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LPTV INDUSTRY NEWS - FRI. - FEB. 12, 2016
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TODAY'S NEWSLETTER SPONSOR
 
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REJECTED CLASS-A'S
GO BACK TO COURT
SEEKING
"
RENEWED EMERGENCY PETITION
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LPTV AFFILIATES WANTED NATIONWIDE
CLEARED IN SF, LA, CHICAGO, HOUSTON, DALLAS, FRESNO...
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DOES THE LPTV
& TV TRANSLATOR INDUSTRY
ALIGN WITH THE FCC'S
STRATEGIC GOALS?
LET'S SEE HOW WE ARE DOING...
Well, let's see. There are over 5000 licensed and operating LPTV and TV translators in more than 2200 cities of license. And 1000's more new construction permits, and still over 1500 analog to digital conversions.
There are even 100's of 2009 filing window applications still being processed. All together there are 10,000 licenses, permits, and accepted applications. So yes, we are aligned with Strategic Goal #1, we are expanding. All told we will reach about 1.6 billion coverage pop or more than 9 billion MHz pops. Our investments have been made in part to provide an additional layer of EAS distribution, which is our public service obligation. But we are not allowed to be competitive with the primary stations. So maybe this goal is not 100% aligned.
Sign us up for this gig. Great, sure, we will immediately do whatever. But it gets tricky since we are broadcast licensees. And this Network Compact thing, well, I just don't know. Does universal service for us mean that the Vacant Channel showing needs to be flipped around, and no unlicensed or TV white space uses until all LPTV and TV translator licenses and permits have been accommodated? And just how are our viewers being protected? Are the viewers of the primaries more important than our viewers? Nope, this Network Compact thing is not for us unless we are equal partners.
Really? Great, let's tear down the artificial barrier of no MVPD must-carry, no mandatory retrans, and totally unfair MVPD leased access rules. Yes, we want to be competitive, so unshackle us. Let the 200 programming networks which we carry be able to have access to the entire market. Same with any post-auction regional repacking scheme - unless LPTV and TV translators are included, the FCC will be creating a new artificial impediment to our services, and our public service
covenant.
Oh yes, we are all for effective management of the FCC's resources. Ya see, while our annual and filing fees are lower than the primaries, we still do pay our fees, and collectively it turns into a real budget. Now we do not know of any original research about LPTV and tv translators for years now, and so we wonder openly what the heck is being done with the fees we do pay. As far as encouraging public involvement, and while we greatly appreciate having had our own rulemaking for the repack, the public interest of our viewers, our small businesses, and the networks we carry, none of them were served well by not letting us participate in the original FCC LEARN sessions. We were the ONLY interest group not included in the 2013-2014 process which determined our own fate, and the use of the spectrum we currently occupy and broadcast on for the public interest. And transparency? We have asked on many
occasions
for the anticipated impacts on us in the auction, and we have asked for disclosure of leased access cable contracts in the cable merger talks, but no transparency from the FCC on this. So it is time to walk the talk folks, as talking the walk just
doesn't
cut it anymore. FEEL THE BERN
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WHY THIS MATTERS
While the article points out the 100's of primary stations to repack and how the auction relocation fund will pay for all fancy new equipment for those primaries which are displaced, there is a lack of detail for what will happen with the over 5000 built and licensed LPTV and TV translators. The author (Hi Phil) point out that it will cost about $150K per Class A 15kW new transmitter plant. And this price is the same that our Coalition came up with back in 2014 as the average price we could expect to pay for moving and rebuilding when displaced. Let's look at two scenarios, one where 50% of the 5000 (2500) LPTV and translator stations have to move. And a 2nd scenario of 75% (3750) which are displaced and move.
5000 x 75% displacement = 3750 x $150k each = $562,500,000 financial impact
5000 x 50% displacement = 2500 x $150k each = $375,000,000 financial impact
Never mind the "stranded investment" of over 1500 remaining A-D conversions, and more than 2000 CP's which were obtained for flexible uses "prior to" the national broadband plan and incentive auction legislation.
The FCC has an obligation under all of the rules and regulations it governs us with to do this impact analysis BEFORE the auction. The FCC also has the obligation to go back to Congress and plead to it that it provide our industry with displacement financial relief. Why? Because the FCC is obligated, no matter what the spectrum auction legislation says, to protect the public interest obligations LPTV and translators have.
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AND THE WORLD WAS BUILT IN SIX DAYS...
CCA, which just hates that LPTV and translators have all of this beachfront spectrum, and will do whatever they have to so that we are displaced and have no channels to move to, well they want us to move asap after the auction, no matter how that affects our audiences and our public service obligations. They submitted the above study, but you got to read their ex parte filing...
READ THE FILING
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SPONSORSHIP
DEADLINES
TO BE LISTED IN THIS
YEAR'S LPTV INDUSTRY DIRECTORY AND INCENTIVE AUCTION SURVIVAL GUIDE
PLEASE GO FILL OUT
THIS FORM FOR YOUR FREE LISTING.
> FREE LISTING
> PREMIUM LISTINGS
> DISPLAY ADS
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HOTLANTA RIMSHOT LPTV GETS LICENSE TO COVER
DIGITAL TRANSLATOR OR DIGITAL LPTV APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSE TO COVER ACCEPTED FOR FILING WVND-LD 182272 GA
DTV INNOVATORS, LLC GA , SUWANEE 0000007921 CHAN-24 E License to cover construction permit no: 0000007263, callsign WVND-LD.
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STAND-UP AND
BE HEARD!
Start off the NAB Show in Las Vegas on Sunday night with the
2016 Save LPTV Rally and industry gathering, and all around informative and good time.
Last year's event drew a crowd over 300 licensees, and many product and service providers.
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2016 SPONSORS (AS OF 2/11/16)
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IF YOU DID NOT GET LAST YEAR'S NAB SHOW SPECIAL EDITION LPTV AND TV TRANSLATOR DIRECTORY, WELL HERE IT IS AS A PDF.
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TODAY'S NEWSLETTER SPONSOR
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TODAY'S NEWSLETTER SPONSOR
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Communications Law Attorneys representing clients before the FCC, the federal courts, and other regulatory, and governmental agencies on communications matters.
Chip Grange & Wray Fitch
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If you would like to be part of our collective effort to make sure LPTV and TV translators are treated fairly in the Incentive Auction and channel repacking JOIN US today!
Mike Gravino
Director
LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition
(202) 604-0747
http://www.lptvcoalition.com
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