More Repacking Funds Coming in 4 to 6 Weeks, FCC Says
The FCC will release a second allocation from the $1.75 billion repacking reimbursement fund in four to six weeks, said an Incentive Auction Task Force public notice Thursday. Though no amount for the second allocation was given, the PN includes a revised cost estimate for the station relocation: $1.95 billion, as of Wednesday. That number is based on verified and unverified estimates, and is an increase from the $1.86 billion estimate released at the time of the $1 billion first allocation. Broadcast attorneys told us a second allocation would ease the repacking process for many broadcasters. The knowledge that more funds are on the way gives broadcasters “comfort” that expenses will be covered, said Margaret Miller, partner at Gray Miller.
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Though IATF Chief Jean Kiddoo said last week that most broadcasters were “nowhere close” to exhausting the first allocation (see 1802270039), some are near to doing so, the PN said. “Reimbursement requests for a number of entities are now at a level where they likely will soon reach or, in some cases, exceed the entity’s initial allocation amount.” The second allocation is also a response to many entities having submitted “revised and more granular” cost estimates since the first one, the PN said.
The timing of the second allocation will primarily be good news for stations due to be repacked in the earliest phases, said Gray Television Deputy General Counsel Robert Folliard in an interview. Some Gray stations have had revised cost estimates approved since the first tranche of reimbursement funds, and expect to need additional funds, Folliard said. The extra money will provide additional certainty to stations, Miller said. That’s an especially important consideration for noncommercial educational broadcasters, many of which are affiliated with institutions such as universities, Miller said. With budgeting for the next fiscal year currently taking place, additional financial security will help NCEs, she said.
NAB “appreciates” the additional funding, it said. ”We intend to work with policymakers to ensure that broadcasters are quickly and fairly compensated for these expenses," NAB said. “Our overriding goal is a successful repack that protects viewers and is completed as expeditiously as possible.”
The amount of the second allocation will be determined by the amount of verified estimates at the time it’s made, the PN said. It won’t be equal to the total estimated costs of broadcasters but “is intended to provide entities with ongoing access to reimbursement funding sufficient to continue the transition process.” Efforts to supplement the available repack funding are also proceeding through Congress (see 1803060046), and Kiddoo has said an infusion of money into the reimbursement fund would affect the way the IATF allocates repacking dollars. Broadcast industry officials estimated the eventual cost of the repacking at between $2.5 and $3 billion (see 1801290050).