The SBA has created the following small business size standard for such businesses: Those having $41.5
million or less in annual receipts.
Economic Census data for 2012 show that 2,849 firms in this category operated in that year. Of that number, 2,806 operated with annual receipts of less than $25 million per year, 17 with annual receipts between $25 million and $49,999,999 million and 26 with annual receipts of $50 million or more.
Based on these data, the Commission estimates that the majority of commercial radio broadcast stations were small under the applicable SBA
size standard.
95. The Commission has estimated the number of licensed commercial AM
radio stations to be 4,546 and the number of commercial FM radio stations to be 6,682 for a total of 11,228
commercial stations. Of this total, 11,227 stations or 99% had revenues of $41.5 million or less in 2020, according to Commission staff review of the BIA Kelsey Inc. Media Access Pro Television Database BIA on April 20, 2021, and therefore these stations qualify as small entities under the SBA
definition. In addition, there were 4,213
noncommercial educational FM
stations. The Commission does not compile and does not have access to information on the revenue of NCE
radio stations that would permit it to determine how many such stations would qualify as small entities.
96. In assessing whether a business concern qualifies as small under the above definition, business control affiliations must be included. The Commissions estimate, therefore, likely overstates the number of small entities that might be affected by its action because the revenue figure on which it is based does not include or aggregate revenues from affiliated companies. In addition, an element of the definition of small business is that the entity not be dominant in its field of operation.
The Commission is unable at this time to define or quantify the criteria that would establish whether a specific radio or television station is dominant in its field of operation. Accordingly, the estimate of small businesses to which
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the proposed rules may apply does not exclude any radio or television station from the definition of small business on this basis and is therefore possibly overinclusive.
97. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements. The R&O
adopts rules that require a specific disclosure at the time of broadcast if material aired pursuant to the lease of time on the station has been sponsored, paid for, or, in the case of political programming or programming involving a controversial issue, furnished for free as an inducement to air by a foreign governmental entity. As described above, the term foreign governmental entity is defined by reference to existing definitions in the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 as amended FARA and Section 722 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended the Act. The R&O requires that stations use the following standard disclosure:
The following/preceding programming was sponsored, paid for, or furnished, either in whole or in part, by name of foreign governmental entity on behalf of name of foreign country.

In addition, recognizing that FARA
requires a standard disclosure, the R&O
simplifies compliance by allowing broadcasters, including small broadcasters, to pass through any required FARA label included with the programming, so long as it also adds the name of the foreign country involved in providing the programming. The R&O
concludes that the FARA disclosure with the addition of the country name satisfies the need to provide viewers and listeners greater insight regarding the source of foreign governmentprovided programming. To further reduce compliance burdens for broadcasters, including small broadcasters, the size, frequency, and duration of the required disclosure generally matches size, frequency and duration requirements for other types of programming requiring sponsorship identification.
98. In response to requests from broadcasters, including small broadcasters, the R&O details what is required of broadcasters to meet the reasonable diligence standard contained in section 317c of the Act so that broadcasters can determine if a foreign sponsorship identification disclosure is needed. As described above, the R&O lists five specific steps broadcasters must take to satisfy the standard. The R&O states that searches of the FARA database may require more than simply reviewing the initial
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