Fiscal Year 2016 Television Station Grant Calculations

Fiscal Year 2016

CSG Expenditure period: 10/1/2015 - 9/30/2017

The following is information regarding grant calculations for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Television Community Service Grants (CSG), Television Local Service Grants, and Television Distance Service Grants.

FY 2016 Appropriation

The FY 2016 CSG pool is based on a general CPB appropriation for FY 2016 of $444,061,940. This appropriation amount reflects an advance appropriation of $445,000,000, less a rescission of 0.2108 percent.

70 Percent in the First Payment

In accordance with the CPB Board’s resolution of September 2012 and reaffirmed at the June 2014 Board meeting, CPB will once again provide each grantee with 70 percent of its annual CSG in its first payment.

Important Note: As stated on each grantee’s FY 2016 CSG Agreement and Certification of Eligibility form, the grant offer is contingent upon CPB's receipt of its authorized appropriation for FY 2016 and is subject to decreases.

Community Service Grant

Base Grant: For FY 2016, the base is $488,468 (calculated as 0.11 percent of the appropriation of $444,061,940).  The base grant 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 0.1321933376. 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 Differentiation Incentive (PDI)

CPB will continue to provide an incentive to those Secondary Grantees in designated Multi-Provider Markets.  In order to be eligible for a PDI, stations must not broadcast duplicate programming on their primary channels on the same day, with the exception of:

1. children’s programming;

2. news programming;

3. one-time programming of local or national importance (e.g., emergency information or bnpresidential speeches); and

4. stations must annually certify the same to CPB.

(A Primary Grantee received the largest NFFS in a Multi-Provider Market during FY 2014; a Secondary Grantee’s NFFS was less than the Primary Grantee.)

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 2014 Weighted NFFS X 0.1321933376 + Base Grant

Supplemental CSG Programs

The FY 2016 TV General Provisions and Eligibility Criteria (General Provisions) contain the requirements necessary for a CSG recipient to maintain CSG eligibility. The General Provisions also specify allowable use of and restrictions on a grantee’s CSG. CPB has revised the General Provisions for FY 2016, which began on October 1, 2015.

The General Provisions also contain information relating to the supplemental CSG programs (Television Merger and Consolidation Program, Television Collaborative Bandwidth Program, Television Local Service Grant Program, and Television Distance Service Grant Program). In addition to the General Provisions you can also find other critical compliance documents in the For Stations and Producers section of the CPB website.

Contact CPB

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