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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 91 / Thursday, May 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 76
DA 21496; FR ID 25315

Elimination of Termination Dates in the Commissions Retransmission Consent Rules Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

In this document, Media Bureau updates the Commissions 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, Steven.Broeckaert@fcc.gov, of the Policy Division, Media Bureau, 202 418
1075.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Media Bureaus Order, DA 21496, 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 fcc504@fcc.gov or calling the Commissions Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202
4180530 voice, 202 4180432
TTY.
SUMMARY:

Synopsis 1. In this Order, we update our rules by eliminating the termination dates provided in sections 76.64l and 76.65f of the Commissions rules relating to retransmission consent to conform to the latest Congressional amendments to section 325b3C 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
1 Although SHVIA imposed the good faith negotiation obligation only on broadcasters, in 2004

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Originally, section 325b3C 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 325b3C 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 76.64l and 76.65f of the Commissions rules, and was last updated in February 2015 to reflect the January 1, 2020 date.2
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 325b3C.3 As a result, the authority for sections 76.64l and 76.65f 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.
4. In this Order, we eliminate the termination dates set forth in sections 76.64l and 76.65f of the Commissions rules. This change simply conforms to the statutory amendments in the TVPA, which eliminated the termination dates in section 325b3C
and thus made the provisions effective indefinitely. Eliminating the outdated termination dates from the Commissions 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 76.64l and 76.65f 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 Commissions 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.
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 4i, 4j, 303r, 325 and 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154i, 154j, 303r, 325, and 534, and in section 553b3B of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553b3B, this Order is adopted.
9. It is further ordered that, pursuant to the authority found in sections 4i, 4j, 303r, 325 and 614 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154i, 154j, 303r, 325, and 534, and in section 553b3B of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553b3B, the Commissions 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. 801a1A.

Congress made the good faith negotiation obligation reciprocal between broadcasters and MVPDs.
2 Section 76.64l 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 76.65f 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.
3 Section 1002 states: Section 325b of the Communications Act of 1934 47 U.S.C. 325b is amended . . . in paragraph 3C, by striking until January 1, 2020, each place it appears.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 76
Cable television; Communications.

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

Final Rules For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications 4 The Commission has found the good cause exception to apply in similar circumstances.

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