Commission Document

• Print
• Email

Federal Communications Commission

DA 12-1871

Before the 

Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of
)
)
Revision of the Commission’s Program Access 
)
MB Docket No. 12-68
Rules
)

ORDER

Extended Comment Date:

December 14, 2012

Extended Reply Comment Date:

January 14, 2013

Adopted:  November 19, 2012

Released:  November 19, 2012

By the Chief, Media Bureau:
1.
On October 5, 2012, the Commission released a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(“FNPRM”) on revisions to the program access rules.1 The FNPRM set deadlines for filing comments 
and reply comments at 30 and 45 days, respectively, after publication of the FNPRM in the Federal 
Register.2 A summary of the FNPRM was published in the Federal Register on October 31, 2012.3  
Accordingly, the filing dates were initially established as November 30, 2012 for comments and 
December 17, 2012 for reply comments.
2.
On November 14, 2012, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association 
(“NCTA”) filed a request to extend the comment and reply comment deadlines to December 14, 2012 and 
January 14, 2013, respectively.4 NCTA states that Hurricane Sandy has disrupted business operations 
along the northeast corridor, thereby hindering the ability of some of its members to gather information 
and prepare comments for this proceeding.5 We grant the requested extension.  As set forth in Section 
1.46 of the Commission’s rules,6 the Commission’s policy is that extensions of time for filing comments 
in rulemaking proceedings shall not be routinely granted.  In this case, however, an extension of the 
comment periods is warranted to provide commenters with sufficient time to prepare comments and reply 
comments in response to the FNPRM.     
 
 
1 See Revision of the Commission’s Program Access Rules, MB Docket No. 12-68, Further Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, FCC 12-123 (2012) (“FNPRM”).
2 See id. at 1.
3 See Revision of the Commission’s Program Access Rules, 77 Fed. Reg. 66052 (Oct. 31, 2012).
4 See NCTA, Motion for Extension of Time, MB Docket No. 12-68 (filed Nov. 14, 2012).
5 See id. at 1.  Accordingly, NCTA requests a two-week extension of the comment deadline to December 14, 2012.  
Because an identical two-week extension of the reply comment deadline would require reply comments to be filed 
during the last week of December in the middle of the holiday season, NCTA requests a four-week extension of the 
reply comment deadline.  See id. 
6 47 C.F.R. § 1.46.

---

Federal Communications Commission

DA 12-1871

3.
Accordingly, 

IT IS ORDERED 

that, pursuant to Section 4(i) of the Communications Act 
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), and Sections 0.61, 0.283, and 1.46 of the Commission’s rules, 
47 C.F.R. §§ 0.61, 0.283, and 1.46, the Motion for Extension of Time filed by NCTA 

IS GRANTED

, 
and the deadlines to file comments and reply comments in this proceeding are extended to December 14, 
2012 and January 14, 2013, respectively.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
William T. Lake
Chief, Media Bureau
2

---