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KTTA-LD IN MONROE UTAH
LPTV & TRANSLATOR
COURT CASES UPDATE
FCC ISSUES LATE FRIDAY DENIAL TO THE LAST 4 CLASS-A'S ATTEMPTING TO BECOME ELIGIBLE FOR REPACK PROTECTION, RELOCATION FUNDING, AND AUCTION PARTICIPATION

"Petitioners The Videohouse, Inc., Abacus Television, WMTM, LLC, and KMYA, LLC seek reconsideration of the Commission's decision, on procedural and substantive grounds, not to protect their broadcast television stations in the repacking process or make them eligible for the reverse auction.  We dismiss and, on alternative and independent grounds, deny the Petition. For the reasons below, we also conclude that WDYB-CD, Daytona Beach, Florida, licensed to Latina Broadcasters of Daytona Beach, LLC (Latina), is not entitled to discretionary repacking protection or eligible to participate in the reverse auction."



KEY ISSUES
The Commission declined to extend discretionary protection to "out-of-core" Class A-eligible LPTV stations.  These low power television (LPTV) stations operated on "out-of-core" channels (channels 52-69) when the Community Broadcasters Protection Act was enacted in 1999 and obtained an authorization for an "in-core" channel (channels 2-51), but did not file for a Class A license to cover by February 22, 2012.  But the FCC played favorites and made an exception for a Class-A in Los Angeles, which on paper, stands to make the licensee many many millions of dollars.  And the cynics among us wonder why?  There are reports of Class-A's which were totally dark for years, and quickly turned into stations after the auction legislation was passed, with some not built for years after 2012.  Remember, it is almost 4 years since the auction act was passed, so the Class-A's have been doing this dance for a while.  And have been through various qualifying stages.

But what does the FCC gain by not including these stations in the auction?  The main reason the FCC does not want to include these stations is that they have been running their (and everyone else's) auction simulations without these stations, and to include them now would really screw up the "rube goldberg" configurations to make the auction work. But that argument does not hold water, since beginning March 29th, whichever stations have entered the auction will be final. And there is plenty of time to get these 4 stations into the final list.  The FCC has to do it anyway, when on March 29th, they end the window.


 
BUT...
Commissioner Pai dissented, and he has a lot to say which many folks have been thinking...

"The hole in this case involves the Commission's repeated attempts to separate those "out-of-core" Class A-eligible LPTV stations receiving discretionary repacking protection in the incentive auction from those not receiving such protection. Unfortunately, the Commission's latest decisions make the hole deeper-in particular, the decision to maintain such protection for KHTV while stripping it from Latina Broadcasters of Daytona Beach, LLC's WDYB, one of the few full-power or Class A television stations in the country owned by a Hispanic woman. This is all the more unfair because the Commission had repeatedly represented to Latina that its station would be protected, only to reverse course here less than two months before the start of the incentive auction. This will make it difficult for Latina to obtain full and fair review of its claims in court. For all these reasons, I am unable to support this Order."

He goes on to say...

"The mishandling of this issue began two years ago."

"The Commission also went on to give so-called "discretionary protection" to one Class A station that did not meet that standard. That station was KHTV, which is located in the Los Angeles, California market. This special exception, in my view, stuck out like a sore thumb and could not be justified."

"I found it exceptionally curious that the Commission would be going out of its way to grant repacking protection to an additional television station in Los Angeles, one of the most spectrum-constrained markets in the country. Let's just say that course of action was not at all consistent with the general tenor of the Commission's other decisions in this proceeding."

"Two out-of-core Class A-eligible stations shortly thereafter filed "me too" petitions for reconsideration, asking the Commission to protect them in the same manner that it had protected KHTV. The Commission realized that granting special discretionary protection to KHTV alone would not be defensible as a matter of law or equity. So it decided to extend discretionary protection to any station that did not construct in-core Class A facilities until after February 22, 2012, provided that it had requested (or had been granted) a Class A construction permit by that date."

We now get to the heart of the matter...

"This change protected approximately 12 additional stations (including Latina), although strangely it did nothing to help those stations that had actually filed the petitions for reconsideration in 2014."

"Four Class A broadcasters that did not benefit from the Commission's change of heart then filed a petition for reconsideration of last year's decision. This Order responds to that petition and represents the Commission's third attempt to figure out which Class A stations should receive discretionary protection."

"While the Commission here does not grant protection to any additional stations,it does remove Latina's protection, even though no party has ever sought that result.  Moreover, as explained below, the Commission maintains KHTV's protection even as it withdraws Latina's, despite the fact that there is no meaningful distinction between the two station's circumstances.   So KHTV once again benefits from special treatment while a minority- and female-owned television station is left out in the cold."

"Even more troubling to me is the disparate treatment accorded KHTV and Latina's station. The Commission's justification for keeping KHTV in the auction rests on a Form 302-CA it filed way back on November 25, 2002. But what the Commission neglects to mention is that by February 22, 2012, this had long since become a zombie application. The construction permit to which that application was linked had been dismissed years earlier, and KHTV did not have any right to use (or prospect of being able to use) the channel specified in the application. In short, there was no way that the application ever could have been granted. Indeed, when KHTV finally achieved Class A status, it did so through an application that was filed after the enactment of the Spectrum Act and specified a completely different channel from its original application. The fact that KHTV's 2002 application remained technically "pending" at the Commission on February 22, 2012 was nothing more than an administrative accident."

and stay tuned, this ain't over yet by a long shot..........


And Commissioner O'Rielly analyzed it differently

"I concur with the decision to exclude the stations as outlined in this item and dissent in part because I cannot agree with this process whereby the Commission continues to inappropriately draw and move lines regarding entities receiving discretionary protection, when, in fact, the preferable approach would be to start from scratch, eliminate all preferences, and exclude those not protected by the statute."



LPTV AFFILIATES WANTED NATIONWIDE
CLEARED IN SF, LA, CHICAGO, HOUSTON, DALLAS, FRESNO...





COALITION COMMENTARY
We applaud  NRB for creating PSA's for its' members to use to alert their audiences about the potential impacts from the auction.  But we also want to provide some context.  Last year, before the final auction bids came out, and based on the initial Greenhill Reports, we estimated that combined together, all "eligible" religious broadcasters, full power, Class A, and NCE, would be receiving about $25 billion, yes billion, in opening bid prices!  And a key point which NRB and its broadcast council fail to point out in their press releases, is that all LPTV and TV translators have the right of displacement, so they have the right to find another channel.  This right is NOT being taken away in the auction, so the religious voices which use LPTV will have the right to find a new channel to reach their flocks.  And just like all other LPTV licensees, they run the risk of changing and/or losing audiences they have carefully attracted over many years of operation.



ATTENTION NETWORKS
WHICH AIR ON 
LPTV AND TV TRANSLATORS
WE WILL BE COVERING THIS EVENT 
SINCE IT IS OF CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE 
TO OUR NETWORK PARTNERS


 


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Mike Gravino
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LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition
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lptvcoalition@gmail.com
http://www.lptvcoalition.com