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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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majority of commercial television broadcast stations are small entities under the applicable size standard.
Additionally, the Commission has estimated the number of licensed commercial television stations to be 1,374.93 Of this total, 1,263 stations or 92% had revenues of $41.5 million or less in 2019, according to Commission staff review of the BIA Kelsey Inc.
Media Access Pro Television Database BIA on July 30, 2020, and therefore these stations qualify as small entities under the SBA definition. In addition, the Commission estimates the number of noncommercial educational television stations to be 384.94 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 are also 386 Class A stations.95
Given the nature of this service, the Commission presumes that all of these stations qualify as small entities under the applicable SBA size standard.
Radio Broadcasting. This U.S.
Economic Census category comprises establishments primarily engaged in broadcasting aural programs by radio to the public. 96 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.97 According to Economic Census data for 2012 when the SBAs size standard was set at $38.5 million or less in annual receipts, 2,849 firms in this category operated in that year.98 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.99 Based on this data, we estimate that the majority of commercial radio broadcast stations 93 Broadcast Station Totals as of March 31, 2021, News Release MB Apr. 5, 2021 Mar. 31, 2021
Broadcast Station Totals, https www.fcc.gov/
document/broadcast-station-totals-march-31-2021.
94 Id.
95 Id.
96 U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 NAICS Definitions, 515112 Radio Stations, http www.census.gov./
cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch.
97 13 CFR 121.201; 2017 NAICS code 515112.
98 U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau, Table No. EC1251SSSZ4, Information: Subject Series Establishment and Firm Size: Receipts Size of Firms for the United States: 2012 515112 Radio Stations https factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/
ECN/2012_US/51SSSZ4//naics515112.
99 Id.

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were small under the applicable SBA
size standard.
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.100 Of this total, 11,266 stations or 99% had revenues of $41.5 million or less in 2019, according to Commission staff review of the BIA Kelsey Inc. Media Access Pro Television Database BIA on July 30, 2020, and therefore these stations qualify as small entities under the SBA
definition. In addition, there were 4,213
noncommercial, educational NCE FM
stations. 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.
We note, however, that in assessing whether a business concern qualifies as small under the above definition, business control affiliations 101 must be included. Our estimate, therefore, likely overstates the number of small entities that might be affected by our action, because the revenue figure on which it is based does not include or aggregate revenues from affiliated companies. In addition, another element of the definition of small business requires that an entity not be dominant in its field of operation. We are unable at this time to define or quantify the criteria that would establish whether a specific television broadcast station is dominant in its field of operation.
Accordingly, the estimate of small businesses to which the rules may apply does not exclude any radio or television station from the definition of a small business on this basis and is therefore possibly over-inclusive. An additional element of the definition of small business is that the entity must be independently owned and operated.
Because it is difficult to assess these criteria in the context of media entities, the estimate of small businesses to which the rules may apply does not exclude any radio or television station from the definition of a small business on this basis and similarly may be overinclusive.
Cable Companies and Systems Rate Regulation Standard The Commission has also developed its own small business size standards for the purpose of cable rate regulation. Under the 100 Mar.

31, 2021 Broadcast Station Totals.
concerns are affiliates of each other when one concern controls or has the power to control the other or a third party or parties controls or has the power to control both. 13 CFR
21.103a1.
101 Business
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Commissions rules, a small cable company is one serving 400,000 or fewer subscribers nationwide.102
Industry data indicates that, of the 777
cable companies currently operating in the United States, 766 serve 400,000 or fewer subscribers.103 Additionally, under the Commissions rules, a small system is a cable system serving 15,000
or fewer subscribers.104 According to industry data, there are currently 4,336
active cable systems in the United States.105 Of this total, 3,650 cable systems have fewer than 15,000
subscribers.106 Thus, the Commission believes that the vast majority of cable companies and cable systems are small entities.
Cable System Operators Telecom Act Standard. The Communications Act of 1934, as amended, also contains a size standard for small cable system operators, which is a cable operator that, directly or through an affiliate, serves in the aggregate fewer than one percent of all subscribers in the United States and is not affiliated with any entity or entities whose gross annual revenues in the aggregate exceed $250,000,000. 107 As of 2019, there were approximately 48,646,056 basic cable video subscribers in the United States.108 Accordingly, an operator serving fewer than 486,460 subscribers shall be deemed a small operator if its annual revenues, when combined with the total annual revenues of all its affiliates, do not exceed $250 million in the aggregate.109 Based on available data, we find that all but five cable operators are small entities under this 102 47 CFR 76.901d. The Commission determined that this size standard equates approximately to a size standard of $100 million or less in annual revenues. Implementation of Sections of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992: Rate Regulation, MM
Docket Nos. 93215 and 92266, Sixth Report and Order and Eleventh Order on Reconsideration, 10
FCC Rcd 7393, 7408, para. 28 1995.
103 See S&P Global Market Intelligence, MediaCensus, Operator Subscribers by Geography:
National Report, Subscribers by Operator, https
platform.mi.spglobal.com/web/client?auth=inherit industry/mediaCensusHome last visited Jul. 28, 2020.
104 47 CFR 76.901c.
105 See S&P Global Market Intelligence, MediaCensus, Operator Subscribers by Geography:
Headend by Headend Report, Subscribers by Headend, https platform.mi.spglobal.com/web/
client?auth=inheritindustry/mediaCensusHome last visited Jul. 28, 2020.
106 Id.
107 47 U.S.C. 543m2; see also 47 CFR 76.901e.
108 S&P Global Market Intelligence, U.S. Cable Subscriber Highlights, Basic Subscribersactual 2019, U.S. Cable MSO Industry Total, see also U.S.
Multichannel Industry Benchmarks, U.S. Cable Industry Benchmarks, Basic Subscribers 2019Y, https platform.marketintelligence.spglobal.com.
109 47 CFR 76.901e.

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