Media Bureau Releases Repacking Reimbursement Form
The FCC Media Bureau released the final version of its reimbursement form for broadcasters after the incentive auction and adopted a final catalog of expenses, the bureau said in a public notice Friday. The form and catalog are the means…
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by which broadcasters will make use of the $1.75 billion TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund. The bureau added some categories of expense to the form and catalog in response to comments on the draft versions, but said in the PN that the catalog isn't intended to be “exhaustive.” The form has a “catch-all” category that should allow “sufficient flexibility,” the PN said. All broadcaster and pay-TV companies affected by the repacking will receive an initial allocation of money based on estimated costs, which will be held by the U.S. Treasury and available for draw-down as entities need it. Broadcasters will have to submit information on the reimbursement form each time they make a withdrawal, not only at the beginning and end of the reimbursement period, the PN said. “Actual cost documentation showing the entity incurred an expense associated with channel reassignment must accompany every reimbursement request.” Though it had originally been planned for the reimbursement process to be administered through the Treasury Department’s Automated Standard Application for Payments system, it will be done though the FCC's internal vendor payment system instead, the PN said. The in-house system is more efficient, cheaper to implement and “will provide the Commission with more oversight over the establishment of accounts, further enhancing our ability to prevent waste, fraud and abuse,” the PN said. The bureau will make publicly available in its License Management System the amount of reimbursement requested by each broadcaster and the amount disbursed for equipment or services, but not the invoice or identifying information of the vendor, the PN said. The form's final version has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for Paperwork Reduction Act approval, the PN said.