FCC), October 14-31, 2019
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Description of document: All Broadcasting and Mass Media Informal Complaints received by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), October 14-31, 2019 Requested date: 01-November-2019 Release date: 26-November-2019-2019 Posted date: 27-July-2020 Source of document: Freedom of Information Act Request Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W., Room 1-A836 Washington, D.C. 20554 The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is a First Amendment free speech web site, and is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. 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Federal Communications Commission Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau Washington, D.C. 20554 tfltJ:J November 26, 2019 FOIA Nos. 2020-061 and 2020-062 This letter responds to your recent Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") requests received by the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or "Commission") and assigned to the Consumer & Governmental Affairs ("CGB") and Enforcement ("EB") Bureaus. You are seeking "each informal complaint received by the FCC during the time period October 14, 2019 through October 31, 2019" and you are limiting this request to "broadcasting and mass media related complaints." Also, you are seeking "each informal complaint received by the FCC during the last three years that includes the word 'BASEBALL'." We are responding to your request electronically. Your two FOIA requests were aggregated for fee purposes. On November 4, 2019, Mike Hennigan of my staff contacted you, via email to discuss the scope of your request. At that time, via telephone and follow-up email. you modified FOIA No. 2020-061 of your request to seeking "each informal complaint received by the FCC during the period October 21, 2019 through October 31, 2019" limiting your request to "broadcasting and mass media related complaints." Also, on November 4, 2019, we discussed the estimated fees associated with processing your request. You advised Mr. Hennigan that you are willing to increase your maximum fee of $17 5. 00 for us to process your request. CGB conducted searches of its databases containing responsive records for your request. Our search revealed 1,497complaints that are responsive to your request, which are attached. EB informed CGB that a search of their records identified no responsive records. Please be advised that the FCC receives many complaints and comments that do not involve violations of the Communications Act or any FCC rule or order. Thus, the existence of a complaint or comment filed against a particular carrier or business entity does not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing by any individuals or business entities named in the complaint or comment. The records responsive to your requests were redacted under FOIA Exemption 6. 1 Exemption 6 protects files containing personally identifiable information disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Balancing the public's right to disclosure against the individual's right to privacy, we have determined that release of this information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Therefore, all FCC employees' names, and complainants' names, addresses, and telephone numbers, were redacted under Exemption 6. You have been categorized as an "all other requester" for purposes of assessing FOIA fees. 2 As such, you are responsible for the reasonable direct cost of searching for and reproducing records that are responsive to the request; however, you are entitled to be furnished with the first 100 pages of reproduction and the first two hours of search time without charge. The search was conducted by a GS-14 employee for three hours at an hourly rate of $76.37. Therefore, since you exceeded your first two free hours of search time by one hour, the search time for us to process your request is $76.37. Also, the production in response to your request is electronic, and did not involve any duplication. The Financial Operations Division, Office of Managing Director, FCC will send you a bill for this amount soon. Interest will be assessed on the fees owed if not paid within 30 days of the date of the bill. If you consider this to be a denial of your FOIA requests, you may seek review by filing an application for review with the Office of General Counsel. An application for review must be received by the Commission within 90 calendar days of the date of this letter.3 You may file an application for review by mailing the application to Federal Communications Commission, Office of General Counsel, 445 12th St SW, Washington, DC 20554, or you may file your application for review electronically by e-mailing it to [email protected]. Please caption the envelope (or subject line, if via e-mail) and the application itself as "Review of Freedom of Information Action" and the application should refer to FOIA Nos. 2020-061 and 2020-062. If you would like to discuss this response before filing an application for review to attempt to resolve your dispute without going through the appeals process, you may contact the Commission's FOIA Public Liaison for assistance at: FOIA Public Liaison FCC, Office of the Managing Director, Performance Evaluation and Records Management 445 12th St SW, Washington, DC 20554 [email protected] If you are unable to resolve your FOIA dispute through the Commission's FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), and the Federal FOIA Ombudsman's Office offers mediation services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is: 1 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6). 2 See 47 CFR § 0.470(a)(3). 3 47 CFR §§ 0.461(j), 1.115; 47 CFR § 1.7 (documents are considered filed with the Commission upon their receipt at the location designated by the Commission). 2 Office of Government Information Services National Archives and Records Administration 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS College Park, MD 20740-6001 202-741-5770 877-684-6448 [email protected] ogis.archives.gov Sincerely, Nan' StevensonL Deputy Chief Consumer Policy Divisinn Consumer&. Governmental Affairs Bureau Attachments 3 _____________________________________________________________________________ Ticket: # 3608515 - Res can for WXIN Fox 59 Indianapolis Date: 10/20/2019 8:06:00 PM City/State/Zip: Greencastle, Indiana 46135 Company Complaining About: Not A Billing Issue _____________________________________________________________________________ Description I rescanned my tv on 10/18/2019 as instructed and I still can not receive the channel. I always watch this station for my news. How can you correct this???? I can not get it now. _____________________________________________________________________________ Ticket: # 3608518 - Inappropriate Commercials Date: 10/20/2019 8:08:11 PM City/State/Zip: Bolton, Connecticut 06043 Company Complaining About: Comcast _____________________________________________________________________________ Description I was watching the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears football game on 10/20/2019 on Fox with my 9 year old son. When at 7:45 pm a commercial came on for Fox's new show Prodigal Son about a Serial Killer and his son. I am a 35 year old man and I was disgusted by the content of the commercial and the fact that it was on when children like my son and the millions of others could be watching. What I would like to see is for the networks to stop making shows with such disgusting, sickening content but at the very least to not aire commercials like the one I saw for adult shows until at least after 9pm so that kids are not exposed to that garbage. Thank You! _____________________________________________________________________________ Ticket: # 3608530 - Cox cable company Date: 10/20/2019 8:21:59 PM City/State/Zip: Irvine, California 92620 Company Complaining About: Cox _____________________________________________________________________________ Description Cox cable will not support TiVo card. I feel this is an unfair practice. Love my TiVo & had to buy a new one only to find out that Cox has discontinued supporting TiVo. Is anything to be done about this? _____________________________________________________________________________ Ticket: # 3608539 - NBC APP on Amazon Fire Stick Commercial volume Date: 10/20/2019 8:24:29 PM City/State/Zip: Mesa, Arizona 85203 _____________________________________________________________________________ Description We got the NBC app on our Amazon Fire Stick and while watching we noticed that the commercials are always substantially louder than the show. _____________________________________________________________________________