LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Estimates Auction Impact on Civic Broadcasting

More than 1,500 low-power TV stations and translators owned by more than 200 government entities are likely to be displaced by the incentive auction, said LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition Director Mike Gravino in a newsletter Friday. Displacement costs for the auction could cost those stations close to $225 million, Gravino said. The FCC should have studied the impacts of the auction on the “civic sector,” Gravino said. “The civic sector broadcasting stations make up over 30% of current licensed stations, and new construction permits,” he said. “Why should unlicensed users get a free vacant channel in priority over civic broadcasters?”