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FCC Releases 2006 Regulatory Fees Schedule
July 21, 2006
The FCC recently issued the annual regulatory fees schedule for FY 2006 (attached). The Commission retained the methods and procedures related to the calculation and collection of regulatory fees adopted in previous years, including its assessment of regulatory fees for DBS providers on a per-license basis.1
In many cases, the FY 2006 fees are higher than the FY 2005 fees, primarily because Congress has required the FCC to collect nearly than $299 million in FY 2006, a 6.67 percent increase over FY 2005. Certain fees which may be of particular interest are:
Cable systems (per basic subscriber) $0.79 (up from $0.72)
| CARS | $175 per station (up from $155) |
| TV (VHF) | $5,025 to $64,775 (depending on market size) |
| TV (UHF) | $1,775 to $20,750 (depending on market size)2 |
| FM Radio | $575 to $9,750 (depending on class and pop. size) |
| AM Radio | $400 to $7,375 (depending on class and pop. size) |
| Broadcast Microwave Auxiliaries | $10 (same as FY 2005) |
As a general matter, regulatory fees for licenses, permits and other authorizations that are not based on a subscriber, unit, or circuit count must be submitted for any authorization held as of October 1, 2005. In the case of regulated entities whose fees are based on a per basic subscriber or other unit count basis, such as cable system operators, the number of the regulatee's customers on December 31, 2005 are used to calculate the fee payment. Basic cable subscribers include single family dwellings, each individual household in a multiple dwelling unit, bulk rate customers and courtesy/free service customers.
Cable operators that filed FY 2005 regulatory fees will be mailed an assessment letter, which will reflect the subscriber count for each CUID for which the operator paid FY 2005 regulatory fees and request that the operator access an FCC website to provide its aggregate count of basic subscribers as of December 31,2005 for each CUID. 3 If the number of subscribers has changed from last year, the operator will be asked to provide a brief explanation and indicate when the difference occurred.
With respect to broadcast stations, the FCC will generate regulatory fee assessment postcards and mail them to each station and contact person, indicating the regulatory fee that is owed. The postcards will also direct parties to an FCC website, www.fccfees.com, to update or correct fee information, or to certify their fee-exempt status (typically only for governmental entities), as necessary.
As in the past, regulated entities whose total regulatory fee liability amounts to less than $10 will be exempt from paying such fees. Payment of regulatory fees may be made either via paper or electronically during or before the fee filing window. Late payments are subject to a 25% penalty, and a failure to pay could result in the Commission's withholding of action on subsequent applications filed by licensees/regulatees and/or the initiation of authorization revocation proceedings. While the Commission has not yet established the FY 2006 fee filing window, additional details regarding payment procedures and due dates should soon be available on the FCC's website.
We would be pleased to respond to any questions regarding these matters, or to provide assistance with preparation of regulatory fee materials for submission to the Commission.
1 In 2005, the FCC rejected a proposal that would have imposed the same per-subscriber regulatory fee obligation on DBS operators that is applied to cable operators because it raised issues not contemplated in the FY 2005 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM"). After seeking comments regarding whether it should adopt such a change in the FY 2006 NPRM, the FCC again rejected the proposal, concluding that advocates for the proposal had not identified any FCC rulemakings or changes in the law that would justify a modification to the schedule, and furthermore that the existing regulatory fee structure ensures that the amount collected is reasonably related to the activities of the Commission and satisfies the requirements of Congress in its annual appropriations for the FCC.
2 As indicated in the attached fee schedule, there are no regulatory fee obligations imposed on digital television stations. Stations that broadcast in both analog and digital format must pay regulatory fees only with respect to their analog facilities. Stations that operate in digital-only format do not have to pay any regulatory fees.
3 The Commission will also send an e-mail reminder to cable operators that have an e-mail address populated in the Media Bureau's Cable Operations and Licensing System. Cable operators can base the required subscriber count on a typical day during the last week of December 2005, rather than on December 31, 2005 specifically.