The Federal Communications Commission has granted low-power TV station WWOO-LD Westmoreland, New Hampshire, special temporary authority to test 5G broadcasts.

Low-power stations are looking to leapfrog the ATSC 3.0 standard’s data offload potential with what is being billed as “5G broadcasting.”

"Anybody who has been frustrated in a crowded football stadium trying to watch the game on a phone can understand the value of sending out on-demand streams and data via broadcast,” Preston Padden, longtime industry executive and chief strategic officer of the LPTV Broadcasters Association has said of the effort to turn low-power TV stations (LPTVs) into turnkey 5G players.

The FCC has given WWOO through January 16, 2024, to conduct testing of 5G broadcasts, which include TV signals that can be received by "smartphones, tablets, and any device (including traditional television sets) with a 5G chip that has been manufactured to permit the reception of 5G transmissions within the broadcast television band," the FCC said in granting the authority.

But in addition to TV signals, WWOO parent Milachi Media and its partner Qualcomm envision relieving congestion on 5G wireless networks. WWOO will broadcast traditional TV signals in 5G as well as working with public safety to provide video and data services to first responders.

Milachi said the tests should not create interference, but has agreed to stop them or cut power if they do. The FCC experimental license is contingent on noninterference, so the regulator could also pull the license if that were the case.

"We find that Milachi has proposed a definite program of research and experimentation; stands ready to proceed with such research; is not expected to cause any objectional interference; and the experiment is likely to provide valuable information to allow broadcasters to better understand how 5G Broadcast can be used not only for traditional television services, but also new and innovative video and data services," the FCC's Media Bureau said in granting the test request.

The Senate has passed a bill that would give some low-power TV stations the ability to apply for Class A status and its additional interference protections. It must still pass the House to become law.

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced the Low Power Protection Act (LPPA) in 2021.

LPTVs haven’t been able to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for such status since 1999.

“Years ago, Congress enacted a law which allowed certain low-power television stations to apply for and receive enhanced rights to their spectrum licenses, giving them certainty to invest in their stations and grow their audiences in mainly small and rural markets,” Blunt said when the bill was first introduced.

The bill gives the FCC 90 days to open the new application window, something chair Jessica Rosenworcel long ago pledged to work with Blunt on setting up.

“The primary benefits of Class A are to protect broadcast coverage area, encourage investment and secure small business financing which is not available to most LPTV facilities,” the LPTV Broadcasters Association said back in 2021, when it enthusiastically endorsed the bill.

But the reconstituted LPTV Broadcasters Association does not echo that sentiment.

The bill limits the LPTVs that can apply to those that meet a certain threshold of locally produced programming and other criteria in order to earn the primary status of a Class A when it comes to interference protections.

The LPTV Broadcasters Association said that requirement means that there are 27 states where no LPTV qualifies to apply, and said the House should amend it to open up Class A protections for all, “not just a chosen few.” ▪️

The Federal Communications Commission has fined a low-power TV station $60,000 for palming off paid appearances as news appearances, violating the agency's sponsorship identification rules.

The FCC's Media Bureau entered into a consent decree earlier this month with Reynolds Media over segments in what was purported to be a news and public affairs program on Reynolds Media’s K26GS-D Harrison, Arkansas.

Broadcasters must disclose on-air the sponsors of any paid programming, but according to the FCC, various political candidates and spokespeople for commercial entities paid to be interviewed on the show were not identified as such.

"When broadcasters air paid-for programming without disclosing the program’s sponsor, they can mislead the public," the FCC said.

The FCC said that Reynolds sold ad packages in the show — Down on the Corner, subsequently renamed The Morning Show — which included candidate or spokesperson interviews. The show aired twice daily.

The FCC said the station even printed up a flyer that pitched candidates a $1,500 ad package that included a personal, live interview on the show. Some candidates took it up on the offer. Reynolds did not include any sponsorship ID. Reynolds charged spokespeople $30 per appearance to promote their entities or interview executives on the show, again without disclosing they were paid-for appearances.

“Reynolds conflated paid content with news, information, and public affairs programming,” the Media Bureau said. “In doing so, Reynolds misled the public.”

