DA 21-130
Released:  February 8, 2021

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST FOR CABLE TELEVISION PRICE SURVEY DATA
FOIA Control No. 2021-000088

	The Media Bureau has received a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, for community or county-level data submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in connection with the annual cable television price surveys for the years 2011-2015.  Specifically, the requester seeks the: (1) price of, and (2) number of subscribers offered the "Basic" and "Expanded Basic" tiers of cable service for each community surveyed in any of these years, as well as the corresponding operator name and Community Unit Identification (CUID).  

The Media Bureau collected the cable price data that includes the requested subset of information as directed by Congress in section 623(k) of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. §543(k).  The Orders initiating these surveys routinely state that data submitted in response to the survey will be released “in aggregate form as averages representing segments of the industry.” See, e.g., Implementation of Section 3 of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992; Statistical Report on Average Prices for Basic Service, Cable Programming Services, and Equipment, MM Docket 92-66, Order, 28 FCC Rcd 4554, 4555, para. 5 (MB 2013).
  Accordingly, pursuant to section 0.461(d) of the Commission’s rules, the Media Bureau is providing cable television system operators that participated in one or more of the surveys conducted between 2011-2015 the opportunity to respond to the FOIA request within ten calendar days from the date of release of this Public Notice. 47 CFR § 0.461(d)(3). 
  Survey participants that object to the disclosure of the requested data must provide a detailed statement in support of their position as described in section 0.459(b) of the Commission’s rules. 47 CFR § 0.459(b).


Responses filed pursuant to this Public Notice should be sent by e-mail to Sima Nilsson, Legal Advisor, Media Bureau (sima.nilsson@fcc.gov), with a copy to the FOIA requester, Mr. Ali Yurukoglu (ayurukog@stanford.edu).  The FOIA requester will have ten calendar days from the date of receipt of a response to file a reply.  Any questions should be directed to Sima Nilsson (sima.nilsson@fcc.gov).  Press inquiries should be directed to Janice Wise (janice.wise@fcc.gov). 

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