*Pages 1--9 from Microsoft Word - 10733.doc* PUBLIC NOTICE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 445 12th STREET, S. W. WASHINGTON, D. C. 20554 News media information 202/ 418- 0500 Fax- On- Demand 202/ 418- 2830 Internet: http:// www. fcc. gov ftp. fcc. gov August 3, 2001 FY 2001 Cable Television System Regulatory Fees The Federal Communications Commission issues this Public Notice in order to provide information concerning the payment of regulatory fees in FY 2001. If you are an operator of a cable television system or a licensee of a cable television relay service (CARS), you should carefully review this Public Notice. If you have a broadcast auxiliary service, please refer to the Mass Media Bureau website (www. fcc. gov/ mmb) for the payment amount of this service. WHO MUST PAY REGULATORY FEES IN FY 2001 Cable television systems operating on December 31, 2000, must pay regulatory fees per subscriber in FY 2001. Governments and nonprofit entities (exempt under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code) are not required to pay regulatory fees and should not submit payment. The Commission requires that each exempt entity submit, or have on file with the Commission, a current IRS Determination Letter documenting its nonprofit status, a certification of governmental authority, or certification from a governmental authority attesting to its exempt status. All cable television systems must pay regulatory fees of $0.49 per subscriber for each community unit in which it operates. Additionally, each licensee of a CARS facilit y operat ing on Oct ober 1, 2000 must pay a $55.00 fee for each CARS license held. Responsibilit y for payment of that fee rest s wit h the current holder of the permit or license at the time payment is due. A regulatee is responsible for summing all of its services in order to determine if a fee is due. If the sum of all services owed is less than $10, then the regulatee is exempt from paying the fee. WHY THE COMMISSION MUST COLLECT REGULATORY FEES The requirement to collect annual regulatory fees from cable television systems is contained in Public Law 103- 66, "The Omnibus Budget Reconciliat ion Act of 1993." These regulatory fees, which are likely to change each fiscal year, are used to offset costs associated with the Commission's enforcement, public service, international and policy and rulemaking activities. These fees are in addition to any application processing fees associated with obtaining a license or other authorization from the Commission. 1 2 WHEN FEES WILL BE DUE FEE PAYMENTS MAY BE SUBMITTED PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 Regulatory fee payments may be made to Mellon Bank at any time through September 21, 2001. Payments received after 11: 59 PM on September 21, 2001 will be assessed a 25% late payment fee. As in previous years, there will be a formal window for the acceptance of regulatory fees between September 10, 2001 and September 21, 2001. However, unlike in prior years, the Commission will, for the convenience of payers, accept fee payments made in advance of that window. TYPE OF FEE REGULATORY FEE PAYMENT FEE CODE Cable System Subscriber Fee $0.49 per subscriber 0171 CARS License $55 per license 0170 IMPORTANT FY 2001 CHANGES FOR REGULATORY FEE FILERS The Remittance Advice 159 has been revised to accept payer and applicant FCC Registration Numbers (FRN). We recommend that you begin using the registration number with all payments to the Commission. If you do not yet have an FRN, you can obtain one through the FCC website listed below, or by filling out the registration form (Form 160) enclosed in this public notice. If at the time of submission you still do not have an FRN number, and do not wish to obtain one either through the FCC website or by submitting Form 160, you must submit your payment using the July 1997 Form 159 and include your Tax Identification Number (TIN) or other identifier. You can obtain the July 1997 Form 159 through the FCC website (http:// www. fcc. gov/ formpage. html) or by calling the Forms Room, who will then fax or mail you a copy of this version of Form 159. Please note that future transactions with the FCC will require the use of the FCC FRN number. Therefore, we encourage you to obtain and use the FCC FRN as soon as possible. To obtain a revised Remittance Advice 159: x A revised Remittance Advice 159 is included in this package x Go to http:// www. fcc. gov/ formpage. html. x Call the FCC’s Form Distribution Center at 1- 800- 418- FORM [3676]. x Pick up the form at the Commission in Room TW- B200 x Call CORES Helpdesk at 1- 877- 480- 3201. The Commission first began accepting Registration Numbers (FRN) after July 19, 2000. As was the case last year, we are encouraging all payers to obtain and use the FRN when submitting their payment of regulatory fees. 2 3 If you were registered in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) and your registration included all the information we needed to issue a Registration Number, we pre- registered you and mailed you your FRN in a letter dated last July (2000). You may want to