IATF Announces $17 Million Initial Allocation for FM Reimbursement
The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force will make an initial $17.2 million allocation of incentive auction repacking reimbursement funds to affected FM stations, of the $50 million Congress allotted, said a public notice in docket 16-306 Monday. That's 92.5 percent…
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of the estimated cost reported by each of the 86 eligible FM stations, the PN said. Ninety-three FM stations sought reimbursement eligibility, the PN said. The initial allocation for low power-TV and TV translator stations hasn’t been announced. “We have received 947 submissions from LPTV and TV translator stations which are currently under review,” said the PN. “A future public notice will address those filings and make an initial allocation for eligible stations in that category.” The reimbursement and repacking of full-power and Class A TV stations is “progressing as designed and on schedule,” the IATF said. The full-power transition is in phase 7 of 10, which is scheduled to end Jan. 17. As of Dec. 6, 697 of the 987 repacked stations have moved off their pre-auction channels, the PN said. “All of the stations required to vacate their pre-auction channels to date have successfully done so.” Broadcasters and tower industry officials say many broadcasters are moving to interim facilities to vacate the spectrum, and it’s not always clear when they will get permanent installations (see 1908090050). Seventy-nine percent “of the 697 transitioned stations have fully completed their transition to permanent facilities,” the PN said. “If necessary, transitioning stations may request extensions or tolling of their construction permit deadline and/or special temporary authority to use interim facilities to complete their transition to a post-auction channel,” the task force said. “We have granted over 280 such requests by stations for relief during the transition, and many of those stations have already completed the transition to their permanent facilities.” For the full-power transition, the agency initially estimated reimbursement costs at $1.85 billion. “We have continued to receive and review revised estimates that both increase and decrease the anticipated costs of transition,” the PN said. As of Dec. 6, the aggregate verified estimate for full-power and Class A stations and MVPDs was $1.95 billion. The total amount of reimbursement funds allocated is $886 million.