Pubcasters Struggle to Agree on Unified Trust Fund Proposal

PBS, which said it has no proposal of its own, has set up a panel headed jointly by former FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt and former Netscape CEO James Barksdale to look at ways to bolster funding for public TV, including a trust fund. It will consist of representatives of all the national public broadcasting organizations. NPR doesn’t have its own proposal, said Vp-Govt. Relations Michael Riksen. A Corp. for Public Bcstg. official said the corporation doesn’t have one, either. Also in play is a broader trust fund proposal by former PBS Pres. Larry Grossman and former FCC Chmn. Newton Minow, who believe Congress won’t accept a trust fund that focuses only on public broadcasters.

Pres. John Lawson told us the APTS proposal had been vetted with stations and the PBS board and was gaining a “lot of support” from the stations. He said he hoped the PBS panel would embrace the APTS concept. A PBS official disputed the contention that the APTS plan had station support. Only 40 of the more than 300 public TV stations have been consulted on the plan, the official said, and the APTS legislative proposal hadn’t been presented to PBS. “APTS is not going to debate the merits of legislation with PBS through the press, and we hope our PBS colleagues will follow the same practice,” APTS responded.

A PBS spokeswoman said more than one trust fund proposal could emerge from the panel’s deliberations. The purpose, she said, is to “unify the forces of interest in the future of public TV and to come out with one or more recommendations for what would work.” PBS will support any proposals that the panel came up with, she added. Public radio will have to get a clearer understanding of “how the different notions out there start to mesh together if they do at all,” said NPR’s Riksen: “We think we have an understanding of what the folks at APTS are proposing. We have a broad understanding of what [Pres. Pat] Mitchell at PBS is attempting to initiate and we simply have to see how each of those pieces fit together.” The PBS panel is expected to finish its report before April. Among issues to be resolved are the size of the fund, the voluntary nature of early spectrum return by public TV stations and to what extent public radio stations would benefit.

Discussing public TV’s regulatory and legislative priorities for 2005, Lawson said appropriations continue to top the list. “We did pretty well this past year, but it will get just harder and harder given the fiscal situation of the U.S. budget.” Completing the funding for the PBS interconnection system will be important, he said. Public TV also has a huge stake in any DTV transition legislation because it “creates at least a possibility to gain support for our trust fund concept.” Lawson said there was also the “strong possibility” that Sen. Stevens (R-Ala.), incoming chmn. of the Senate Commerce Committee, would introduce CPB reauthorization legislation that was reported out of committee.

Lawson said he didn’t see any support for cable dual must-carry at the FCC or on the Hill. There was a stalemate with regard to multicasting must-carry, he added: “But I do think that once Congress and perhaps the FCC really start focusing on a hard date [for spectrum return], they will realize they will have do something on cable carriage.”

Asked if he foresaw any problems on the Hill because of the proposed commercial PBS-Comcast children’s channel, Lawson said it was “too early to tell. But we certainly hope not. We will do what we can to minimize any negative impact.” As for whether he thought public broadcasters should seek a BBC-like funding model, he said it was “illusory” to believe that “this Congress would ever impose some sort of tax on people’s TV viewing. We couldn’t get that done at the height of the Great Society.” He said any new proposals for fees or taxes “before this Congress is dead on arrival.”

Immediate FCC approval for HD radio multicasting is the most important public radio regulatory issue, said NPR’s Riksen: “We are hoping that it will happen some time in the first quarter of 2005.” He said NPR officials have been briefing the FCC’s Media Bureau and Audio Div. officials about the technology and plans by public radio stations. Early next year, the commissioners’ staff will be briefed, he said: “We want to make certain that the Commission understands why we are asking for this to happen as quickly as possible and the impact… multicasting authority will have on public radio’s transition to digital.

Riksen said he didn’t get the impression the Commission had concerns about permitting multicasting. There’s support for it from commercial broadcasters, Riksen added. The one thing that Microsoft, Clear Channel, NAB and NPR have in common is supporting multicasting, he said. Although the uses of multicasting may vary, he said, there appeared to be “near unanimity” among broadcasters that multicasting is a legitimate and useful component of HD Radio. On the Hill, there’s some uncertainty because of the changes in the leadership of appropriations committees, he said. The funding for public radio’s digital transition will remain a “top priority,” he said, and “we will be working very hard for it.”