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Public TV Asks for No Word Count Restrictions in Broadcaster Reimbursement Form

Public television organizations urged the FCC to avoid character word count restrictions in free-text fields, to use prior cost estimates to auto-populate values for revised estimates and actual costs, and to take other steps when designing the TV broadcaster relocation…

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fund reimbursement form. Web-based forms can run the risk of unintentionally impeding accurate reporting, “creating unnecessary redundancies, and imposing significant burdens on station staff,” said the Association of Public Television Stations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS in comments filed Wednesday in docket 12-268. “Explanations for cost estimate calculations and other responses may require lengthy descriptions.” Limiting responses in free-text fields to a certain word count “could unintentionally prevent stations from providing complete and accurate responses,” they said. By using prior cost estimates to auto-populate values for revised estimates, stations wouldn’t need to re-enter information on the form that hasn’t changed and could simply supplement prior estimates with any addition documentation, they said. The organizations also asked the FCC to clarify reporting responsibilities for jointly owned equipment, they said.