47 CFR Chapter I - FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, an information collection associated with the rules for the Connect America Fund Phase II auction contained in the Commission's Connect America Fund Orders, FCC 14-54, FCC 16-64, and FCC 18-5. This document is consistent with the Connect America Fund Orders, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of the new information collection requirements.

In this document, the Commission proposes to extend the freeze of jurisdictional separations category relationships and cost allocation factors for 15 years. The Commission also proposes to provide rate-of-return carriers who elected to freeze their category relationships a time limited opportunity to opt out of that freeze. The Commission invites comment on these proposals, on whether it should modify any other aspects of the separations freeze, and on whether it should alter the scope of its referral to the Federal State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations (Joint Board) regarding comprehensive separations reform.

In this document, the International Bureau (Bureau) announces a 90-day extension to the filing window for fixed-satellite service (FSS) earth stations currently operating in the 3.7-4.2 GHz frequency band announced in the Public Notice ( Freeze PN ), DA 18-398. The Bureau also clarifies that applications to register multiple FSS antennas operating in this band that are located at the same address or geographic location may be filed in the International Bureau Filing System (IBFS) by using a single registration form and paying a single fee. Finally, the Bureau announces the availability of an additional option to facilitate the registration of large numbers of geographically diverse earth stations by filing an application for a single “network” license and paying a single fee in IBFS.

In this document, the Commission proposes to revise the children's television programming rules to modify outdated requirements and give broadcasters greater flexibility in serving the educational and informational needs of children. The proposed revisions reflect the dramatic changes in the video programming marketplace since the children's television programming rules were first adopted more than 20 years ago.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission adopts a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( NPRM ) seeking comment to determine how a toll free subscriber should make clear its authorization to text-enable a toll free number. To ensure that a toll free subscriber has indeed authorized a toll free number to be text-enabled, the NPRM proposes requiring a toll free subscriber to inform its Responsible Organization (RespOrg) of that authorization and for the RespOrg to update the appropriate records in the toll free SMS Database. The NPRM also seeks comment on what other information, in addition to an SMS Database record reflecting that toll free number has been text-enabled, if any, needs to be captured and centrally managed to protect the integrity of the toll free numbering system, and whether such information should be captured in the SMS Database or some other toll free registry. The intended effect of this NPRM is to clarify and ensure that the toll free SMS Database accurately reflects which toll free numbers are text enabled.

This document announces that the Media Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission granted the Motion for Extension of Time to extend the comment and reply comment deadlines, filed by Beasley Media Group, LLC; Educational Media Foundation; Gradick Communications, LLC; iHeart Communications, Inc.; Neuhoff Corp.; Radio One Licenses, LLC/Urban One, Inc.; and Withers Broadcasting Companies (Petitioners), in MB Docket 18-119.

In this document, the Commission adopted a Notice of Inquiry (NOI), based on a petition for rulemaking filed by SSR Communications, Inc., in which the Commission sought comment on a proposal to create a new class of FM radio stations, Class C4, and to establish a procedure for designating certain FM stations.

In this document, a Second Report and Order takes a number of actions to accelerate the deployment of next-generation networks and services through removing barriers to infrastructure investment. The Second Report and Order takes further action to revise the discontinuance process, network change notification processes, and the customer notice process. It also forbears from applying discontinuance requirements for services with no customers and no reasonable requests for service during the preceding 30 days.

In this document, the Commission proposes to migrate interstate and intrastate originating end office and tandem switching and transport charges for toll free (8YY) calls to bill-and-keep, continuing the reform efforts that began with the 2011 USF/ICC Transformation Order. The Commission also proposes to cap 8YY database query rates at the lowest rate charged by any price cap local exchange carrier, and to limit charges to one database query charge per call, regardless of the number of carriers are in the call path or the number of database queries conducted. These proposals should limit unreasonably inflated charges and reduce or eliminate incentives for parties to engage in the types of abuse described in the record.