Reynolds is hardly the first station to run afoul of the FCC's sponsorship rules or which has pitched paid appearances on purported news and public affairs programs, from a Las Vegas full power planting a McDonald's coffee mug on an anchor desk, to a Chattanooga station that sold flattering “news” stories for $15,000 a pop. ￭

Attention broadcasters in phases 6 through 10 of the FCC's post broadcast incentive auction repack, a big deadline is coming up.

The FCC's Media Bureau and Incentive Auction Task Force is reminding all full power and Class A Low-power TV stations that they have to submit all their outstanding reimbursement invoices no later than March 22.

Congress gave the FCC $1.75 billion to cover the "reasonably incurred" moving costs of those TV stations relocating to new spectrum after broadcast incentive auction, which closed on April 13, 2017, repurposing 84 MHz of TV spectrum for wireless and raising nearly $20 billion.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic apparently notwithstanding, the FCC said broadcasters should be able to make that deadline, but that if there are circumstances beyond their control it would consider a "limited extension," by which it meant that it would shift them to the absolutely final, phase 10, invoice-filing deadline of September 6, 2022.

That is currently the deadline for MVPDs to file for reimbursement, as well as all other LPTV stations and FM stations, which Congress eventually added to its list of reimbursable entities.

But the FCC is suggesting that phase waiting until that Sept. 6 deadline could be dicey for full-powers and class A's since the FCC said it would not grant extensions that do not give the staff enough time to process them and complete the close-out procedures for all stations.

So, even if the station does get a waiver, it could potentially not get a full reimbursement because the FCC has to return any unobligated funds to the treasury by a date certain. ■

A federal appeals court has ruled that the FCC's differential treatment of low power TV stations when it comes to carriage rights on cable vs. satellite MVPD services is not unconstitutional, at least as argued by an LPTV seeking satellite carriage.

The court ruled that the FCC properly denied a request by WVUX-LD Fairmont (Clarksburg), West Virginia, that the FCC compel DBS carriage since low powers do not have must-carry rights on satellite.

Some low powers do qualify for cable must-carry and WVUX owner Michael Karr argued, among other things, that that differential treatment was a violation of the constitutional right to equal protection under the laws, which is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

Also: FCC Doesn't Suddenly Grant Must-Carry to LPTVs

The court said that Karr had not demonstrated that "the differences in mandatory carriage obligations for cable and satellite TV providers under the Communications Act violate such rights," pointing out that his station "was treated the same as all other low power stations with respect to satellite carriage."

The court said it could not consider Karr's other constitutional arguments because they were not raised sufficiently in the FCC proceeding for the commission to have the opportunity to pass judgment on them.

Defending the decision in a brief back in September, the FCC, backed by the Justice Department, said that while some low powers are eligible for cable must-carry, the statute (Communications Act) is clear that is not the case with satellite even for similarly situated stations.

Cable must-carry applies to full power TV stations and certain “qualified” LPTVs. To qualify, a low power station must be within 35 miles of a cable headend and there must be "no full power television broadcast station licensed to any community within the county or other political subdivision … served by the cable system."

Satellite must-carry is a bit different. No satellite carrier has to carry local TV stations, but if they carry one in a given market then they must carry all of them, though only full power stations. WVUX-LD petitioned the FCC for a declaratory ruling and demand for carriage from Dish Network and DirecTV, which the FCC denied, citing the statute language that satellite must-carry does not include “low power TV stations,” and saying that language was “fatal” to the petition.

Karr argued that a footnote in a 2016 Government Accountability Office report on low power TV (“17 Federal law requires cable and satellite operators to carry the signal of qualified LPTV stations serving their markets”) was “persuasive authority.” But the FCC said the footnote was just wrong and that an inaccurate statement does not trump the clear language of the statute.

Karr also made a First Amendment argument--that the disparate treatment by cable and satellite was an unconstitutional abridgement of speech, one of the constitutional arguments the court said it was not addressing.

Also: New LPTV Association Launches

But the FCC and Justice did in their brief last fall. They said the complaint does not allege that the differential treatment of cable and satellite in statute is an attempt to disfavor the speech of one over the other, while WVUX’s speech rights are not implicated since it is free to broadcast and has no inherent right to have its signals carried by satellite.

