The Commission has released an Order establishing its Fiscal Year 2015 Regulatory Fees:

• 2015 Cable/IPTV regulatory fee:  Cable systems (including IPTV systems) that had subscribers as of December 31, 2014 must pay $0.96 per subscriber, a $0.03 decrease from 2014. 

• CARS licenses and permits:  CARS facilities operating on October 1, 2014 must pay $660.00, a $55 increase from 2014, even if the facility’s license expired after October 1, 2014. 

• Interconnected VoIP regulatory fee:  $0.00331 for each dollar of interstate and international telecommunications revenue that a provider reports on its Form 499-A. 

For the first time, the FCC has concluded that DBS providers DirecTV and Dish Network should be included as a sub-category of payors to the “Cable and IPTV” the fee category.  DirecTV and Dish Network will pay a $0.12 per subscriber fee based on their video subscribers, helping to lower the cable/IPTV regulatory fee $0.03 from last year’s level. 

Simultaneously, the FCC announced that regulatory fee payments must be made no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, on September 24, 2015.

All licensees must use their FRN and password to access the Fee Filer System, and review, create, update, or change the fees owed. 

If you have any questions about regulatory fee payments, please contact Scott Friedman at (312) 372-3930 or sfriedman@cinnamonmueller.com.

EEO Form 396-C Due September 30, 2015 

On August 18, 2015, the Media Bureau released a Public Notice reminding multichannel video programming distributors (“MVPDs”), including cable operators, that Form 396-C, the FCC’s MVPD Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) Program Annual Report, must be submitted electronically by midnight on September 30, 2015.  To file Form 396-C, login to the Media Bureau’s CDBS Electronic Filing System.

The Public Notice also lists the cable operators that the FCC randomly selected to file a Supplemental Investigation Sheet along with their Form 396-C.  For this year’s filing, Supplemental Investigation Sheet filers must:

• Include one job description for employees in the category “Professionals” in Part I of the form.

• Answer questions 2,4, and 6 in Part II of the form:

à    Describe the employment unit’s efforts to disseminate widely its equal employment opportunity program to job applicants, employees, and those with whom it regularly does business.

à    Explain the employment unit’s efforts to promote in a nondiscriminatory manner to positions of greater responsibility.

à    Report the findings of the employment unit’s analysis of its efforts to recruit, hire, promote in a nondiscriminatory manner and explain any difficulties encountered in implementing its EEO program.

• Attach, as Part III, a copy of the unit’s EEO public file report created in 2015 covering the previous 12 months.

If you have any questions about EEO compliance, please contact Scott Friedman at (312) 372-3930 or sfriedman@cinnamonmueller.com.