Posted on August 6, 2008 by Brendan Holland

Dates for Reimbursement Under the LPTV Digital-to-Analog Grant Program Revised

On Monday, the President signed into law a bill adjusting the reimbursement dates of the Low Power Television grant program by which LPTV and TV translator stations can seek a $1,000 grant in order to ensure that they are able to continue to receive and rebroadcast the signals of primary full-power television stations once the full-power stations complete the transition to digital television.   In late 2007, the government announced the start of the LPTV Digital-to-Analog grant program designed to help translators and low power television stations continue their analog broadcasts after the February 17, 2009 conversion of full-power television stations to DTV.  Specifically, the LPTV Digital-to-Analog Conversion grant program will provide funds to eligible translators and LPTV stations that need to purchase a digital-to-analog converter box in order to convert the incoming signal of a full-power DTV station to analog format for retransmission on the analog LPTV station.  The program has been funded with a total of $8 million, which is available in $1,000 grants to eligible LPTV stations.  As a result of the recent change, funds granted through the LPTV Digital-to-Analog grant program will available beginning in fiscal year 2009 (Oct. 1, 2008 – Sept. 30, 2009), rather than in fiscal year 2011.  In addition, the recent bill also extends the availability of funding through fiscal year 2012.

Any low-power television broadcast station, Class A television station, television translator station, or television booster station that meets the following three criteria may apply for the grant to defray the cost of the digital-to-analog converter box:

  1. It is itself broadcasting exclusively in analog format;
  2. It has not purchased a digital-to-analog conversion device prior to February 8, 2006; and
  3. It is (or will be) re-transmitting the off-air digital signal of a full-power DTV station.

Applications for this grant program are being accepted until February 17, 2009.  Priority compensation will be given to eligible LPTV stations licensed to 501(c) non-profit entities or LPTV stations serving a rural area of fewer than 10,000 viewers.  Thus, priority is given to stations owned by translator associations and others that might not otherwise be able to afford the costs of converting the signals that they receive from analog to digital, and which might, without the grants, go off the air.  More information on how to apply for such grants is available on the NTIA’s website here.   

We have previously written about the unique concerns about the DTV transition for LPTV and TV translators.  In particular, many have expressed concerns that non-profit translator associations and other community groups that are the licensees of rural translators which bring over-the-air television service to isolated communities - particularly those in the West - may not be ready for the DTV transition.  Many of these associations, funded either by local governments or voluntary contributions, are strapped for funds to even pay the electricity bills to keep the translators in operation.  Having these funds from the NTIA available to buy the equipment necessary to down-convert the DTV signal of a full-power station may be crucial to continuing television operations in these communities.  Full-power television operators whose signals are retransmitted by these rural translators should take the initiative to alert these rural organizations about the availability of these grants, so that they are not otherwise overlooked by the persons responsible for the translators - people who very well may not be reading the trade press or other sources of publicity about the availability of these funds.

In addition, wholly apart from the grant program discussed above, which merely ensures that analog LPTV stations will be able to continue to receive and convert the digital signal of a DTV primary station, the government also has plans for assisting LPTV stations to themselves convert to digital operations.  Under this program, grants will be provided to assist LPTV stations and translators to buy the equipment to themselves convert to digital operations.  As these stations do not need to convert to digital by the February 2009 deadline that applies to full-power stations, the delay in rolling out these funds may not be crucial, especially to rural translators outside the service area of full-power stations.  In these isolated areas, as viewers will not need to have digital receivers to watch local full-power stations, so they can continue with their current analog televisions until the local translators are converted.  In larger markets, where full-power stations exist, viewers who buy over-the-air digital receivers may lose the ability to watch LPTV stations or TV translators who do not operate in digital after the February 2009 deadline, so these conversion funds may come only after-the-fact.  Details about that program will be forthcoming from NTIA, hopefully later this year. 
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Posted on July 7, 2008 by David Oxenford

The Digital Transition End Game in Smaller Markets - The Problem with LPTV

I recently attended the convention of the Montana Broadcasters Association, and just a few weeks before that I had been at an event sponsored by the Washington State Association of Broadcasters.  Talking with small market TV Broadcasters in those states, an issue that does not affect major television markets but which complicates the digital transition has become clear.  In smaller markets in many states, particularly in some of the western states where there are multiple geographically dispersed cities in many television markets, there is at least one network affiliate in many cities that is either an LPTV or TV translator station.   As we've written before, LPTV and translator stations are not required to convert to digital by the February 2009 digital conversion deadline.  Instead, these stations can continue to operate in analog until an as yet unspecified date in the future.  While these stations are allowed to convert to digital, many do not have the resources to do so.  Thus, many of these stations will continue to broadcast in analog after the February 18 transition deadline.  What makes the issue particularly problematic is that most  DTV converters do not allow the "pass through" of analog programming, i.e. once they are hooked up, television sets only receive digital signals and analog signals are effectively blocked.  This presents the potential of marketplace confusion for those viewers who do not receive their signals from cable or satellite, as they will be getting conflicting messages - being told to get a digital converter to pick up the full-power stations in a market as they convert to digital, but if the consumer buys the wrong converter box, they will not be able to receive other LPTV and translator stations in the same market.

The problem has been exaggerated as converter boxes with analog pass through have been delayed in reaching the marketplace.  When I bought converter boxes in Washington, DC early last month, neither of the two major electronics retailers had the converter boxes with analog pass-through available.  A well-reviewed box from EchoStar was supposed to hit stores last month, but it is in short supply.  I can find it on-line only at the Dish Network's (owned by EchoStar) own website.  Thus, for households who buy and connect most of the available digital converter boxes, suddenly their analog LPTV stations are gone.  In some of these smaller Western markets, that may mean the loss of one or more local network affiliates.

So why don't the LPTV station's just convert to digital?  One reason is cost.  In these small markets, the revenues are naturally much lower than those available to a large market TV station.  So the cost of the mandatory conversion of the full-power station with which the low power or translator is associated already strains the budget of the local station.  The costs to convert the LPTV or translator station are necessarily secondary.  And, I have been told, in many cases it runs several hundred thousand dollars to convert even an LPTV to digital, so it puts a strain on a local licensee to pay to make the transition at any time, much less as at the same time as the associated full powered station makes the required switch to digital.  And in some markets, stations may have multiple translators that need to be converted, and in some places, those translators are not even owned by the primary station but by poorly funded municipal authorities or voluntary TV associations formed to bring TV reception to rural areas.  Certainly, these organizations are hard-pressed to pay for a digital conversion of the translators they operate.  And the residents of these very rural areas in small western markets like those in Montana are the ones least likely to get cable or local-into-local satellite service. 

Thus, stations in these smaller markets have an even harder and more nuanced consumer education task ahead of them.  They must get viewers ready for the digital transition for the full-power stations in the market, but they must also let consumers know that only certain digital converter boxes will allow the reception of the translators and LPTV stations that are not making the conversion.  The Wilmington test (about which we wrote here) will provide one test of how this message will be received, as there is at least one LPTV station in that market that is not making the digital conversion in September.  But the real test as to how well the message gets out will be next February.  LPTV and translator  stations form an integral part of the television industry especially in western markets, and they cannot be abandoned.  Thus, the entire industry must join in efforts to recognize and ameliorate their issues to the extent possible, so that everyone is ready for next year's digital transition.
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