CADILLAC, Mich.—Viewers looking for the latest election night info next Tuesday, Nov. 3, will have another option to tune into, as NewsNet has announced that it is providing its own election coverage to its affiliates, including, for the first time, low-power TV stations.

NewsNet’s live election coverage will begin at the start of the network’s Evening Edition, which airs from 8 p.m.-midnight ET. Coverage will continue on the network’s Nightside Edition, running from midnight-4 a.m. ET.

NewsNet’s coverage will include live updates on election data at the top of every half hour, as well as additional updates as news breaks on election results.

“NewsNet was built with over-the-air broadcasters in mind,” explained Eric Wotila, president of NewsNet. “And a subset of those over-the-air broadcasters—the low-power TV stations found in almost every market across the country—have never had the opportunity to carry live election coverage before. Thanks to NewsNet, they’ll be a viable option for election coverage this coming Tuesday.”

WASHINGTON—The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition has informed the Federal Communications Commission about the efforts of Class-A and LPTV stations to inform the public about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Michael O’Rielly, Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks lays out nearly 20 examples of how Class-A and LPTV networks and stations have responded to the crisis.

“From national networks serving the LPTV community, to ethnic networks and the local stations serving both urban and rural areas, these small businesses are stepping up to be a key critical source of trusted local information and news about the pandemic,” said the letter, which was penned by coalition director Michael Gravino.

Nationwide networks mentioned in the letter include the 3ABN faith network, which reaches a potential 100 million people with its 175 Class-A and LPTV stations; NewsNet, a national news network serving many Class-A and LPTV affiliates reaching as many as 59 million viewers; and DiyaTV, a national southeast Asian network airing in Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, Fla., and Bakersfield, Calif., reaching a potential 20 million viewers.

The coverage approach of these networks ranges from producing additional live programming about the pandemic, airing conversations with physicians and pastors and delivering breaking news daily to coverage of local nonprofits, interviews with the president of India and carrying President Donald Trump’s daily COVID-19 press briefing. 

The letter also pointed to the efforts of individual Class-A stations, like WLFT-CD in Baton Rouge, La., and WNCE in Albany, N.Y., as well as the steps many LPTV operators are taking, such as WHCQ-LD in Cleveland, Miss., which is covering county supervisor meetings in their entirety during which various officials offer updates on the status of the virus locally, and WXWZ-LD in Guayama, Puerto Rico, a hyperlocal Spanish-language stations airing locally produced public service announcements.

In the letter, Gravino asked the agency to acknowledge the efforts of Class-A and LPTV stations to address the pandemic. 

“Many [of the LPTV licensees] have turned over hours and hours of time to serve the local information needs of the community,” Gravino said in the letter. “And the owners and staff keep coming into work to make sure the station is operating.”

PLUS: Pai Praises Broadcasters' Efforts During Coronavirus

The coalition separately communicated to its members today that it cannot count on NAB to represent the interests of LPTV stations to secure a part of a $5 billion to $10 billion media buy by the federal government being sought to assist local media during the economic downturn stemming from the pandemic.

In the coalition’s newsletter, Gravino said “…we will have to do this lobbying of Congress on our own.” He urged the coalition’s membership to provide financial support for the effort.

WASHINGTON—Low power TV stations (LPTVs) can start seeing their repack reimbursement payments soon, as the FCC has announced that it is making 85% of the funds—which comes out to more than $87 million—available to eligible stations immediately.

In 2018, Congress approved $150 million for reimbursement of LPTV/translator station costs incurred during the repack transition process. There were 947 LPTV/translator stations that applied to be considered eligible for reimbursement funds, of which upon review by the Fund Administrator 844 were deemed eligible.

The eligible stations estimated that reimbursement would come out to $143,633,411. After review of those estimates by the Fund Administrator, a verified estimate of $102,437,198 was set for repack reimbursement. With the FCC’s decision to make 85% available immediately, the current available funds total $87,071,619.

Full power stations and MVPDs also received a portion of its reimbursement funds at the onset, but in that case it was 52% (62% for noncommercial stations). The FCC says it is helping stations avoid undue financial burden by having funds available right away, but acknowledges that it could revise the initial cost estimates if additional allocations are warranted.

