OPRA To Modify Subscriber Fee Structure So It Conforms With Schedule Used By CTA

The Options Price Reporting Authority plans to raise subscriber fees and change its rate structure later this year.

Under the current system, OPRA subscribers pay a $45 location charge and $1 for each device displaying options information. OPRA disseminates bid and offer quotes and last-sale prices for the five options markets -- the American, New York, Pacific and Philadelphia stock exchanges and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

In the second half of 1989, OPRA will eliminate the location charge and raise the fee for each device, says an OPRA official who asks not to be identified. There will be no impact on vendors, he says, and the charge for last-sale prices and quotes will remain combined.

Under the existing system, location charges generate 75% of subscriber revenue. As a result, firms with a large number of display devices are not paying their fair share.

The new rate schedule will resemble one used by the Consolidated Tape Association, which distributes price and transaction information for the New York and American stock exchanges.

OPRA's new price structure will be based on the number of devices. The two-year plan will result in a 15.8% net increase in the first year and an 8.5% increase in the second year. The last time OPRA raised its fees was May 1983.

The exchanges' cost of collecting and disseminating information has increased substantially since then, according to OPRA, and revenues from OPRA subscribers do not cover this cost.

An OPRA subscriber will pay $50 for the first device during the first year after the new rate schedule becomes effective and $55 in the second year. The charge for the second device will be $27.50 in the first year and $30 in the second. The fee for the third device will be $20.75 in the first year and $23 in the second year.

The charge per terminal decreases as the number of devices increases. It falls to $2.50 in the first year for firms with more than 15,000 devices and $2.75 in the second year.