Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program
Inactive
- Assistance listing
- 10.861
- Agency
-
Rural Utilities Service
Department of Agriculture
- Grant awards
- 90 $32,552,496 in federal obligations
Program facts
- Assistance type
-
- Project Grant
- Eligible applicants
-
- State (includes District of Columbia, public institutions of higher education and hospitals)
- Local (includes State-designated lndian Tribes, excludes institutions of higher education and hospitals
- Public nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals)
- Private nonprofit institution/organization (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals)
- Beneficiaries
-
- Private nonprofit institution/organization
- State
- Local
- Public nonprofit institution/organization
Program details come from SAM.gov Assistance Listings. Updated . Grant award figures come from USAspending.gov.
About this program
The Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service funds rural public television station digital transition grants under CFDA 10.861, with the most recent award issued on September 25, 2014. This program is inactive and not pursuing new opportunities; no grant awards have been made since 2014.
The program addressed a specific market failure in rural public television infrastructure. The FCC's 2009 mandate requiring broadcasters to convert to digital transmission created compliance costs that rural stations—particularly those serving isolated areas through translator networks—could not absorb. While stations met the main transmitter deadline, many rural operations failed to digitize translators (which faced a 2015 FCC deadline), production equipment, and studio infrastructure. The digital transition created service gaps where rural households lost over-the-air public television access entirely. This program provided grants to remedy those losses by funding equipment and infrastructure conversion.
All 90 grants in the portfolio were Project Grants. The Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service was the sole funding agency, obligating $32.6 million across the entire program history. Award activity peaked in 2010 (16 awards) and 2011 (15 awards), then declined to 13 awards in 2014. Recent awards ranged from under $60 thousand to $750 thousand, with a representative concentration around $350 thousand to $750 thousand. Notable recent grants included a $750 thousand award in September 2014 for public broadcasting system upgrades and a $718 thousand award in January 2014 for station equipment conversion.
The source contains no open or recently posted grant opportunities. The program appears to have served its intended purpose during the FCC digital transition window (2008–2015) and has not issued new solicitations since 2014. Organizations seeking rural broadcast infrastructure funding should explore alternative USDA Rural Utilities Service programs or other federal broadcast-support mechanisms.
Objective and description
- Objective
As part of the nation's transition to digital television, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required all television broadcasters to convert their transmitters to broadcast digital signals by June 12, 2009. The goal of this conversion was a television system that makes more efficient use of the radio spectrum. Decreasing the use of spectrum by television channels freed up spectrum to enable the introduction of new wireless telecommunications services such as mobile wireless Internet access. In order to allocate spectrum to new uses, stations had to transition their main transmitter to the new broadcast system and digital no later than June 2009. While stations must broadcast their main transmitter signal in digital, many rural stations have yet to complete a full digital transition of their stations across all equipment. Rural stations often have translators serving small or isolated areas. The 2009 FCC deadline did not apply to translators; in 2011 the FCC adopted a final deadline for analog-to-digital conversion of all translators by September 1, 2015. Because of this, translators have been allowed to continue broadcasting in analog, and stations are still in the process of converting some of their translators to digital. Some rural stations also have not fully converted their production and studio equipment to digital, which has impaired their ability to provide the same quality local programming that they provided in analog. The digital transition has also created some service gaps where households that received an analog signal are now unable to receive a digital signal. For rural households the digital transition has meant in some cases diminished over-the-air public television service. These rural households are the focus of the Agency's Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program.
Grant awards
Latest 10 of 90 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Top recipients by federal obligations
| Rank | Recipient | Federal obligations | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MS Authority For Educational Television | $1,982,343 | 6% |
| 2 | West Virginia Educational Broadcasting | $1,807,787 | 6% |
| 3 | Maine Public Broadcasting Corp | $1,694,080 | 5% |
| 4 | Prairie Public Broadcasting, Inc. | $1,551,469 | 5% |
| 5 | University Of Central Missouri | $1,527,283 | 5% |
| 6 | Central Michigan University | $1,499,994 | 5% |
| 7 | Oklahoma Educational Television Authority | $1,440,700 | 4% |
| 8 | Arkansas Educational Television Commission | $1,349,045 | 4% |
| 9 | Kentucky Authority For Educational Television | $1,346,950 | 4% |
| 10 | Upper Cumberland Broadcast Council | $1,313,116 | 4% |
10 of 51 recipients listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Federal obligations by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Federal obligations |
|---|---|
| FY2014 | $5,310,735 |
| FY2013 | -$255,595 |
| FY2012 | $3,059,447 |
| FY2011 | $5,560,334 |
| FY2010 | $3,907,720 |
| FY2009 | $5,054,855 |
| FY2008 | $4,965,000 |
| FY2007 | $4,950,000 |
Quick answers
What is Assistance Listing 10.861?
Assistance Listing 10.861 is Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program, a federal grant program run by Rural Utilities Service (Department of Agriculture). It is inactive.
What is the CFDA number for Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program?
Its CFDA number is 10.861: Assistance Listing numbers were called CFDA numbers before 2018.
How much funding has Assistance Listing 10.861 awarded?
90 grant awards under 10.861 have obligated $32,552,496 in federal funds to 51 recipients.
Who receives the most funding from 10.861?
The recipients obligated the most under Public Television Station Digital Transition Grant Program are MS Authority For Educational Television ($1,982,343), West Virginia Educational Broadcasting ($1,807,787) and Maine Public Broadcasting Corp ($1,694,080).
On GovTribe
See this program's full record
- Every grant award and opportunity under it
- Funding by recipient, agency and assistance type
- Alerts for new opportunities
- Ask GovTribe AI about this program