Fiscal Year 2015 Television Grant Calculation Information

Fiscal Year 2015

CSG Expenditure period: 10/1/2014 - 9/30/2016

The following is information regarding grant calculations for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Television Community Service Grants (CSG), Television Local Service Grants, and Television Distance Service Grants.

Update on the Appropriation

On October 1, 2014, CPB received an FY 2015 appropriation of $444.753 million from the U.S. Department of Treasury. While there is a possibility of a further rescission to the next appropriations measure funding federal government operations in FY 2015, CPB has determined that it will operate at the budget level of $445 million until further notice.

Grant Payment

In accordance with the CPB Board’s resolution of September 2012, and reaffirmed at the June 2014 Board meeting, to help stations manage the uncertainty of the budget process, CPB will once again provide each grantee with 70 percent of its annual CSG calculated on the $445 million amount in its first payment. The second payment will consist of the remaining 30 percent, minus the amount necessary to reconcile each grantee's payment to the revised final FY 2015 appropriation amount.

Important Note: As stated on each grantee’s FY 2015 CSG Agreement, the grant offer is contingent upon CPB's receipt of its authorized appropriation for FY 2015 and is subject to decreases.

Community Service Grant

Base Grant

The statutory allocated base grant is $489,500.*

*The base grant referenced above applies to all grantees except those with a three-year NFFS average that exceeds $55 million and those in designated Multi-Provider Markets. Grantees in designated Multi-Provider Markets will divide equally one single base grant.

Incentive Rate of Return

The final Incentive Rate of Return (IRR) applicable to TV grantees is 0.1348083776. Fluctuation in IRR from year to year is a function of total TV system non-Federal financial support (NFFS) and the CPB appropriation. Please note there is a two-year lag between station financial data used for CSGs and the CPB fiscal year.

Program Service Differentiation

  1. In recognition of the need to encourage diverse program services reflecting the wide-ranging needs of unserved and underserved audiences, CPB will continue to provide an incentive to those secondary grantees in designated Multi-Provider Markets that substantially differentiate their programming from that of any other grantee in the market. (A primary grantee received the largest NFFS in a Multi-Provider Market during FY 2013; a secondary grantee’s NFFS was less than the Primary Grantee.)

The desired outcome:

  • To encourage diverse program services reflecting the wide-ranging needs of unserved and underserved audiences.

Qualifying grantees' NFFS will be weighted as follows:

  • Up to its first $2 million, the NFFS would be multiplied by a factor of 1.75.
  • Between $2 million and $4 million, the NFFS would be multiplied by a factor of 1.25.

CSG Formula

The formula used to calculate a grantee's CSG (except in the situations cited above) is:

  • Grantee's FY 2013 Weighted NFFS X 0.1348083776 + Base Grant

Local Service Grant

In recognition of the special needs and challenges of small grantees and the role they play in providing universal access to free over the air local public television services, CPB will continue to provide a local service grant to grantees whose annual NFFS is less than $2 million or their three-year average NFFS is below $2 million. The desired outcome is to strengthen local services such as:

  • Educational outreach activities or educational programs
  • Local content and production
  • Operational efficiencies
  • Implementation of best practices
  • Financial planning
  • Professional development

The grant amount is calculated as a share of a total pool of $3 million. Each eligible grantee's share is inversely proportional to its share of the aggregate NFFS of all eligible grantees.

Distance Service Grant

In recognition of the goal of universal service, of the efficiency of multiple transmitter operations and of the additional costs of serving multiple communities, a distance service grant will be provided to operators of three or more digital transmitters.

The desired outcome is to strengthen local services in distant communities such as:

  • Outreach
  • Educational workshops and training
  • Local Content

The grant level will be based on the number of digital transmitters and/or digital translators a grantee operates. For purposes of calculation, the operation of 10 digital translators is equivalent to one digital transmitter.

The grant amount will be calculated as a percentage of the CSG base grant, with those grantees operating a greater number of transmitters receiving a larger grant. The maximum distance service grant for those grantees operating 12 or more transmitters will not exceed 80 percent of the base grant.

TV DISTANCE PROGRAM
# of Digital Transmitters Percentage of standard CSG base grant
3 5.0
4 7.5
5 10
6 20
7 30
8 40
9 50
10 60
11 70
12 or more 80

Contact CPB

All questions about this information should be directed to the Office of Grants Administration at isis@cpb.org. Remember to always identify your station call letters and/or grantee ID number so that we can respond quickly to your inquiry.