[opendtv] FCC Retains Higher Fees for VHF Stations
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:06:58 -0500
"While UHF stations won't be happy with their fare increases, I suspect that
VHF broadcasters will be angry that they are being charged a significantly
higher (more than double) regulatory fee for what most would now agree is less
desirable spectrum."
Never mind how truly p*ssed the viewers are who have trouble receiving the VHF
signals. Especially when these viewers couldn't figure out why the VHF
broadcasters were allowing themselves to get shafted, with such dramatic *and*
untested power cuts.
Which was fairly obvious way before the transition ended.
Bert
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http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/103458
FCC Retains Higher Fees for VHF Stations
by Doug Lung, 07.15.2010.
Last Friday the FCC released the Report and Order (FCC 10-123) setting the 2010
regulatory fees. When the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 10-51) on the fees
was released earlier this year, I wondered how the commission would handle the
VHF analog stations that moved to UHF DTV channels, and also the UHF analog
stations that moved to VHF DTV channels. I was surprised to see that the FCC
maintained a significantly higher fee for DTV stations transmitting on VHF
channels. The difference is dramatic-in the top 10 markets VHF DTV stations
will pay $81,550, while UHF DTV stations will pay $32,275. This amounts to 39.6
percent of the VHF fee.
While the FCC might be able to justify the higher fee for the remaining VHF DTV
stations (based on its efforts to deal with complaints and resolve the problems
with VHF DTV reception), the real reason was to avoid a significant fee
increase for UHF DTV stations.
In the Report and Order the FCC said that several "commenters" had been urging
that either all full-service U and V stations should be combined into a single
fee category, or that a three-tiered fee system should be established for these
stations.
The commission notes that in many Nielsen DMAs the number of VHF stations
decreased almost 50 percent, "and this in turn will increase the regulatory fee
for these categories twofold."
The FCC has recognized that steps must be taken "to mitigate the impact of this
shift on television stations still operating on VHF channels."
The FCC was concerned that if it removed the distinction between U and V
stations, fees for UHF broadcasters would increase substantially. As a partial
step towards a fairer apportioning of fees, the FCC decided to shift the dollar
amounts that VHF stations moving to UHF slots would have paid, had they
remained VHF, to the UHF fee category. This increased the regulatory fee cost
to all UHF stations.
Last year, when the payments were based on stations', analog channels, the VHF
fee in the top 10 markets was $77,575, while the UHF fee was $24,250--32
percent of the VHF amount. This year the UHF fee is 39.6 percent of the VHF
amount. The FCC said this increase is approximately 18 to 20 percent less than
the fee increase that would have resulted from combining UHF and VHF stations
into one digital category by market size.
While UHF stations won't be happy with their fare increases, I suspect that VHF
broadcasters will be angry that they are being charged a significantly higher
(more than double) regulatory fee for what most would now agree is less
desirable spectrum.
There were regulatory fee increases in other categories too. Earth station
license fees jumped from $210 to $240 per license. LPTV translators, boosters,
and Class A TV fees go from $400 to $415. For the 51 to 100 markets, VHF fees
increased from $22,950 to $23,750. UHF fees in these markets increased from
$7,600 to $11,550. A broadcast auxiliary license regulatory fee remained
unchanged at $10 per license.
It will be interesting to see what the FCC does with next year's regulatory
fees. Will they combine VHF and UHF stations when calculating fee categories?
If it does, VHF DTV stations may actually see their fees decrease, while UHF
DTV stations will see a significant increase.
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