Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
July 16, 2009
Interim Amendment to the TV CSG Policy
7 in favor, 1 abstained
BACKGROUND
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has begun developing several scenarios to provide assistance to stations that contact CPB through the Stations in Financial Distress program. One option has been to advance TV Community Service Grants (CSG) to television stations in financial distress to assist them with cash flow issues when no other financing options are available to them.
CPB convened a small, representative panel of public television station general managers, as well as ex-officio national representatives from PBS and APTS, to provide recommendations for the principles and parameters of such a program.1 This program would only affect the FY 2010 TV CSG as the panel recommended that the issue of the TV CSG advance be on the agenda for the upcoming TV CSG Review. The panel's recommendations were presented to the CPB Board of Directors for consideration.
RESOLUTION
Be it resolved, that the CPB Board of Directors has considered the panel's and CPB management's recommendations and adopts the following principles and parameters for advancing TV CSG funds to financially distressed stations as an interim amendment to the TV CSG policy (7 in favor, 1 abstained):
Principles:
An advance should be a last resort for stations and only when absolutely necessary;
An advance should not be given to stations whose long-term sustainability is reasonably considered by CPB to be doubtful;
When possible, an advance should be secured to the extent available with station assets to mitigate risk of default; and
CPB and PBS should exchange information regarding the current financial status of the station requesting support, but the decision to provide the CPB CSG advance or the deferment of PBS dues must be made independently.
Parameters:
Eligibility: only television stations contacting CPB through the Stations in Financial Distress program are eligible;
Size of pool: 1% of TV CSG pool (for FY2010, the TV CSG pool will be $210,262,500; therefore, the TV CSG advance reserve will be $2,102,625);
Advance cap for station: no larger than 50% of the station's upcoming CSG and cannot exceed 20% of the reserve pool ($420,525);
Payback period: up to four years; Interest free; and
Waiting period: a station must wait at least three years after it has completed paying back its CSG advance prior to asking for another CSG advance and cannot receive simultaneous multiple CSG advances.
This policy shall remain in effect until the CPB Board of Directors is presented with the recommendations of the 2009/2010 TV CSG consultation panel.
Panelists
Malcolm Brett, Wisconsin Public Television
Joe Bruns, WETA
David Dial, WNIN
Joyce Herring, PBS (ex-officio)
Michael Jones, PBS (ex-officio)
Lonna Thompson, APTS (ex-officio)