Karr can appeal the decision to the three-judge panel or to the full court (en banc). ■

Evoca TV, which is using the ATSC 3.0 transmission standard to broadcast its all-IP OTT pay TV service in smaller markets using low-power TVs, is looking to power up through the FCC's upcoming auction of new TV station construction permits (CPs).*

Evoca's stated goal is to be "a reliable, high quality alternative to traditional cable, satellite, and streaming services," particularly in smaller, rural markets, to deliver its combination of ATSC 3.0 broadcast and streaming video content.

Just last week Evoca said it was poised to launch in its fourth market, Twin Falls, Idaho.

The FCC in November sought comment on how it should auction CPs for 27 permits to build new, full-power TV stations. Markets are primarily West of the Mississippi, though there is a CP available in Syracuse, N.Y., as well.

Under current FCC rules, those new stations, if they chose to launch in ATSC, the new transmission standard that allows for datacasting and interactivity as well as higher-resolution pictures and sound, they must also simulcast in the ATSC 1.0 standard since viewers would need a new set or adapter to view ATSC 3.0 signals.

Also: Evoca's LPTV Service to Debut in Phoenix

But in comments to the FCC, Evoca parent Edge Networks said that one of the reasons it was able to provide competition to cable, with an OTT service targeted to underserved smaller markets with cost-efficient high-speed internet and affordable TV service, was that it uses LPTVs exclusively to avoid the added expense of the ATSC 1.0 simulcast requirement for its broadcast video programming.

It said the FCC should exempt the new CPs from the simulcast requirement or at least signal there is a "clear path" to a waiver.

Essentially, Edge Networks was telling the FCC to put its exemption where its mouth was, so to speak. "The Commission for years has held to the mantra that America needs to promote investment in more widespread and robust rural broadband," the company said, which it argues is what Evoca is providing.

"Given the opportunity to bring the same innovation to FPTV, Evoca could provide the numerous benefits it offers to more households, in even more rural areas, more rapidly, and at much lower cost than traditional MVPDs," it argued.

But it is not just talking about traditional video programming. "ATSC 3.0 multicast efficiencies can offload video traffic that strains rural IP networks, reducing per household data traffic by as much as 80%. As more and more people 'cut the cord,' the burdens of one-at-a-time streaming grow on many ISP platforms, especially in bandwidth-constrained rural areas."

Edge Networks argued that the ATSC 1.0 simulcast was meant to make sure that existing stations with established viewer bases did not leave those viewers behind in the move to the non-backwards compatible ATSC 3.0 transmission system currently underway. But there is no set of existing viewers to accommodate a newly constructed station, it pointed out.

"Evoca encourages the Commission to expressly exempt the new CPs from the simulcast rule in its final order in this docket. The new FPTV stations should be allowed to build and operate exclusively ATSC 3.0 at the outset," it told the commission. ■

* The CP auction is expected to launch in June 2022.

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are introducing a bill that would give some low-power television (LPTV) stations the opportunity to apply for Class A television service status and its additional interference protections. 

LPTVs haven’t been able to apply to the Federal Communications Commission for such status since 1999.

(Editor's Note: The story initially said it would also provide limited must-carry rights, but those are confined to a small subset of rural LPTV stations and would only apply to those).

Blunt signaled in written questions to FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel after her nomination hearing that he was looking to give low-power stations a new window on Class A status, saying: “Years ago, Congress enacted a law which allowed certain low power television stations to apply for and receive enhanced rights to their spectrum licenses, giving them certainty to invest in their stations and grow their audiences in mainly small and rural markets. I’m working on legislation to open another, similar window to allow for additional low power stations to once again apply for these ‘Class A’ rights. Can I have your commitment that you will work with me and this Committee in enacting that law so that we can help expand and protect television stations in small markets and the viewers that they serve?”

Rosenworcel’s answer was a succinct “yes.”

“The primary benefits of Class A are to protect broadcast coverage area, encourage investment and secure small business financing which is not available to most LPTV facilities,” said the LPTV Broadcasters Association, which enthusiastically endorsed the bill.