“We believe it is important to make an initial allocation promptly and without waiting for greater visibility into any future changes so that LPTV/translator stations can begin to be reimbursed for their expenses, which in some cases have already been incurred,” wrote the FCC. “However, the existence of these upward pressures and consideration of the total $150 million designated for LPTV/translator means that we also need to take appropriate measures to avoid the need for future allocation reductions and claw-backs and assure that we allocate funds fairly and consistently across all eligible LPTV/translator stations.”

Each eligible station is set to receive a direct email that describes the precise allocation and the estimates that it was based on. Stations can also immediately begin to submit documentation of the actual expenses incurred for approval to be drawn down against their individual allocation.

More information on the reimbursement process is available by contacting Reimburse@fcc.gov.  

WASHINGTON—The FCC has adopted a proposal that would require low power television stations that qualify as must-carry stations to send email notices of carriage election status to affected multichannel video programming distributors. This is a similar requirement the FCC gave to full power TV stations in 2019.

LPTVs will be subject to the same procedures for emailing MVPDs in the event of a change of carriage election status as full power TV stations. However, one area where they will differ is that LPTVs will not be required to make their carriage election statements available for public inspection.

In replacing the public file obligation, LPTVs, as well as qualified NCE translator stations, will be required to send a “single ‘baseline’ notice via email to MVPDs on which they will be seeking or expecting carriage in the 2021-2023 carriage cycle, even if they are making no change in their election status,” the FCC report and order reads.

All email notice to MVPDs must be sent by Oct. 1, 2020, per the FCC.

The full FCC report & order is available online. 

CINCINNATI—GatesAir announced it shipped its 400th transmitter to stations affected by the TV spectrum repack in October and anticipates it will pass 500 by the end of the year.

To date, it has shipped 17,000 power amplifiers, or more than 11.2 Megawatts for transmission power, it said. Further, 60% of the equipment shipped has been installed and is now on the air.

“GatesAir has successfully met all shipping deadlines thanks to detailed capacity planning, resulting in key manufacturing initiatives to handle the volume,” says Bryant Burke, vice president of Operations, GatesAir. “I’m very proud of the work our team has done. Many of our shipments are well ahead of the customer phase requirements, which reduces uncertainty around planning.”

Only a handful of higher power repack orders remain to be filled, said GatesAir CEO Bruce Swail, adding that the company will now pivot to meeting the needs of low-power television broadcasters affected by the repack.

GatesAir has expanded its range of LPTV transmitters. More than 2,000 stations are being displaced by the channel reassignment of full-power broadcasters in repack phases 0 through 10, the company noted. The filing period for LPTV broadcasters is underway and will continue through the middle of the month.

More information is available on the GatesAir website.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

WASHINGTON—LPTVs had the gate slammed in their faces by the FCC Media Bureau when it comes to any kind of must-carry rule of their stations on satellite providers, with WVUX-LD, a low power TV station in Fairmont, WVa., having both of its arguments for carriage rights denied.

WVUX-LD, through its owner and operator Michael Karr, filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling regarding mandatory satellite carriage of a qualified LPTV and a Demand for Carriage against DirecTV and Dish, both of which refused to carry WVUX-LD in the Clarksburg-Weston Designated Market Area in West Virginia.

The FCC’s decision to deny both the complaint and petition from WVUX-LD is based on the Communications Act of 1934, saying that the LPTV is misunderstanding the law. While the Act does mandate coverage of TV broadcast stations that meet certain conditions, the FCC says it is “unambiguous that these carriage rights are not available to LPTV stations.” Section 338 of the law reads, “[n]o lower power television station … shall be entitled to insist on carriage under this section.”

The Act does say that certain LPTV stations can become qualified for must-carry rules, which WVUX-LD says it is. The station also argued that there is no legitimate reason that cable providers and satellite carriers should be treated differently when it comes to carriage obligations, especially in an area like the one it covers, where a lack of full-power TV stations create limited options for customers.

However, the FCC determined that “WVUX-LD’s status as an LPTV is fatal to its request for satellite mandatory carriage.”

“Moreover, WVUX-LD’s emphasis on being a qualified LPTV is meaningless because Congress has explicitly excluded LPTV stations from a satellite carrier’s mandatory carriage obligation.”

With the petition for a Declaratory Ruling to amend the law, the FCC says because of the unambiguousness of the Communications Act, it cannot grant a declaratory ruling that conflicts with it.

The FCC’s full decision is available here.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—Money is on the minds of America’s low-power TV station owners these days.

