Mike Gravino, managing director of the Next Gen TV Coalition, died May 30, succumbing to pancreatic cancer after entering hospice care.

Gravino, a champion of low-power television who advocated for the rights of the LPTV community in Washington, D.C., was influential in winning $150 million in repack funding for low-power operators.

In April 2019, Gravino announced the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, founded six years earlier, would be called the Next Gen TV Coalition, with a new mission set on “leveling the playing field” for independently owned and operated TV broadcast licensees. In March 2018 he formed Airwaves USA, an LPTV brokerage. 

Industry lobbyist Preston Padden tweeted May 29 that Gravino had entered a Washington-area hospice. 

Amy Brown, former executive director of SpectrumEvolution.org, in a LinkedIn post said Gravino died May 30 and noted he had “fought hard for our industry and people.”

“This one man gave so much for so many for years and we are better for it,” said John Terrill, president of the National Translator Association, adding that Gravino’s dedication to the LPTV industry “earned the respect of many, whether they agreed with him or not.”

Gravino drew praise from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai as a strong advocate “with an endearing charm” for the LPTV community, and FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly, who called him a “powerful force.” 

Doug Thompson, a regional sales manager at Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark, said Gravino “did what he thought was best for LPTV, and he worked tirelessly and often against the odds.”

LAS VEGAS—As the repacking process continues, the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition used its annual LPTV Rally at the NAB Show to announce a change in name and mission.

The coalition will now be known as the Next Gen TV Coalition, with its new mission aimed at “leveling the playing field” for independently owned and operated broadcast television licensees. A station’s power level is no longer an issue, as in addition to the thousands of Class A, LPTV, civic and noncom TV translator groups that made up the coalition can now be joined by full power stations that need additional spectrum in their coverage areas to implement Next Gen TV.

“With our licensed spectrum rights now firmly secured by $150 million in Congressional funding for auction and repacking of displacement stations; and with more than two years of clear sailing ahead with a known and already approved process; and further and most importantly with highly favorable Next Gen TV rules to flash cut to the new ATSC 3.0 service, our industry needs to now be hyper-focused on the future next gen TV standard,” said Mike Gravino, the coalition director, during the rally.

Gravino continues that the coalition will go from a defensive positioning to one that leans toward the future, and into the world of Next Gen TV.

“For the past six years we have had to band together to protect the spectrum we agreed to homestead and farm for the Federal government, and now the industry can now finally reorient itself to once again be the leading edge of innovation and community service,” Gravino said.