

[Federal Register: February 5, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 24)]
[Notices]               
[Page 6749-6750]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05fe08-92]                         

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-57233; File No. SR-OPRA-2007-05]

 
Options Price Reporting Authority; Order Approving an Amendment 
to the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and 
Quotation Information To Adopt New Form of Rider to OPRA's Vendor 
Agreement for Use by Television Companies That Wish To Disseminate OPRA 
Data

January 30, 2008.

I. Introduction

    On December 6, 2007, the Options Price Reporting Authority 
(``OPRA'') submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission''), pursuant to Section 11A of the Securities Exchange 
Act of 1934 (``Act'') \1\ and Rule 608 thereunder,\2\ an amendment to 
the Plan for Reporting of Consolidated Options Last Sale Reports and 
Quotation Information (``OPRA Plan'').\3\ The proposed OPRA Plan 
amendment would adopt a new form of Television Dissemination Rider to 
OPRA's Vendor Agreement for use by television companies that wish to 
disseminate current OPRA Data via a passive scrolling or ticker 
television display (``Rider''). OPRA's Fee Schedule would be modified 
to incorporate the fee that OPRA would charge for the dissemination of 
OPRA Data in the manner discussed below. The proposed OPRA Plan 
amendment was published for comment in the Federal Register on December 
13, 2007.\4\ The Commission received no comment letters in response to 
the Notice. This order approves the proposed OPRA Plan amendment.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \2\ 17 CFR 242.608.
    \3\ The OPRA Plan is a national market system plan approved by 
the Commission pursuant to Section 11A of the Act and Rule 608 
thereunder (formerly Rule 11Aa3-2). See Securities Exchange Act 
Release No. 17638 (March 18, 1981), 22 S.E.C. Docket 484 (March 31, 
1981). The full text of the OPRA Plan is available at http://www.opradata.com
.

    The OPRA Plan provides for the collection and dissemination of 
last sale and quotation information on options that are traded on 
the participant exchanges. The six participants to the OPRA Plan are 
the American Stock Exchange LLC, the Boston Stock Exchange, Inc., 
the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, the International 
Securities Exchange, Inc., the NYSE Arca, Inc., and the Philadelphia 
Stock Exchange, Inc.
    \4\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56926 (December 7, 
2007), 72 FR 70907 (``Notice'').
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II. Description of the Proposal

    Presently, a company that disseminates current OPRA Data to third 
parties is a ``Vendor'' for OPRA's purposes, and is therefore required 
to sign OPRA's Vendor Agreement. Furthermore, OPRA's Vendor Agreement 
states that any person that receives current OPRA Data from a Vendor is 
a ``Subscriber'' and requires the Vendor to cause each of its 
Subscribers to agree to a Subscriber Agreement, either with the Vendor 
for the benefit of OPRA, or directly with OPRA. OPRA is proposing a new 
Rider to state that this requirement would not apply to persons that 
receive OPRA Data in the form of a passive scrolling or ticker 
television display.
    The new Rider would also state that the reporting requirements in 
the Vendor Agreement that enable OPRA to verify the Vendor's fees would 
not apply to television dissemination of OPRA Data. Instead, the Rider 
would set

[[Page 6750]]

out requirements that are intended to elicit only the information that 
OPRA would need in order to verify the fees paid by a television 
company for television dissemination.
    In addition, to accommodate the possibility that some owners of the 
indexes that OPRA disseminates may not wish to grant television 
companies the right to disseminate their indexes separately from the 
dissemination of related options market data, the new Rider would 
include language providing OPRA with the ability to grant permission to 
Vendor television companies to display index values separately from the 
dissemination of related options market data, and to revoke that 
permission. OPRA would treat all television companies that sign Riders 
identically with respect to permission to display index values. 
However, if OPRA revokes permission to display particular index values 
separately from the dissemination of related options market data, and, 
as a consequence, the television company Vendor no longer wishes to 
display OPRA Data values and to pay fees for doing so, language in the 
Rider would allow the television company Vendor to terminate the Rider 
and its Vendor Agreement, or only the Rider, effective as of the date 
that the index values cease to be available to the television company 
Vendor.\5\
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    \5\ Any Vendor has the right under paragraph 1(c) of the Rider 
to terminate the Rider, and under paragraph 19(d) of the OPRA form 
of Vendor Agreement to terminate the Vendor Agreement, in each case 
without cause upon thirty days written notice. The termination right 
essentially provides comfort to a television company Vendor that, if 
an index ceases to be available to the Vendor on less than thirty 
days notice, the Vendor may terminate either the Rider alone or the 
Rider and Vendor Agreement on the date the index ceases to be 
available.
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    Furthermore, Section 2 of the Rider would require a television 
company Vendor to display a legend on its television display at least 
three times a day. OPRA represents that the form of the legend would be 
the same as the legend required by the Consolidated Tape Association 
(``CTA'') for its counterpart Network A service, and the requirement 
with respect to the display of the legend would be the same as the CTA 
requirement.\6\
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    \6\ See the CTA form of Exhibit C to its form Agreement for 
Receipt and Use of Consolidated Network A Data and NYSE Market Data 
for ``Cable Broadcasts.''
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    Finally, OPRA proposes to charge a fee for the dissemination via 
television of current OPRA Data on the basis of the number of 
``thousands of households reached'' by the Vendor television company's 
programming.\7\ OPRA represents that this metric is widely used in the 
television industry and is used by CTA for its counterpart service.
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    \7\ Specifically, OPRA plans to charge a fee of $.50 per 1,000 
households reached. See proposed ``Television Display Fee'' on the 
OPRA Fee Schedule.
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III. Discussion

    After careful review, the Commission finds that the proposed OPRA 
Plan amendment is consistent with the requirements of the Act and the 
rules and regulations thereunder.\8\ Specifically, the Commission finds 
that the proposed OPRA Plan amendment is consistent with Section 11A of 
the Act \9\ and Rule 608 thereunder \10\ in that it is appropriate in 
the public interest, for the protection of investors and the 
maintenance of fair and orderly markets, and to remove impediments to, 
and perfect the mechanism of, a national market system.
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    \8\ In approving this proposed OPRA Plan Amendment, the 
Commission has considered its impact on efficiency, competition, and 
capital formation. 15 U.S.C. 78c(f).
    \9\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \10\ 17 CFR 242.608.
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    The Commission believes the new Rider to allow television companies 
to disseminate current OPRA data via a passive scrolling or ticker 
television display is consistent with, and would further one of the 
principal objectives for the national market system set forth in 
Section 11A(a)(1)(C)(iii) of the Act \11\ because it would help to 
assure the availability of information with respect to options 
information to brokers, dealers, and investors. Furthermore, the 
Commission believes that the proposed OPRA Plan amendment provides for 
an equitable allocation of reasonable fees for the dissemination via 
television of current OPRA Data.
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    \11\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1(a)(1)(C)(iii).
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IV. Conclusion

    It is therefore ordered, pursuant to Section 11A of the Act,\12\ 
and Rule 608 thereunder,\13\ that the proposed OPRA Plan amendment (SR-
OPRA-2007-05) be, and it hereby is, approved.
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    \12\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \13\ 17 CFR 242.608.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\14\
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    \14\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(29).
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Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E8-1997 Filed 2-4-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8011-01-P