With the FCC announcing last month that it is now taking applications for repack reimbursement funds from the TV Broadcasters TV Relocation fund, LPTVs who have paid heavily to switch frequencies under the FCC’s spectrum repack are anxiously awaiting the check in the mail. These LPTVs and others are also looking to ATSC 3.0 and the opportunities it might bring to their broadcast sector—and some believe that these opportunities are huge.

MIXED FEELINGS

Many LPTVs are having to change channels under the spectrum repack; a process that is compelling them to invest heavily in new/rebuilt transmission infrastructure.

In some cases, changing channels can leave the LPTVs with poorer coverage than they had before. Such is the case for Mike Tonges, owner of the northwestern Ohio LPTVs WIVM39 (Canton), WIVX13, WIVD22, WIVN29, and W27DG-D 27.

Tonges started with WIVM in 2001, which eventually moved to Canton. Today, due to the twists-and-turns of the spectrum auction and the resulting repack, his expenses have piled up while his LPTVs’ coverage area has degraded.

“Our original Canton, Ohio Channel 39 had a very good omnidirectional signal covering our area,” said Tonges. “Now with all five of our stations combined on VHF channels and crowded UHF channels, we will barely have our previous footprint.”

Meanwhile, “we currently are bearing the cost of displacement due to the spectrum auction completely on our own,” said Dean Marini, general manager of Tonges’ five LPTVs. “While reimbursement is promised—and a plan announced—we’re not sure when that money will be given or exactly how much, so we need to do what we can to get the stations onto their new channels as cost-effectively as possible. I would suspect the majority of low-power owners are in the same situation.”

The FCC announced a 60-day filing window for $150 million in LPTV relocation funding on August 15. “Once all of the filing and qualification forms have been submitted, the FCC will first qualify them [prove they were on the air nine of 12 months before the auction started], and then see how much of the $150 million has been asked for,” said Mike Gravino, director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition. “Actual release of the funds could start in later Q1 2020 or Q2. There will be about 1,500 [or less] LPTV and translators which may qualify for the funds, so the average will be about $100K, but will widely vary depending on each unique relocation situation.”

Other LPTVs have had an easier time—for instance, Meredith Local Media Group owns WHSM-LD, a Class A LPTV in Springfield, Mass., which has to move from Channel 21 to 20 due to the repack. But WHSM hasn’t had to move yet, because “there is another channel that was going to displace us has elected to go dark for now,” said Tom Casey, Meredith’s vice president of engineering and technology. “So we haven’t made the transition to date.”

Univision Communications owns 14 Class As; nine of which have been affected by the spectrum repack. But the move, which cost Univision $600,000, “has actually been positive,” said John Buergler, the company’s senior vice president of Growth Initiatives/Local Media.

“This is because a lot of our Class As are redundant, and can be used for other purposes,” he said. “For instance, we already have two full-power stations in Dallas, So we moved our Class A transmission site to a new location and increased the power, so that we now cover the core of Fort Worth/Dallas/Arlington. This has turned into an economically viable asset that we can use.”

OPPORTUNITIES IN NEXT GEN TV

ATSC 3.0—which combines broadcast and IP—offers data-carriage capabilities that excite many LPTV owners, who believe the new standard offers them real money-making opportunities.

The reason many LPTVs believe this has to do with the law, according to Gravino. “Unlike full-power TV broadcasters, LPTVs don’t have to simulcast in ATSC 1.0 when they turn on ATSC 3.0 services,” he said. “We can cut to 3.0 right away, and lease whatever bandwidth we don’t use for broadcasting content, to transmit data on behalf of third-party customers.”

For LPTV owners, the true datacasting potential of ATSC 3.0 occurs when they combine their LPTV channels together into big swaths of bandwidth. This approach allows them to maintain HDTV service while creating multi-megabit channels for paid third-party carriage. “The question right now is what’s the business model?” Gravino mused. “How will it work?”

One possible money-maker: Providing software updates to today’s cars and trucks. “Today’s vehicles are basically huge computers,” said Dave Folsom, retired CTO of Raycom Media and now a consultant with the Pearl TV Group. “They need updates on a regular basis. It would be far more cost-effective for manufacturers to send these updates via ATSC 3.0 with its one-to-many reach, compared to using one-to-one on 4G cellular or taking the vehicles into dealerships.”

Cars and trucks aren’t alone in requiring software updates. Computer-controlled systems in the emerging world of IOT (internet of things) can be found in all areas of business and consumer technologies, and many could use ATSC 3.0 to keep these systems up to date.

