Across New England, “Super” Frank Copsidas is well-known for his investment in local broadcast television. Earlier this year, Copisdas expanded his low-power TV holdings by grabbing a facility in Texas, and in late 2020 entered Indiana.
Now, Copsidas is getting recognition for an act that doesn’t even involve a Form 314 filing with the FCC, but has everything to do with how Washington, D.C., and Wall Street impact and shape the low-power television business.
Introducing the LPTV Broadcasters Association, a new advocacy group for low-power, translator and Class A television stations across the U.S.
Members can include station owners, brokers, the legal, consulting, technology and engineering community, and its mission is to promote industry collaboration and opportunities while providing “a one-source platform for insights, issues and standards that enable the LPTV industry to thrive.”
The LPTVBA also intends to offer advisory services on station brokerage, maximizing station value, sub-channel leasing and resource connections. “The Association provides representation for our members with legislators and policy makers in an increasingly complex security focused communications landscape,” it notes.
Heading the LPTVBA as Executive Director is Michael Lee. He served in a similar role at the International Advertising Association (IAA) until November 2010, when he opted to focus on his media and communications company Lee and Steel. From 1980-1989, he served as the North America Director of Advertising for the now-defunct International Herald Tribune. He began his career in 1976 as a regional sales manager for The Economist.
The Low Power Television Service (LPTV) was established by the FCC in 1982. It was primarily intended to provide opportunities for locally-oriented television service in small communities, both rural and individual, within larger urban areas.
Today, the LPTVBA says low-power television “presents a less expensive and very flexible way of delivering programming tailored to the interests of viewers in small localized areas, providing a means of local self-expression.”
Additionally, the group believes LPTV “has created abundant opportunities for new entry into television broadcasting and has permitted fuller use of the broadcast spectrum.”
Lee tells RBR+TVBR that while the LPTVBA is a newly formed organization with Copsidas as its passive founder, it will continue much of the legacy of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition. That’s the organization headed by the late Mike Gravino.
In fact, the LPTVBA is honoring the life and career “of an extraordinary individual with a passion for LPTV” by announcing the creation of The Mike Gravino Award. “This inaugural award will be presented to an individual who has shown great dedication and leadership in the world of LPTV,” the LPTVBA says.
The winner will be announced two weeks prior to an award ceremony taking place at a 2021 NAB Show reception scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 10 at The Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino (formerly the Las Vegas Hilton). The event is scheduled for 5pm-7pm Pacific.
Lee believes the LPTV Broadcasters Association is positioned to “take over the mantle” of the work Gravino led, with the LPTVBA working with policy makers and legislators on Capitol Hill.
For Lee, with a background in advertising, coming into the low-power television business yielded one interesting conclusion. “It all seemed so anonymous,” he said, with little knowledge without a lot of digging of what companies had the largest presence in the LPTV arena. Yet, there’s a massive opportunity for growth, Lee believes.
He also sees the LPTVBA as a place for investment growth and activity, as well as a marketplace for low-power TV stations to sell used equipment.
Among the legislation percolating in Congress that is of particular interest to the LPTVBA as it launches is the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which has the support of every state broadcasters’ association in the U.S. “The Act will certainly have implications for the LPTV business,” Lee says.
If some of the legislative language is confusing to the every-day LPTV owner/operator, that’s where Lee and his group hopes to help, taking “legal and DC-speak” and making it resonate with the every-day TV station staffer.
While the radio industry saw the recent launch of the Independent Broadcasters Association (IBA) as a response to a supposed lack of focus by the NAB on smaller, non-corporate owned radio station ownership groups, Lee makes it clear that he wants the LPTVBA to work with NAB.
“There are two ends of the spectrum … no pun intended,” Lee said.
