NAB to FCC On LPTVs: Attention Must Be Paid

The National Association of Broadcasters has joined with the National Religious Broadcasters and others to back low-power TV and translator advocates concerned about their future after broadcast incentive auctions.

LPTVs are essentially second-class citizens in the auction, with no interference protections, a point made to the Federal Communications Commission by the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance (one of the aforementioned "others"), which said it took issue with that secondary status.

In the combined filing to the FCC, the broadcasters urged the commission to do everything it could to preserve the benefits of both LPTVs and translators and insure they are not undermined by the auction. LPTVs and translators often provide the kind of diverse programming the FCC has said it wants to encourage, are ownership opportunities for minorities, another FCC priority, and can be the only access to free TV for some viewers in hard-to-reach areas, the groups said, all values the FCC has acknowledged and even highlighted.