NTA Petitions for Reconsideration of LPTV, FM, Translator Reimbursement Order
The FCC should reconsider leaving a fast-track option out of the reimbursement order for low-power TV, said the National Translator Association in a petition for reconsideration posted Friday in docket 18-214. The reimbursement order was unanimously approved at the agency's…
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March meeting (see 1903150073). The fast-track proposal would have allowed smaller broadcasters to agree to a $31,000 cap on expenses and go through a less burdensome process to receive reimbursement funds. "Reimbursement designed to complicate full repayment of forced expenses, in a repack that reduced the available channels to these communities, may exceed the capabilities of a local staff of one or two or three people,” NTA said. The FCC said the agency needed accurate reimbursement estimates from all parties to prevent over-allocating the funds and so it could accurately predict how much money would be needed. NTA said its proposal wouldn’t have prevented accurate FCC assessment. “Supplanting cost estimates by an agreed cap and an actual statement of expenditures is a more accurate estimating and allocating tool than mere estimates,” NTA said. It objected to the order carving out exceptions to rules against third-party funding for government-owned stations only. State and local governments should be able to be reimbursed for any funding help provided to displaced stations, not just those licensed to their governments, NTA said. “The actual holder of the license should not be dispositive,” NTA said, arguing local governments have financed displacement of stations licensed to service organizations and clubs affiliated with colleges.