"Simply stated, this bill allows LPTV stations to grow to the next level in serving the public interest with both protection of broadcast coverage area and the ability to secure crucial small business financing, the LPTV Broadcasters Association executive director Michael Lee said.

“NAB applauds the introduction of the Low Power Protection Act, which would offer some community-oriented low power television stations a long-overdue opportunity to gain important interference protections,” the National Association of Broadcasters said. “Millions of viewers across the country rely on LPTVs for local news, weather, community affairs and emergency information, particularly in rural areas and smaller markets. This legislation would ensure Americans’ access to these vital stations and provide assurance that their signals can remain on the air.” ■

The new LPTV Broadcasters Association is calling on its members to talk to their attorneys about what it said is a new Federal Communications Commission directive that could negatively impact their business plans.

In the past, the group said, low-power television stations (LPTVs) have always had to seek construction permit waivers to be off the air for over 30 days, it points to what it said is a new FCC requirement that it will only grant license applications contingent on “continuous operations” for a full 12 months following the grant, with the ominous warning that failure to stay on the air will mean “rescission of this grant, dismissal of the license application and the forfeiture of the associated construction permit,” unless the licensee rebuts the FCC's presumption that lack of continuous operation should trigger that result.

Also Read: FCC Says LPTVs Can't Demand Satellite Carriage

An FCC spokesperson had not returned a call at press time for comment on whether it was a change in policy, and why.

The association has been busy on the FCC front since launching in August.

That includes producing a slick video (below) in support of The Local Journalism Sustainability Act and making it easy for members to bicycle the link to key lawmakers. That bill would provide funds to help local TV and radio stations and newspapers staff up their newsrooms.

The Biden administration is telling a federal court that low power TV stations (LPTVs) are not eligible for satellite must-carry and it should reject a challenge to a clear statutory directive to that effect.

That came in a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the court of principal jurisdiction over FCC decisions, filed by the FCC and Justice.

While some low-powers are eligible for cable must-carry, the FCC said the statute is clear that is not the case with satellite even for similarly situated stations.

Cable must-carry applies to full-power TV stations and certain “qualified” LPTVs. To qualify, a low-power station must be within 35 miles of a cable headend and there must be "no full power television broadcast station licensed to any community within the county or other political subdivision … served by the cable system."

Also Read: New LPTV Association Launches

Satellite must-carry is a bit different. No satellite carrier has to carry local TV stations, but if they carry one in a given market then they must carry all of them, though only full-power stations. The statute holds that low-power WVUX-LD Fairmont, West Virginia, petitioned the FCC for a declaratory ruling and demand for carriage from Dish Network and DirecTV, which the FCC denied, citing the statute language that satellite must-carry does not include “low-power TV stations,” and saying that language was “fatal” to the petition.

The owner of WVUX, Michael Karr, sought FCC review, but was denied. Karr then sued the FCC, arguing it had misapplied the statute and that, in any event, the disparate treatment by cable and satellite was an unconstitutional abridgement of speech. He pointed out that his low-power met the definition for “qualified” LP under cable must-carry.

The FCC said in its brief to the court that "the fact that WVUX-LD qualifies for carriage by its local cable operator as a qualified low power television station has nothing to do with whether it qualifies for carriage by a satellite carrier."

Also Read: FCC Doesn't Suddenly Grant Must-Carry to LPTVs

Karr argued that a footnote in a 2016 Government Accountability Office report on low-power TV (“17 Federal law requires cable and satellite operators to carry the signal of qualified LPTV stations serving their markets”) was “persuasive authority.” But the FCC said the footnote was just wrong and that an inaccurate statement does not trump the clear language of the statute.

Karr said the FCC should have found a way to interpret the statute differently to avoid running afoul of equal protection given the disparate treatment of LPTV by satellite and cable. But the FCC said the doctrine of “avoidance” does not allow an agency to rewrite a statute under the guise of interpreting it.

