On Tue, 21 May 2013 17:54:02 -0700, (Dave Platt)
wrote:

Hundreds of kilowatts, up to megawatts of power output. I'm sure it
adds up.

Nope. They rarely crank out more than about 50kW output.

For example, a high end UHF Harris TV transitter belches 75kW (analog
power):
http://harrisbroadcast.com/productsandsolutions/TelevisionTransmission/TelevisionTransmitters/UHFTransmitters/MaxivaULX.asp
Analog power levels up to 75 kW, digital power
levels up to 44.6 kW ATSC, 28.1 kW COFDM

VHF is less:
http://harrisbroadcast.com/productsandsolutions/TelevisionTransmission/TelevisionTransmitters/VHFTransmitters/PlatinumVLX.asp
Digital power levels up to 33.6 kW ATSC, 28.8 kW DAB
and 19.2 kW DVB-T/DVB-T2/ISDB-Tb
Analog power levels up to 48 kW

The bad news is that efficiency sucks. 30% is about the best that can
be done. For example, here's a "Green Power" UHF transmitter with "up
to 29% efficiency".
http://www.thomson-broadcast.com/node/407
Some data sheets fail to mention efficiency or power drain. So, a
40kW TV xmitter might draw 120kW from the power company, which is
hardly a megawatt. At $0.20/kw-hr, that's:
120KW * 0.20 * 24 = $576/day or $210,000/year
which is only a small fraction of the operating costs of a radio
station.

The EIRP ratings are tx power times antenna gain, which produce the
astronomically large power outputs.

And, since it's public spectrum, they're paying a
significant license fee every year to the Feds for the right to use
the frequency exclusively within their broadcast area.

Cable operators also pay about $1/subscriber to the FCC:
http://www.fcc.gov/document/fy-2012-cable-tv-regulatory-fees-fy-2012

Incidentally, you can look up what various AM/FM stations paid to the
FCC at:
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/callsign.pl
but I couldn't find anything for TV. This is dead, but rather
intersting:
http://www.fccfees.com

I did find a 2012 NPR (notice of proposed rule making) list of fees
at:
http://www.fcc.gov/document/fy-2012-regulatory-fees-nprm
which shows fees at about $35,000 for major market TV stations.

(U.S. $'s)
TV (47 CFR part 73) UHF Commercial
Markets 1-10
34,650
Markets 11-25
31,950
Markets 26-50
21,875
Markets 51-100
12,625
Remaining Markets
3,425
Construction Permits
3,425
Satellite Television Stations (All Markets)
1,350
Construction Permits – Satellite Television Stations
890
Low Power TV, Class A TV, TV/FM Translators & Boosters
(47 CFR part 74)
385
Broadcast Auxiliaries (47 CFR part 74)
10
CARS (47 CFR part 78)
475
Cable Television Systems (per subscriber) (47 CFR part 76)
.95
Interstate Telecommunication Service Providers (per revenue dollar)
.00375
Earth Stations (47 CFR part 25)
275
Space Stations (per operational station in geostationary orbit)
(47 CFR part 25)
also includes DBS Service (per operational station) (47 CFR part 100)
132,350
Space Stations (per operational system in non-geostationary orbit)
(47 CFR part 25)
142,600
International Bearer Circuits - Terrestrial/Satellites (per 64KB
circuit)
.35


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558