REGULATORY FEES FACT SHEETFederal Communications Commission 445 12th St., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 August 2012 WHAT YOU OWE – CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS FOR FY 2012 The Commission’s automated filing and payment system (“Fee Filer”) is now available for filing and payment of FY 2012 regulatory fees. Regulatory fee payments must be RECEIVED by the Commission no later than 11:59 PM, ET, on September 13, 2012. Cable television systems operating on October 1, 2011 must pay a regulatory fee per subscriber1 for all of the community units (CUIDs) in which they operate. The number of basic cable subscribers that you served on December 31, 2011 should be used as the basis from which to calculate your fee payment. You may pay your regulatory fee for all of your basic service subscribers with a single line aggregate total in Fee Filer without having to list your individual CUIDs. Cable television system operators and licensees of CARS facilities must pay a regulatory fee if they were operating or held a CARS license on October 1, 2011, even if a facility’s license expired after October 1, 2011. In instances where a license or authorization is transferred or assigned after October 1, 2011, the fee must be paid by the party that is the licensee or holder of the authorization on the date that the fee payment is due. When submitting payment, CARS licensees should individually list each of their CARS call signs. Notice of Billing: CARS licensees will not receive a pre-completed regulatory fee bill (FCC Form 159-B) in the mail for their CARS licenses. A regulatory fee bill will be created, but this bill will be available for viewing only by accessing Fee Filer. CARS licensees are also required to make regulatory fee payments for all other non-billed holdings, such as cable systems and other fee services. TYPE OF FEE REGULATORY FEE PAYMENT PAYMENT TYPE CODE Cable System Subscriber Fee $0.95 per subscriber 1271 CARS License $475 per license 1270 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 ¸ basic annual subscription rate for individual households). 2MANDATORY USE OF FEE FILER For FY 2012, the use of the online system (Fee Filer) for payment of regulatory fees has not changed from the process used in FY 2011: licensees and regulatees must first enter the Commission’s Fee Filer system with a valid FRN and password, and follow the online prompts to generate a Form 159-E voucher to be submitted with the appropriate regulatory fee payment to the designated entity, U.S. Bank. Only Form 159-E vouchers generated from Fee Filer will be permitted to be submitted with regulatory fee payments to U.S. Bank. Instructions on the use and submission of Form 159-E payments are available on the Commission’s website at the industry- appropriate section under the heading, Who Owes Fees & What is My Fee FY2012 (http://transition.fcc.gov/fees/regfees.html). Please note that the use of the online Fee Filer system is mandatory, and filers are reminded that hardcopy/paper bills will no longer be mailed by the FCC. However, these bills are available for viewing in the Regulatory Fee link of Fee Filer. For additional information, please contact the Financial Operations Help Desk at 877-480-3201, Option 4. There are many benefits to licensees and regulatees in using the Commission’s Fee Filer system: 1) expeditious submission of payment; 2) no postage or courier costs (when paid electronically through Fee Filer); 3) fewer errors caused by illegible handwriting or payments submitted without an FRN number or the appropriate data attributes (e.g., payers will avoid receiving delinquency notices because of payment submission errors); 4) improved recordkeeping and payment reconciliation; 5) reduced administrative burden on both licensees and regulatees on Commission staff in processing regulatory fee payments; 6) less expensive than a wire transfer; and 7) a reduced burden of preparing, mailing, and storing paper documents. LIMITATIONS ON CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS The U.S Treasury is rejecting the processing of Credit Card transactions greater than $49,999.99. The U.S. Treasury has published Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) No. A- 2012-02 (http://fms.treas.gov/tfm/vol1/announc.html) of February 2012 in which agencies are directed to limit Credit Card collections amounts not to exceed $49,999.99. The revised policy, effective June 30, 2012, lowers the maximum dollar amount allowed for a Credit Card transaction (previously at $99,999.99) and eliminates the maximum dollar limit for a debit card transaction. This new limit now applies to Credit Card transactions only. In addition, the U.S. Treasury will reject multiple Credit Card transactions from a single credit card in a single day that accumulate to more than $49,999.99. Transactions that cause the total of the transactions charged to the credit card on that day to exceed the total daily dollar-value limit of $49,999.00 will reject, the transactions that are below the limit will process. The FCC will institute policies that will conform to the U.S. Treasury policy. Entities needing to remit amounts of $50,000.00 or greater need to use alternative methods of payment: check, debit card, ACH or FedWire. Additional information can be found at http://transition.fcc.gov/fees/regfees.html. 3The FCC will post warnings on various FCC websites to remind entities making payments to the FCC of the U.S. Treasury policy of rejecting credit card transactions that exceed this single day limit of $49,999.99 per Credit Card per day. Regulatory Fee payments that violate the U.S. Treasury limit and are rejected by Treasury causing a payment not to meet the specified payment window requirements will be subjected to interest, fees, and a 25% Late Payment Penalty. - FCC -