“Congress may well have thought it reasonable to require cable companies, under their local franchises, to carry qualified low power stations, since such stations qualify only if, among other things, they provide programming “address[ing] local news and informational needs which are not being adequately served by full power television broadcast stations,” the brief said. “By contrast, the basis for the carriage obligation of satellite carriers reasonably takes account of the fact that they provide programming on a nationwide basis, and their obligation to carry local stations is a consequence of their voluntary choice to provide local programming.”

The FCC and Justice also pointed out that Congress treated cable and satellite carriage differently because the services  are different, one being that cable is a local franchise while satellite is a national service and another that there are technical issues to carrying local TV stations on a satellite that cable does not have.

As to a First Amendment argument, the FCC and Justice said the complaint does not allege that the differential treatment of cable and satellite in statute is an attempt to disfavor the speech of one over the other, while WVUX’s speech rights are not implicated since it is free to broadcast and has no inherent right to have it signals carried by satellite.

"The LPTV Broadcasters Association firmly believes in all re-trans opportunities for both Full Power and Low Power TV," said Michael Lee, executive director of the LPTV Broadcasters Association. "We stand with Michael Karr and WVUX in seeking satellite carriage. Small and rural LPTV stations are often the only front line for local and community news.  The recently introduced Local Journalism Sustainability Act strongly recognizes the role and importance of local broadcasters." 

Evoca TV, the low-power TV service delivering broadcast ATSC 3.0 and broadband streaming content, will debut in Phoenix by early September, giving that market multiple NextGen TV options. Phoenix has been the site of Pearl TVs model market, in which 10 local stations (including all major network affiliates) have been running 3.0 services since 2018. 

Evoca will transmit on channels 19 and 28, where it now has construction permits to send its ATSC 1.0 signals, said Todd Achilles, president/chief executive officer of Edge Networks Inc., which operates Evoca TV. He told B+C that he expects to get FCC approval to move to 3.0 operations "in a couple weeks" and launch Evoca's NextGen TV lineup promptly thereafter.

"We've got the only 24/7 4K [ultra high definition TV] channel in the U.S. now," Achilles said.

Customers will pay $9.50 per month under the "founders program," which will include a proprietary Scout set-top box plus an over-the-air antenna to access Evoca's streaming programming. The initial Scout STBs, also used in Evoca's LPTV service in Boise, Idaho, were developed in-house "because we didn't have a choice," Achilles said, but he added that Evoca "will announce a hardware deal with the 'big guys' around Labor Day."

Also Read: NextGen TV Has a Busy Summer

Evoca's broadband package in Phoenix will include content from the Unmudl project, a career advancement adult education program offered at several junior colleges, including Phoenix's Gateway Community College.

As in its Boise market, Evoca will distribute its Scout STB receiver, which can decode the company's encrypted ATSC 3.0 content as well as pick up existing ATSC 1.0 signals. Free over-the-air broadcasts will be passed through to the viewers' TV sets, both ATSC 1.0 and new 3.0 receivers.

The Evoca venture (a named derived to spur the idea of "evocative," Achilles explained) will operate independently from the much-publicized Phoenix model market transmissions, which have been transitioning from long-term test-bed into commercial service under the aegis of Pearl TV.

Achilles, a former Hewlett-Packard and T-Mobile executive, repeatedly cites the ability of LPTV to create a new role in NextGen TV as a hybrid of broadcast and wireless broadband delivery. Evoca's promotional material describes the opportunity to snatch service away from "the evil overlords" (that is, legacy cable/satellite companies).  

Evoca said it has "other LPTV markets in the funnel," but Achilles declined to identify future 3.0 targets.

Also Read: NextGen TV Being Used To Deliver Remote Learning in Washington, D.C.

'Biggest Need Is in Pay TV Space'

He also pointed out that Evoca transmits datacasts to its STB.

"We push video files and other data to the boxes," he said. "There's so much interesting stuff to do with 3.0. We think the biggest need is in the pay TV space. We are the only ones doing a conditional-access pay TV system and putting broadcast and broadband together."

Achilles positions Evoca TV as "an alternative to traditional cable and satellite services" using the broadband connection. He plans to develop other local services in addition to offering wireless access to streaming video channels, although the company has not yet announced specifics about "something different" (as Achilles calls it) for the Phoenix service.