check CORES to determine if you are still registered. To obtain a Registration Number: x Register at www. fcc. gov, click on E- Filing at the top of the page, and scroll down to the CORES Registration link. x Check your pre- assigned number at www. fcc. gov, click on E- Filing at the top of the page, and scroll down to the CORES Registration link. x File FCC Form 160, (CORES Registration) which is included in this package. You may obtain the form at http:// www. fcc. gov/ formpage. html or by calling the FCC’s CORES Helpdesk at 1- 877- 480- 3201. You may also pick up the form in Commission Room TW- B200. Mailing instructions are on the form. If you are unable to regist er elect ronically, you can st ill submit your applicat ion for a Regist rat ion Number (FCC Form 160) directly to Mellon Bank (along with your filing documents and payment), or fax the FRN registration form to the CORES Helpdesk at (202) 418- 7869. Mellon will regist er you and you will receive a confirmation letter from the FCC through the U. S. Postal Service mail. Please also note that Regulatory Fee Payment Type Codes have changed with respect to the first two digits of the code referencing the year. For example, last year’s code of “0071” is now “0171” for FY 2001. The codes for FY 2001 are listed in the back of this notice under the section, Special Instructions for Completing FCC Forms 159 and 159- C. To assure proper credit for your regulatory fees, please be sure to use the codes for FY 2001. FCC FORM 159 Regulatory fee payments should be accompanied by FCC Form 159 (" FCC Remittance Advice") dated February 2000. A copy of this form, with specific instructions, is attached to this Public Notice and may be used to submit fees. Reproduced forms are acceptable. Please see "Special Instructions for Completing FCC Forms 159 and 159- C" for detailed information on how to correctly complete these forms. You must list each community unit and/ or each call sign, or other designated FCC ID, if applicable, separately on Forms 159/ 159- C. Written attachments are not acceptable. Failure to properly complete FCC Form 159/ 159- C will delay the processing of your regulat ory fee payment . Any regulatee may submit the Form 159 information electronically by accessing the FCC website: www. fcc. gov. Information on how to file electronically using the Commission’s fee filer system will be made available on a subsequent public notice. 3 4 WHERE TO SEND REGULATORY FEE PAYMENTS If sending your regulatory fee payment by mail, please address your envelope as follows: Federal Communications Commission Regulatory Fees P. O. Box 358835 Pittsburgh, PA 15251- 5835 If you prefer to send your regulatory fee payment by courier to our lockbox bank, you may do so 24 hours per business day (except Federal or bank holidays). Please address your envelope and deliver it to the following address: Federal Communications Commission c/ o Mellon Client Service Center 500 Ross Street, Room 670 Pittsburgh, PA 15262- 0001 (Attention: FCC Module Supervisor) METHOD OF PAYMENT Regulatory fee payments may be made by check, money order, or by credit card (Visa or Mastercard only), payable to the “Federal Communications Commission”. When paying by credit card, please make sure you complete and sign block 31 of FCC Form 159. Payments may also be made by wire transfer or by ACH payment. Instructions are provided below. NOTE: We encourage arrangements to consolidate regulatory fee payments either by a single entity or by different entities into a single payment instrument. Consolidated fee payments may cover any number of service cat egories. Payers who will be making a single payment for a significant number of ent it ies and wish to submit their payment information electronically in lieu of submitting a large number of FCC Forms 159- C (" Advice Continuation Sheets") may do so by accessing the FCC website. Specific instructions regarding elect ronic submission will be issued separat ely. No more than twent y- five (25) Form 159- C's should be manually submitted for payment. If more than twenty- five (25) Form 159- C's are to be submitted, we encourage the public to file the information electronically through the fee filer program. Only properly filled out Form 159's will be accepted. Attached listings of call signs or other FCC identifiers will not be accepted. WIRE TRANSFER PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS A wire transfer is a transaction that you initiate via your bank. It authorizes your bank to wire funds from your account to our lockbox bank, the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, PA. All payments made by wire transfer (payable to the “Federal Communications Commission”) must be supported by a completed FCC Remittance Advice (FCC Form 159) and Advice Continuation Sheet (FCC Form 159- C), if required. The FCC Form 159 must be faxed to Mellon Bank at (412) 209- 6045 at least one hour before the wire transfer 4 5 on the same business day. Indicate on the top of the FCC Form 159 "Wire Transfer - Regulatory Fee Payment." In the Box (1) - Lockbox#, located at the upper left hand corner, indicate "358835." Failure to submit the completed FCC Form 159 one hour prior to wiring payment will result in a delay in crediting your account. Due to Federal Reserve regulations, wire transfers received after 6: 00 p. m. (EDT) will be credited the next business day. The following information should be provided to your bank to complete the wire transfer: ABA Routing Number 043000261 Receiving Bank: Mellon Pittsburgh BNF: FCC/ ACV-- 9116106 OBI Field: (Skip one space between each information item) "REGULATORYPAY" PAYER TIN (Exactly as on FCC Form 159, Block #12) PAYER NAME (Exactly as on FCC Form 159, Block #2) Phone: (Daytime Phone #, exactly as on FCC Form 159, Block #9) LOCKBOX 358835 ACH DEBIT PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS If you are int erest ed in using Mellon's Cust omer Init iat ed Payment Program (CIP), a brief applicat ion form must be completed and a personal identification number (PIN) issued by the bank. Arrangements for using this process must be completed 14 days prior to submitting payment of the regulatory fee. After you have been set up for this program, you may want to submit your payment by September 20, 2001 to ensure that your payment is processed by the deadline date of September 21, 2001. Please use the FCC’s website to obtain information and a copy of the Customer Initiated Payment Program (CIP) package. The website is located at www. fcc. gov/ fees, and search the left side margin for Customer Initiated Payment Program (CIP). You can also contact the Revenue and Receivable Operations Group at (202) 418- 1995 to request the Customer Initiated Payment Program Package. COMPLIANCE Please make sure your total remittance and the amount indicated on the FCC Form 159 are in agreement. Failure to do so will delay processing. Cable television syst ems are solely responsible for accurately accounting for all CARS, as well as the number of subscribers within each community unit, and for paying the proper regulatory fees. Any data omission, erroneous or incomplete data submission, or payment deficiency may result in a 25% monetary penalty, dismissal of pending act ions, and/ or revocat ion of any authorization. You are strongly urged to submit your payment on time and accurately in order to avoid a penalt y. Addit ionally, the Commission will invoke any lawful aut horit y it may possess under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 to collect any fees due or outstanding against any cable television syst em failing to meet its regulat ory fee payment obligat ions. 5 6 WAIVERS, REDUCTIONS AND DEFERMENTS OF REGULATORY FEES The Commission will consider requests for waivers, reductions or deferments of regulatory fees, in extraordinary and compelling circumstances only, upon a showing that such action overrides the public interest in reimbursing the Commission for its regulatory costs. Your regulatory fee must be paid by the due date even if a request is made for a waiver or reduction. This will ensure efficient collection in situations where a waiver or reduction is not warranted and will allow the requestor to avoid a 25% late-payment penalty if its request is denied. The regulatory fee will be refunded if the request is granted. Only in exceptional or compelling instances (where payment of the regulatory fee with the waiver or reduction request could result in the reduction of community service or financial hardship to the regulatee or licensee) will the Commission accept a petition to defer payment for a waiver or reduction request. All requests for deferments must be received by September 21, 2001 to avoid the 25% late- payment penalty. Please submit your written request for waiver or reduction to the following address: Office of the Managing Director Federal Communicat ions Commission 445 12th Street, S. W., Room 1- A625 Washington, D. C. 20554 attn: Regulatory Fee Waiver/ Reduction Request However, submit your regulatory fee payment to the address on page 4 of this Public Notice. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Applicable Public Notices, and FCC Forms 159 and 159- C are available from the FCC’s Consumer Center or can be downloaded from the Internet (http:// www. fcc. gov or ftp@ fcc. gov). Text of the Report and Order including the entire Schedule of Regulatory Fees can also be downloaded from the Internet. Forms may also be obtained by contacting the Forms Hotline at (800) 418- FORM (3676) outside the Washington, D. C. area, or (202) 418- 3676 locally. For more information, please contact the Consumer Center at (888) 225- 5322, or write to: Federal Communications Commission, ATTN: Consumer Center, 445 12th Street, S. W., Washington, D. C. 20554. PAYMENT PROCEDURES FOR CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS Subscriber Fees All cable television systems are subject to a fee of $0.49 per subscriber 1 . A system's total subscriber fee can be determined by multiplying $0.49 times the number of subscribers as of December 31, 2001, within all 1 Number of Subscribers In a Community Unit = Number of single family dwellings + Number of individual households in multiple dwelling units (e. g., apartments, condominiums, mobile home parks, etc.) paying at the basic subscriber rate + Number of bulk- rate customers + Number of courtesy and free service. (NOTE: Bulk- Rate Customers = total annual bulk rate charge y basic annual subscription rate for individual households). 