Representing the spectrum usage rights of all 1800+ LPTV FCC licensed broadcasters and supporting industry partners with more than 10,000 built stations and new construction permits in all 50 states, DC, and territories.  Join us today to protect the future of LPTV!  More than 150 LPTV licensees and supporting industry partners already have.  We need your participation to continue to be effective. 

JULY 7, 2014 EDITION

CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL
DELEGATION
We can help!

Congress is in session until the end of July and then back in September for only short periods of time until the mid-term elections the beginning of November. 
 
August is going to be the best time to have personal contact with your members of the House and those Senators running for re-election. If you want the Coalition can help craft a special package of information about the impact of the spectrum auction on your station and the LPTV industry.
 
We recommend this local contact approach as it is the best alternative to having to raise a lot of campaign donations.  The more and better the House and Senate members know you and your station, the better it will be for the entire industry.


JOIN OUR COALITION!

Membership in our Coalition is free for all LD, LP, and TX licensees.
We did charge a $100.00 annual fee for Class-A stations since many of them are auction eligible.  But heck, we found out a few weeks ago when the Incentive Spectrum Auction Report and Order came out that over 100 Class-A's will not be able to participate in the auction because of when they filed for their Class-A status.  Add to that the over 50 which have been demoted to LD/LP status, and we figured they needed a deal also. 

So for the time being, ALL LPTV licensees can join for free!

All we ask for in return from you are two things:

1)  We get to list your call-signs on our Members page (both built and construction permits), and,

2)  That you order at some point during the year one of our Auction Impact Studies, and/or Industry Advocacy Campaigns.


 
What you get in return is satisfaction that the LPTV industry has "boots on the ground in DC" and an experienced LPTV advocate who has "skin in the game".  Our Director, Mike Gravino, has for many years been part of LPTV as a channel developer, station manager, and investor.  And he is used to "speaking truth to power" at the FCC and in the halls of Congress.

What you also get are as they happen breaking news emails, weekly summaries like this email which take you through what is happening which affects LPTV, and cutting edge research before anyone else gets to benefit from it.



We also provide licensees and industry members with direct lobbying and representation at the FCC and in Congress.  But we work along side of your communications counsel and consulting engineers. Anyway we can help support your business here in DC we will.  And some members even have us helping them back in their own communities with innovative programming concepts, state legislative proposals, and viewer engagement projects.



The Coalition is not a formal trade association just yet.  It is a loose group of concerned LPTV licensees and supporting industry members who give to the Director their permission to thoughtfully and most importantly, rapidly react to the changes and challenges being brought against LPTV every day here in DC.  We listen to your concerns and we try to chart a course which can work for all.

WE HAVE ONE RULE WE ALWAYS FOLLOW NO MATTER WHAT!
WE OPERATE TOTALLY IN THE
SUNSHINE SO EVERYONE CAN SEE WHAT WE ARE DOING!




A new service we are just starting to offer is License, Station, and Construction Permit brokering. 
Many of you have asked us to do this for you, and so we decided to help. 
The new website will have a lot of information about this so stay tuned.

One area the Coalition has invested a lot of time, energy, and money into is our Big Data Project. With assistance from one of the big consulting engineering companies we have been taking the FCC CDBS system LPTV content and doing various slicing and dicing of the data to show unique new perspectives on our industry.  

In order to give the FCC a more accurate analysis of the LPTV community we are conducting a survey this summer to provide answers to key questions.  When you get the request to participate we urge you to take the few minutes it will take to answer the questions.  The FCC does not spend any money on researching and surveying LPTV oter then their yearly report, so it is up to us to get the data and help the FCC and Congress understand our industry.



We use this data in our presentations to the FCC and Congress.  Members have been supporting it whenever we need more funds to move it forward. And we will soon again need more fund as we build-out our new mapping service which will be available for our members.  We hope to have this all working by the fall in time to use it for the LPTV rule making presentations.






The incentive spectrum auction is still more than 18 months in the future, and the first LPTV displacement window is more than 24 months from now at the earliest. But the new rules LPTV will be operating under for the next 5 years will be written in the next 120 days.  So please join our Coalition and help shape the future of the LPTV industry and your own future business and investments. Join Today!
REPACKING GAMES BEGIN
LPTV power players begin to jockey for space
The Coalition has learned that one and possibly more LPTV "power players",  those with tight internal contacts within the FCC Video Division, are now jockeying to have their own special interests be accommodated in the post-auction repack.  We are told they are trying to get  LD stations they have recently bought get immediately qualified for Class-A status. This is not to get into the auction (the time to qualify has passed), but to get a priority in the repack.  We will keep looking into this, as the Coalition is totally opposed to any one group gaining advantage over another in this process.
FCC's Decades-old Rules Need To Change!
If there were one set of information we wanted all of you to read, and read carefully, this is it.  Fred Campbell, who is the former head of the FCC Wireless Bureau, and up until recently was the Director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and now has his own policy shop, CBIT, Center for Boundless Innovative in Technology.  He has been writing on how to create a free market TV industry, and has recently been submitting into various FCC proceedings.  The links below are the best writing and thinking we have come across about how LPTV and the TV industry can have a positive future.  READ THESE!!!!!
GAMING THE SYSTEM? 
Are 'Star Trek,' 'Rawhide' and 'Wagon Train' In The Public Interest?

Well known media reporter Stan Romenesko blogs about how the newly moved from Wyoming to Delaware full-power KJWP is gaming the system. 

 

"TV station KJWP fought for five years to get permission to move from Wyoming to Delaware. It finally won the battle last year, in part by pledging to offer community affairs programming for the Wilmington area. "It looked to us like there was a dearth of locally based news coverage in Delaware," the station's attorney said. It appears that KJWP is still working on its locally produced community affairs shows as it's now telling the FCC that "Star Trek," "Wagon Train" and "Rawhide" address "matters of importance to its community of license."

