Idaho Votes to Let Public TV Areas Go Dark
Sharon Fisher
March 23, 2009
NewWest.net
In a move that will cut off public television to more than half a dozen areas in Idaho, including the city of Emmett and parts of Boise, Idaho's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee cut $150,000 from the budget of Idaho Public Television that would have been used to help provide translator stations to continue broadcast in those areas.
The money would have been used either as matching funds for federal grants, or directly to pay for translator stations, according to the original motion made by Representative Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow. The substitute motion was made by Senator James Hammond, R-Coeur d'Alene. "We have made a lot of difficult decisions the past few days," he said. "We need to be very careful with every dollar we've got, and I felt the committee should have this motion on the table." Discussion of the motion suggested that people who made the decision to live in rural areas made that choice and couldn't expect the state government to provide everything for them.
Democrats on the committee—joined by three Republicans, including Co-Chair Representative Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, and Representative George Eskridge, R-Dover, voted against cutting the funding.
Because the Federal Communications Commission only allows applications for such translator stations during particular time windows, it is likely that Idaho Public Television will not have the opportunity again to apply for the right to operate such translator stations in those areas, Idaho Public Television general manager Peter Morrill told the committee.
Originally posted at http://www.newwest.net/city/article/idaho_votes_to_let_public_tv_areas_go_dark/C108/L108/
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