Form 325 NPRM Welcomed as Potential Cable Regulatory Relief

duplicative" given the multiple forms and schedules video providers have to share with the FCC, its elimination is "low-hanging regulatory reform fruit, so to speak," TDS Vice President-External Affairs Drew Petersen told us. The NPRM on November's agenda asks for comments on whether to eliminate or alternately streamline the annual reporting requirement. The form -- filed by all operators with more than 20,000 subscribers and a random sampling of smaller operators -- has been an annual requirement since 1971, it said. It asks about such issues as numbers of subscribers, network structure, systemwide capacity and programming. The FCC said if it opts to keep the form, it would like input on modernizing it. Form 325 isn't a popular item with MVPDs. NCTA in the media modernization proceeding earlier this year (see 1707060060) said cable operators “devote many hours to completion” each year, even though much of the information is available from other sources, even as online video distributors and non-cable MVPDs don’t have similar filing requirements. One cable company executive said the form is significantly burdensome, but couldn't say how it compares to other reporting requirements. Petersen said as far as regulatory compliance burdens go, public inspection files "are more impactful" due to what needs to be kept and consistently updated, particularly given the utilization rate of those files being "pretty low." A cable official said with the industry also pushing to be allowed more use of electronic notification to customers instead of paper, there's hope that idea might come back around as Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC works through its regulatory modernization and streamlining efforts. The agency in June issued a declaratory ruling allowing cable operators to email annual notices to customers (see 1706190074).