6 7 communit y unit s in which it operat es. You may pay for mult iple communit y unit s wit h a single payment as long as the community units are all part of the same cable system or part of a group of commonly- owned cable systems. However, you must still list each individual community unit identifier (CUID). CARS Cable systems holding CARS licenses must pay a regulatory fee of $55.00 for each CARS held as of October 1, 2000. NOTE: One payment may be submitted for all regulatory fee obligations (i. e., "subscriber fees" and all Cable Television Relay Service licenses). However, you must still list each individual community unit identifier (CUID) and CARS call sign. Payment Due Date FEE PAYMENTS MAY BE SUBMITTED PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 Regulatory fee payments may be made to Mellon Bank at any time through September 21, 2001. Payments received after 11: 59 PM on September 21, 2001 will be assessed a 25% late payment fee. As in previous years, there will be a formal window for the acceptance of regulatory fees between September 10, 2001 and September 21, 2001. However, unlike in prior years, the Commission will, for the convenience of payers, accept fee payments made in advance of that window. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING FCC FORMS 159 AND 159- C FCC Form 159 (" FCC Remittance Advice") and, as necessary, FCC Form 159- C (" Advice Continuation Sheet") must accompany all regulatory fee payments. FCC Form 159 allows payers to report information on one or more payment items (e. g., mult iple communit y unit s, CARS licenses, or any combinat ion). Use FCC Form 159- C to report additional community units or licenses. FCC Forms 159 and 159- C have been attached to this Public Notice for you to complete and remit with your payment . Payers filing elect ronically must include informat ion equivalent to the items on the FCC Forms 159 and 159- C. You may make additional copies of the forms as required. In addition to the instructions for FCC Form 159, the following information applies specifically to cable television payers: Block (9) - "Telephone Number": ¾ Enter the telephone number of the individual responsible for submitting the payment and supporting FCC Form 159 and Form 159- C. Block (12) - "PAYER TIN": 7 8 ¾ Enter the fee payer's nine digit Taxpayer Identification Number. Block (22) - "APPLICANT TIN": ¾ If different from payer, enter the applicant's nine digit Taxpayer Identification Number. Block (23A) - "FCC CALL SIGN/ OTHER ID": ¾ Enter your Community Unit Identification number (CUID) for reporting subscribers in each communit y unit wit hin your syst em. CUIDs must be entered in the following format: a two- digit state code followed immediately by four numbers (e. g. AL0002). Please do not add any dashes (-). THIS BLOCK MUST BE COMPLETED FOR EACH COMMUNITY UNIT. ¾ Enter your call sign for CARS licenses. Call signs must be entered in one of the two following formats: for fixed stations, the call sign is generally comprised of three letters, followed by a dash, followed by two or three numbers (e. g. WAL- 504). For mobile licenses, the call sign is generally comprised of two letters, followed by a dash, followed by five numbers (e. g. KB- 60111). THIS BLOCK MUST BE COMPLETED FOR EACH CARS LICENSE. Block (24A) - "PAYMENT TYPE CODE": (PLEASE NOTE YEAR CHANGE ON PAYMENT CODES) 0171: Use this code when paying a subscriber fee ($ 0.49 per subscriber). Please note that subscriber information must be provided for each community unit in which the system is operated. 0170: Use this code when making a regulatory fee payment for a CARS license ($ 55.00 per license). Block (25A) - "QUANTITY": ¾ For subscriber fees (payment type code 0171) enter the number of subscribers within each communit y unit . For CARS licensees (payment type code 0170), enter "1" in this block for each call sign. Block (27A) - "TOTAL FEE": ¾ For subscriber fees (payment type code 0171), mult iply the amount in Block 25A (" Quant it y") by $0.49 and enter the result here. Round down to the nearest whole dollar. ¾ For CARS licenses (payment type code 0170) enter $55.00. Block (28A) - "FCC CODE 1": 8 9 ¾ LEAVE BLANK. Block (29A) - "FCC CODE 2": ¾ For subscriber fees only (i. e., payment type code 0171), provide the name of the communit y unit . Community names are not a substitute for the community unit identifier (CUID). You must also provide your CUID in Block 23A – “FCC CALL SIGN/ OTHER ID.” Block (30) - "CERTIFICATION": ¾ Provide the printed name and signature of an individual owner/ licensee or officer attesting to the accuracy and completeness of the information supplied. Please remember to include a daytime telephone number so that the Federal Communications Commission can contact you if questions arise regarding your payment. - FCC - 9