One of the local-oriented content services available in Boise is a Basque-language channel, intended to serve the sizeable local population of Basque heritage. In that case, Evoca brings in programming from Euskal Irrati Telebista (EiTB), a media company in Basque Country, a region that straddles the border between France and Spain. For that service, Ubiquity delivers a satellite feed via Denver into Evoca’s headend, where it is wrapped into a 3.0 package, Achilles said.    

Although Evoca has not specified its Phoenix streaming content package yet, its Boise service may offer some hints about its plans.

"We've tried to tailor our bundle around local content," Achilles said, citing regional sports networks. "We've got the only RSN for the Pacific Northwest." He plans to offer extreme sports, motor sports and other channels seeking to reach the audiences in Evoca markets. "Our 3.0 bundle of channels [includes] some that are available free over-the-air such as 'Field Trip' channel … plus integrated VOD apps such as RedBull."

Evoca's streaming options include NFL Network and an outdoors channel in addition to Newsy, Bloomberg, Acorn TV and Curiosity Stream. Customers can buy or rent VOD movies through Vudu.

"We're working hard [to] bring more local content,” Achilles said. "We can contribute to the communities in a new and different way." He cited the Unmudl education plan with Gateway Community College. Achilles said that the "goal with Evoca Path is to help adults understand the future work, see themselves in a different future, and connect them to the next step on their educational and career journey.” 

He calls Unmudl "an important partner for Evoca Path," with its growing network of community colleges and employers. Since Unmudl has local programs in several cities, Evoca plans to curate content that best suits the Phoenix community. Achilles hints that future Evoca plans may also develop in markets where an Unmudl partner college "overlaps with our broadcast abilities."

The LPTV Broadcasters Association has launched to fill the void left by the June 2020 death of Mike Gravino, who was essentially a one-man dynamo for the interests of low power and translator stations as head of his LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition.

According to the LPTV Broadcasters Association, its members include station owners, brokers, law firms, and engineers.

“The Association will continue to build on the legacy of Mike Gravino and work of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition/Next Gen TV Coalition," said Frank Copsiday, president of the LPTV Broadcasters Association. "With its brokerage capabilities the association will bring together both buyers and sellers of LPTV and Class A Television broadcast stations throughout the USA." 

Broker fees will help fund the new association, along with dues and sponsorships.

Michael Lee, former chairman of the International Advertising Association, will be executive director.

The association will hold its first get-together Oct. 10 at NAB 2021 in Las Vegas.

After more than a decade and a half, the FCC is finally lifting the freeze on minor modifications to all full power and class A TV stations and associated rulemaking petitions.

In anticipation of the transition from analog to digital, which didn't happen until 2009 [then extended during the run-up to the broadcast incentive auction and ensuing repack that only ended this year], the FCC in August 2004 froze applications for the following:

1. Petitions for rulemaking to change channels in the DTV Table of Allotments
2. Petitions for rulemaking for new DTV allotments
3. Petitions to swap in-core channels [at that time, "in core" was chs. 2-51]
4. Petitions for rulemaking to change communities of license
5. Modification applications that increase a full power or Class A station’s service area beyond an area that is already served

Back in July, the FCC lifted the freeze for some stations--those still in the process of repacking--but retained it for the rest, which was the vast majority of stations.

They can now come in from the cold as well, effective 15 days after the Media Bureau's decision is published in the Federal Register, which usually takes a couple of weeks.

The FCC is not yet lifting the freeze on applications for new LPTV/translator stations given that those stations are still being displaced by full-power stations settling into their new, repacked, channel locations following the incentive auction repack.

The Media Bureau is giving those that have filed mutually exclusive applications for new or modified LPTV/translator stations until July 31 to settle among themselves.

The FCC's Media Bureau said that can be by "unilateral engineering amendment, legal settlement, or engineering settlement."

Related: FCC Cancels LPTV/Translator CP Auction

The FCC issued a list of those mutually exclusive applications and said it would hold off its own actions on the applications until that July 31 deadline.