Offering paid data carriage using ATSC 3.0 appeals to Larry Morton, owner and manager of KTV Media, which operates 12 LPTVs in Arkansas.

“One of our transmission sites in northwest Arkansas has five LPTVs together, and has 18 MHz of contiguous bandwidth available, with 30 MHz of bandwidth in all,” Morton said. “At the same time, we want to wait to pick the best opportunity we can. So we’re not in a rush to try things with ATSC 3.0; we’re local broadcasters content to let the bigger players lead.”

Gregory Herman, president of WatchTV, which owns/operates LPTV KOXO-CD on Channel 20 in Portland, Ore., is bullish about ATSC 3.0’s paid datacasting possibilities and is one of the reasons why WatchTV applied and received the first ATSC 3.0 LPTV license in the United States last spring.

At the same time, Herman sees ATSC 3.0 as being not only “the best digital broadcast standard to date,” but one that “eliminates the coverage issues experienced by conventional LPTVs, which gave full-power stations an advantage,” he said. “With 3.0, the playing field is level, both for broadcasting and datacasting.”

If these LPTV ATSC 3.0 advocates are correct, this new standard could be the break they’ve been waiting for since the FCC started licensing LPTVs in 1982. In the meantime, these same stations are waiting for repack reimbursement checks to arrive from Washington, so that they can get ready for the next stage of broadcast television.

For more news and insight on the repack, visit TV Technology'srepack silo.

For a comprehensive source of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see ourATSC3 silo.

WASHINGTON—Did the FCC just grant must-carry status to all class A's and LPTV's, potentially filling cable lineups with hundreds if not thousands of channels they would have to carry at a time when cable ops argue such capacity is at a premium.

Well, no, but the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition had a little fun with the premise Monday, given the April 1 date.

"FCC GRANTS IMMEDIATE AND TOTAL MVPD MUST CARRY STATUS TO ALL CLASS A's & LPTV," read the email alert's headline in huge red letters.

"Using a novel and never used before free market emergency decree from the original 1932 Communications Act," said the coalition, "the FCC commissioners bypass the intent of Congress to level the next gen TV landscape."

"The low power industry applauds this historic and bold move," said Coalition director Mike Gravino, tongue planted firmly in cheek. Soon 1000's of local stations and their many 1000s of digi-net sub-channels will be able to force their way onto both large and small cable systems and all DBS providers. And finally, all FCC licensed TV broadcasters will be treated equally, fairly, and all share in the corporate welfare of the state."

Actually, the coalition wouldn't mind a little of the corporate largess in the form of ad dollars going to "real small businesses," if it were more than just an April Fool's wish. "Oh, well, at least we can dream about it," said Gravino.

WASHINGTON—The FCC has set the schedule for low-power TVs and translators displaced inthe incentive auctionto try and find new channels, including advising stations to identify new channels as close to existing broadcasters as possible, echoing advice from Microsoft, which wants as much of the remaining spectrum used for unlicensed wireless as possible.

In a public notice issued Friday (Feb. 9), the FCC's Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force said the "special displacement window" for filing applications for new channels opens April 10 and closes May 15.

The FCC also released a study to help stations figure out what new channels will be available in the new, repacked, TV bands. Actually the FCC study identifies channels that won't be available because they are being used by non-displaced LPTVs and translators or full-power TV's or Class A LPVTS, which were protected in the repack.

The existing channels of LPTVs and translators were not protected in the congressional legislation that created the auction and necessitated the repack, but those displaced in the process are being given a "space available" option to apply for them. Noone is guaranteed a new channel, but the FCC will try to accommodate as many as possible.

[T-Mobile to Foot Repack Cost for Displaced Public LPTVs] 

The application process is not like a musical chairs game, where first last in loses. If there are mutually exclusive applications--both parties want the same channel or one assigment precludes the other, the FCC will give them a chance to cure it among themselves before designating that license for an auction between the parties.

The FCC is also advising those looking for new channels outside the top 40 DMA's to stay close to existing stations "to help provide flexibility in the future." Does that sound like the FCC could be looking to free up even more TV spectrum in that flexible future? NAB was vetting the notice at press time and an FCC spokesperson was not available for comment.

In fact, according to a document from the FCC auction docket, the advisory tracks with Microsoft's recommended addition to the notice, except that the confined the advice to markets below top 40, while microsoft wanted it to go to 15 larger markets.

