The House Subcommittee Republicans are offering up a new bill related to LPTV and TV translators. They have not shown it to the LPTV Spectrum Coalition and did not even invite them to be witnesses.
The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Subcommittee will review legislation to ensure consideration of LPTV and translators in auction proceedings and reduce regulatory burden on electronics manufacturers.
The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), has scheduled a legislative hearing for Thursday, 7/24 at 10:15 a.m. The subcommittee will discuss H.R. ____, the LPTV and Translator Act of 2014 – This legislation instructs the Federal Communications Commission to take into account the value of Low Power Television (LPTV) and broadcast translator licensees as it conducts the broadcast incentive auction, provided such actions will not adversely impact the auction. It also provides some options for LPTV licensees displaced by the broadcast repacking process to petition the FCC to continue to serve their communities.
Said Dan Viles, President/GM of WYBN-TV Albany: “The exclusion of the LPTV Spectrum Coalition in these hearings is an affront to the entire low power industry. In my 30 years in the low power business, Mike Gravino’s [LPTV Spectrum Coalition President] efforts are unparalleled. He is in contact almost daily with key LPTV operators and groups. To not include the LPTV Spectrum Coalition and Mike Gravino devalues the industry and excludes from the hearings, relevant, timely and critical information about the state of LPTV. This guy has done more in the last 7-8 months for our industry than anybody has in the last 15 years.”
Gravino tells RBR-TVBR: “Congressman Barton decided in 2013 to work on a bill for LPTV at the request of like-minded conservative broadcaster Sinclair Broadcasting. They decided that the Sinclair-backed front group, the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance [ATBA] would take the lead on the bill, and not allow anyone else to shape it. Barton’s staff did ask for comments from the National Translator Association, NRB, and NAB. When the Coalition asked to meet to discuss the bill back in the summer of 2013 we were told that Mark Aitken of Sinclair was in charge of it. Our Coalition at that time had just been launched and we focused on the FCC process. Flash forward a year into 2014 and the Coalition is now the leading voice of the LPTV industry with more than 150 broadcasters with 950 stations and permits. When we approached Barton’s staff they said we did not rep the industry and to coordinate with the Alliance. We were never asked to comment on the bill before it was introduced, and now we have. As you can see there is widespread fear of this bill, and it seems that it is a final death blow to LPTV spectrum usage rights as it gives the FCC total authority, well beyond any it now has, to totally eliminate a license and use the auction as the reason. They can not do that under current law, and as the spectrum incentive auction guaranteed the FCC could not do. Who is ATBA who are their members? Why do they operate in the dark? Why is a the largest full power broadcast group and largest in NAB funding them? What is their agenda? The Coalition operates totally in the sunshine.”
Noted Francisco Montero, Managing Partner, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, P.L.C.: “Mike Gravino has been a tireless advocate for the interest of LPTV station owners and the industry. However, as is the case with many such advocates, his methods can be confrontational and polarizing. These tactics are frequently necessary because the interests of LPTVs have been largely ignored by the FCC under Chairman Wheeler and Chairman Genachowski before him. It was under Chairman Genachowski that the FCC began, I believe, a deliberate campaign to punish Class A stations by threatening to downgrade them to LPTVs so that they would be disqualified from participating in reverse auctions, thereby allowing their spectrum to be taken without any compensation. Such is the current fate of many LPTVs. This proposed legislation is intended to redress in small part these concerns and mitigate the impact on LPTV stations. There are currently efforts to bring all the parties to this proceeding together to resolve their differences. This may give Mr. Gravino an opportunity to be heard. But those interested have to act fast because time may be running out for some LPTV stations in the lead up to the reverse auctions and repacking.”