READ THIS AND WEEP
DISH'S ACE IN THE HOLE
Mobile video to shake up the media industry.
DISH Network is in a very powerful position now because it controls a lot of former LPTV spectrum!  But you have just got to read this excellent article in Barons about it.  All kinds of statistics, price per MHz-Pop info, and you get to see how the big boys turn a $5 billion investment into $17 billion play without doing anything at all.  The only good thing about this is that the LPTV survivors in the auction and repack can start to say that their spectrum is worth a frak of a lot!
SPECTRUM SHARING IS KEY
While the Key To The Future of Wireless is Sharing Why Do A Taking From LTPV?
This is one of those video's you need to watch even though it will make your blood boil and get you mad.  But this is the type of stuff LPTV is faced with going forward and you many as well get as educated as you can about it.  So when you have a few moments, and no one is around to hear  you yell back at the computer, do watch this video from a very learned professor from the Wharton School.
ARE YOU A TV FOOL?
It Seems That Everyone Is Now Cord-Cutting!
Have you ever been to TVFool.com and used their cool tools to learn more about how your station and its viewers can get your signals?  If not then take a tour of the site.  Very useful indeed. .LEARN MORE
BROADCASTERS ATTACK!
After Beating Aereo Next Target is the Dish Streaming Service
Instead of innovating, or getting that dang ATSC 3.0 standard passed, the fat and lazy full-power broadcasters just keep suing to protect their legislatively mandated market domination.  A sorry state of affairs indeed...

"The fallout from last week's Supreme Court ruling against streaming video startup Aereo continues, with broadcasters arguing that the SCOTUS decision bolsters their legal efforts to shut down Dish Network's Dish Anywhere service.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco is set to hear arguments in a dispute between the broadcasters, led by FOX, against Dish over Dish Anywhere, which uses Slingbox technology to allow subscribers to have online access to live and recorded content from their DVRs.

LEARN MORE
LPTV OWNER FOR SENATE!
LPTV Owner George Flinn Runs In Tennessee
Imagine for a moment that a US Senator is an actual LPTV owner, and one that really wants to help the industry!  Well one of our own is actually running in Tennessee, Dr. George Flinn, of Flinn Broadcasting, with both radio and TV stations, including LPTV.  And he is a big time channel-6 supporter also.  So if you want to see an LPTV operator in the Senate send a few buck to Tennessee and support George!
NEW EAS NPRM ISSUED
First Step In A New National Testing of System
Have you been waiting for that day when the President can just flip a switch and take over your station so he/she can talk directly to your viewers in a time of national emergency? Are you ready for your local government officials to do the same?  How much more money do you want to spend on your mandatory EAS system?  This is your chance to participate in the new EAS NPRM process. 
LPTV SELF-INSPECTION LIST
Beware, The FCC Enforcement Division Is Here
This is absolutely not a news item at all, but we think that you all should make sure to keep your facilities as compliant as possible.  Your 6-MHz is going to be very valuable (we think about $9.00 per coverage pop), so make sure you have all of the proper FCC information in place at your site and in your records.
LPTV & NEWSPAPERS
No Restrictions On Cross-Ownership
This is another non-news item, but we wanted to make sure you all knew that there are no FCC restrictions on an LPTV station and a dominate local newspaper from owning each other.  When you get a chance make sure to introduce yourselves to the local newspaper and see what kinds of synergies you can work on.  Most local papers are now producing video for their websites and they just may want to do a barter deal with you.  After the auction and repack your spectrum is going to very valuable and having a local news source good be vital going forward. 
BROADBAND AMERICA!
Too Bad Those LPTV Licensees Who Can Won't
Did you know that since 2001 there have been 12 LPTV licensees that can deploy any type of transmission system they want as long as they do not create interference, and all that they have to do is to write the FCC a letter?  Did you know that these 12 licensees are just sitting on these licenses, and some have not even bothered to build out their stations which could be the future of all LPTV?  And did you know that with just a change in the paragraph of the enabling legislation ALL LPTV licenses could do this?  And that if this happened you could expect the value of your LPTV spectrum to go through the roof!  Oh well, boys and their toys....READ MORE
URBAN VS RURAL LIBRARIES
Battle Over WiFi Funds Similar To LPTV 
While it would be nice to have $1 billion a year for 2 years to fight over, LPTV will just have to see what happens if it can get Congress to free up funding for channel relocation funding.  But the rural and urban libraries are now having a battle over wifi funding, so read this and learn about what the chosen ones are doing.  LEARN MORE
ENABLING MOBILE FUTURES
It Is Being Built On The Back Of LPTV Licenses
After you have your playlist loaded for the week, and have made all of your calls to your advertisers, or are making sure the bank balance reflects those time brokerage payments which are due to come in, well grab something to drink and watch this 80-minute video on the Future of Mobile put on by Politico.  Yes, that Politico (Allbritton Communications), which has sold their TV stations to SBGI.  They put on "sponsored events" here in DC and this one has a lot of info you may want to view.  Then again, it is just another love-fest for the mobile wonderland crowd.  
MORE INFO YOU CAN USE
For those current Coalition members we really appreciate you working with us during this past year.  While we have not yet won the war to completely protect our spectrum usage rights, we have certainly had a positive impact on the process.  And we are now prepared to help craft our own rule making.  And for those of your who are new to this effort we welcome you to join and help the LPTV bring a huge collective voice to the policy debates which dictate and shape how we run our businesses.  If you have any comments or question please let us know and we will try to get them answered for you.

Sincerely,

Mike Gravino
Director

(202) 604-0747
lptvcoalition@gmail.com