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 PUBLIC  NOTICE  _______________________________________________________________  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12th  St.,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 DA  03-  3177  Released:  October  10,  2003 
 NOTICE  TO  PARTICIPANTS 
 IN  THE  DIGITAL  TELEVISION  TRANSITION  SURVEY 


 Re:  Release  of  DTV  Survey  Data  to  General  Accounting  Office 


 The  U.  S.  General  Accounting  Office  (GAO)  is  conducting  a  review  of  the  Corporation  for  Public  Broadcasting.  In  connection  with  this  ongoing  project,  GAO  has  requested  access  to  certain  information 
 that  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  collected  through  a  recent  survey  (May  2003)  related  to  the  transition  to  digital  television  (DTV).  Specifically,  GAO  seeks  access  to  survey  responses  submitted 
 to  the  Commission  by  noncommercial  educational  television  licensees  (NCEs). 


 GAO’s  request  for  the  survey  data  is  made  pursuant  to  31  U.  S.  C.  §  716,  under  which  federal  agencies  must  provide  GAO  with  access  to  records  held  by  such  agencies.  GAO  notes  in  its  request  that 
 it  is  required  by  that  section  to  maintain  the  same  level  of  confidentiality  for  records  provided  as  is  required  of  the  head  of  the  agency  from  which  they  are  obtained,  and  that  GAO  is  precluded  by  18  U.  S.  C. 
 §  1905  from  disclosing  confidential  business  information.  Although  the  statutory  proscription  is  not  applicable  to  disclosures  to  Congress,  GAO  explains  that  it  is  GAO’s  policy  to  respect  business 
 confidential  information  and  to  protect  the  competitive  positions  of  individual  companies  in  a  manner  consistent  with  its  reporting  responsibilities.  GAO  also  indicates  that,  as  a  general  matter,  it  excludes 
 proprietary  and  confidential  business  information  from  its  congressional  reports.  If  transmittal  of  that  information  becomes  necessary,  GAO  states  that  it  will  transmit  any  such  information  separately  and  alert 
 the  recipient  in  Congress  to  the  sensitivity  of  the  information  and  advise  that  release  of  it  may  be  prohibited  by  18  U.  S.  C.  §  1905.  Finally,  GAO  states  that  it  does  not  disclose  records  in  its  files  to  the 
 public  that  originate  in  another  agency  and  that  it  will  refer  any  such  requests  to  the  originating  agency. 


 Commission  regulations  provide  that  proprietary  and  commercially  sensitive  information  will  be  withheld  from  public  disclosure,  subject  to  the  public’s  right  to  seek  disclosure  under  the  Freedom  of 
 Information  Act,  5  U.  S.  C.  §  552.  47  C.  F.  R.  §  0.457(  d),  0.459(  d).  Consistent  with  our  regulations  and  the  broadcast  television  stations’  expectations  that  information  submitted  to  the  Commission  with  a  request 
 for  confidential  treatment  not  be  made  publicly  available,  we  have  requested  that  the  GAO  not  disclose  confidential  information  contained  in  the  DTV  survey  responses. 


 Our  regulations  permit  disclosure  of  records  submitted  to  the  Commission  in  confidence  to  the  Comptroller  General  (i.  e.  GAO)  without  prior  notification  and  that  parties  shall  be  notified  of  the 
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 disclosure  of  those  records  to  GAO.  47  C.  F.  R.  §  0.442(  d)(  3).  Accordingly,  this  notice  is  being  provided  to  broadcast  television  stations  who  have  submitted  data  in  response  to  the  DTV  survey.  If  you  have  any 
 questions,  please  contact  Michael  Perko  or  David  Savolaine  in  the  Media  Bureau  at  202-  418-  7200. 
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