Legal settlements must include 1) an explanation of why the settlement is in the public interest, 2) a statement that the applications were not filed in order to reach such an agreement, 3) a statement that neither party got more than "prudent" application expense compensation in the agreement, 4) how much that was, 5) what it was for, and 6) the terms of any oral agreement.

The two engineering options must make only minor changes, and not ones that create new mutual exclusivities, though if it is more than minor, the FCC said they can propose moving to a new channel, if available, and if the move does not--wait for it--create a new mutual exclusivity.

The FCC also reminded LPTV stations still operating in the guard band between broadcast stations and wireless operations sharing the band have to turn off their signals by July 13, a date that, for those marking their calendars, marks the end of the post-incentive auction transition period.

Mike Gravino, managing director of the Next Gen TV Coalition and executive director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, has died, according to the Advanced Television Broadcast Alliance and various reports.

Gravino had retired last week to enter a D.C. hospice to deal with pancreatic cancer, former D.C. lobbyist and broadcast executive Preston Padden had tweeted May 29.

FCC chair Ajit Pai called Gravino "a strong advocate for low-power TV stations across the country," and said "he always began and ended every meeting with me with a smile."

FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly called Gravino a "powerful force for the LPTV community."

Padden called Gravino "a tireless advocate with an endearing charm" and said Gravino was always at ease writing things and saying things Padden would have wanted to say but didn't have the guts to. "He is my hero!"

He was the LPTV industry's hero as well, successfully pushing for funds in the digital TV transition after those stations were initially left out of the repack fund and always advocating for giving LPTV, arguably the Rodney Dangerfields of local TV, the respect they should get.

The coalition was formed in June 2013 and represented the industry during the incentive auction and repack process, most notably helping secure $150 million in repack funding.

Gravino's last email to B&C/Multichannel News was about the pandemic and LPTV's role:

“It is a honor to share the stories of how the LPTV community is responding to the needs of their local communities in this national emergency. These small businesses, with no support from the FCC or Federal government, have taken up the challenge to keep their communities informed by giving considerable air time over to local government meetings and officials. They are producing daily news shows focusing on the needs of their communities, and are creating a constant trusted source of local information. Some are focused on helping local closed businesses get their information out, others are making sure everyone knows where to get food, supplies, and needed critical services. Others are inserting national pandemic PSA’s into national network feeds to keep everyone updated. They go into their stations each day to keep them on the air and to keep the local information flowing.”

“The FCC needs to recognize these unsung local heroes and to acknowledge the valuable and critical roles they are now serving. Unlike the full power primary broadcasters with limited air time to offer the local public, many LPTV stations are turning over their entire programming day and ad insertions to covering the pandemic. They are truly providing the “highest and best use” for their FCC licenses.”

"My heart breaks today with the news of Mike's passing," said Adonis Hoffman, chairman of strategic consulting firm, Business in the public interest, and a former top FCC staffer. "He was one of those rare people who had character, competence and charm. He was indomitable yet humble and always gave both sides of the story to you straight. Whatever future success comes to LPTV, much is owed to the tireless efforts of Mike Gravino, who should be remembered as a Titan of television.  He will be sorely missed."

Gravino was a 1976 graduate of the University of Oregon.

The LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition has canceled its annual event at the NAB Show in Las Vegas due to coronavirus concerns. 

The conference-within-a-conference, now in its seventh year, had been scheduled for April 17 at the Convention Center Westgate Hotel and usually draws about 250 people, according to coalition head Mike Gravino. 

He said the cancellation was "due to the coronavirus pandemic and the dangers involved in travel, and being with 100,000 people from around the world." 

As of the NAB Show coronavirus update web page at press time, the show is still on, but says that it continues "to evaluate the national and international situation carefully." 

Gravino said the coalition's decision came following a survey of members, the results of which included that "64.7% of the respondents are now not planning on attending the NAB show and 47% said that it was not best for them personally to attend because of the virus. Gravino said 80% of respondents are over 51 years old and 50% are over 60. 

"Based on these results and on the advice of the CDC, which is recommending that large group events be avoided, the Coalition is cancelling its' event and is exploring alternative ways to outreach to the industry for its supporting sponsors," Gravino said.