Microsoft counsel Paul Margie said in a letter to the commission Feb. 5: "Microsoft recommends that the Commission provide the following guidance to broadcasters participating in the Special Displacement Window for low-power television (“LPTV”) and translator stations:

Given the public interest in promoting the efficient use of spectrum, the Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau encourage LPTV and TV translator licensees operating outside of the largest 25 DMAs to select new channels for displaced stations that are adjacent to channels in use by other broadcast televisionstations. This will preserve spectrum for future uses and allow for maximum flexibility for all stations on a going forward basis.

The FCC language was:

Given the public interest in promoting the efficient use of spectrum, we encourage LPTV/translator stations operating outside of the largest 40 DMAs to select new channels for displaced stations that are adjacent to channels in use by other broadcast television stations to help provide flexibility in the future.

When a station has studied the FCC study datas and identified a channel not in use, and not liable to cause interference to one in, use, it needs to file a construction permit.

The FCC is suspending its general freeze on displacement applications, which is what opens the window, and reinstating it at 11:59 p.m. May 15.

Stations that don't file in that window will have to wait until the freeze is ultimately lifted.

The FCC is trying to limit the number of station facilities changes within the Rubik’s cube of the larger repack of close to a thousand stations.

The FCC last month froze minor LPTV facilities changes signaling the displacement window was about to open.

This story first appeared on TVT's sister publication B&C.

For more information on the repack, visit TV Technology's repack silo.

WASHINGTON—Last week the NAB sent a request to the FCC to create further assistance for low-power television stations and translators who might become displaced prior to being able to apply for the special displacement window. The FCC has acted on that request, announcing two mechanisms these stations can choose to use to stay on the air.

The first, if an LPTV/translator is given its 120-day notice by a 600 MHz operation to cease operations, the station can operate on a temporary channel. To do so, it must submit a displacement application together with a request for waiver of the Displacement Freeze and request Special Temporary Authority to operate on a temporary channel. Second, a station could also choose to enter into a temporary channel sharing arrangement.

NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton gave an official response to the FCC’s action:

“NAB appreciates the FCC’s expeditious action granting our request that translators and low-power television stations displaced by the incentive auction be allowed to temporarily exist on alternative channels. Today’s order is a positive step towards migrating the incentive auction’s impact on the tens of thousands of viewers who rely on these important sources of news, entertainment and emergency weather warnings. NAB will continue working with the FCC to help affected translators and LPTVs find a permanent home on the broadcast television dial.”

WASHINGTON—The spectrum repack could soon cause some LPTV stations to go off the air completely unless the FCC takes action in regards to alternative channels, per a letter from the National Association of Broadcasters to the Commission. The letter, from NAB’s Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden to FCC Secretary Marlene H. Dortch, calls upon the FCC to allow for Special Temporary Authority for LPTV stations to operate on alternative channels in the event that they are displaced.

According to the rules of the repack, LPTVs and television translator stations must be notified by wireless licensees if they will cause interference to new 600 MHz operations, and be given 120 days to cease operations. As a result, the FCC’s Media Bureau was tasked with opening a limited displacement window for applications for new channels. That window is expected to open in early 2018.

McFadden wrote in the letter that until the window is opened, however, LPTVs will likely have no opportunity to remain on air using an alternate channel.

McFadden also pointed out that T-Mobile has begun notifying frequency coordinators and broadcasters that it intends to commence operations in 2017. Should the FCC move quickly to grant T-Mobile’s new licenses, LPTV and TV translators stations could be displaced in the next four or five months, “with no possibility of operating on an alternative channel—even if channels are available,” McFadden wrote.

“The Commission can help preserve service to viewers by allowing displaced translator and LPTV stations to apply for Special Temporary Authority to operate on alternative channels until the FCC processes displacement applications,” McFadden continued. “While this approach may not help in every case, it would at least allow displaced stations an opportunity to stay on the air where channels are available. We urge the Commission to take this step, and consider other remedies, to mitigate the harm to viewers of displaced stations.”

WASHINGTON—LPTVs are taking their concerns about the spectrum auction and its impending repack straight to the FCC. It is reported that Michael Gravino, director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, was at the FCC last week meeting with Republican commissioner Michael O'Rielly and staffers to highlight specific issues they have regarding spectrum, including financial stresses, displacement and business plans that have been on hold throughout the auction process.

TVT's sister publication B&C has the full story.