Noncommercial TV Stations: FCC's Post-Auction Repack Threatens Debilitating Disruptions

Noncommercial TV stations were some of the biggest winners in the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast incentive auction, but associations representing noncommercial media are more focused on everyone else and what they said are "potentially debilitating service interruptions."

"America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS are working together to review and analyze the results, with the goal of ensuring that all Americans and their families continue to have access to public media’s educational programs, trusted news and public safety information services," said America's Public Television Stations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS in a joint statement. "Our primary concern is that hundreds of public media stations who chose not to participate in the spectrum incentive auction nonetheless will be impacted as a result of the mandatory 'repack." Mandatory repacking requires stations to move to different broadcast channels. In addition, 'bystander' television and radio stations, which share towers with stations that are being repacked, face the potential of operating at reduced power for months to ensure the safety of the workers implementing channel changes for other stations. These stations and their audiences are threatened with potentially debilitating service disruptions."