Save Access

Step 2: Filing an Official Call Record (Ex Parte)
[Estimated Time: 5 Minutes]

1) Cut and paste the letter below into a blank Word, WordPerfect or text document. It may be completely blank or may be electronic stationery. Save the file.

2) Fill in and edit the letter as appropriate.

3) Go to the FCC filing page: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi
Use Explorer or Firefox - some problems have been reported with Safari.

4) Fill out the cover sheet information, including:
a. #1: fill in “05-311”
b. #11: do check box
c. #12: pull menu down to “notice”

5) In the green section, type “ex parte notice” for file description.

6) In the green section, use “Browse” button to attach your letter file.

7) In the green section, use pull down menu to identify letter format.

8) Hit Send. [Note: Correspondence is appropriately addressed to “Secretary” Dortch.]

9) Done!

Sample letter below (fill in areas in italic):

[Date]

Ex Parte

Ms. Marilyn Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554

Re: Implementation of Section 621(a)(1) of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 as amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, MB Docket No. 05-311

Dear Ms. Dortch,

This notice is to record our ex parte meeting(s) with [FCC Commissioners or staff names]. We stated our concerns [directly via phone or via voicemail] on [date(s)]. Our comments are summarized as follows:

We unite with Alliance for Community Media members in calling for competition without destruction of local, community controlled media.

1) The proposed rule eliminates incentive for providers to negotiate in good faith. If the city and the provider do not come to agreement within 90 days, the provider can proceed without an agreement. They can then make billions of dollars using our public land without considering local needs. This framework would be unreasonable.

2) The proposed rule lacks a remedy for geographic discrimination. Public, Education and Government Access, or PEG, are tools to engage our local communities in democracy. Democratic participation should be for all, not based on a company business rule. The public-right-of-way is owned by all in our community, not just those in an area lucky enough to be served. We believe that inevitable market imbalances must be anticipated by the FCC, as they were by Congress, and that any rule-making must provide these three elements:

A) A standard for identifying imbalances in service.

B) A party responsible for identifying the imbalance—logically, the municipality.

C) A means for prevention or remedy of the imbalance.

3) The proposed rule reduces the support for PEG or other community media services from what is allowed by current Federal law. We believe this is an arbitrary reduction which will hurt our communities. It is in direct contradiction to language authored by telephone companies and already passed in key states such as California and Texas. This reduction would eliminate a valued community resource with no demonstrated effect on either subscriber price or level of competition.

4) The changes being proposed to the law are dramatic. We believe that such changes to the law should be made by Congress, not the FCC. These changes will slow competition by confusing the legal framework. Such changes should be decided by law-makers, not the courts. The FCC should not usurp Congressional authority.

We look forward to working with the FCC to establish a process which supports both competition and community fairness. Please contact us if you have questions or comments.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Title and/or Affiliation]
[Street Address]
[City, State Zip]
[Phone]
[Email Address]

CC: Christina Pauze
Chris Robbins
Heather Dixon
Rudy Brioche
Bruce Gottlieb
My Congressional Delegation