Idaho Public Television manager talks to House committee about digital transition
Katy Moeller
April 2, 2009
Idaho Statesman
Peter Morrill, who is general manager of Idaho Public Television, represented public television stations nationwide when he spoke about digital transition issues to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week.
Morrill spoke about the needs of TV viewers as the June 12 transition to digital-only broadcast for high-power stations approaches. He advocated for in-home assistance, particularly for the elderly.
"Other top priorities should be telephone and walk-in help centers staffed with well-trained personnel ready to help with location- and station-specific issues," he said.
Morrill noted that Idaho is one of those states with challenging geography for broadcasters. Both analog and digital signals have difficulty reaching homes in some mountainous areas of the state.
Idaho Public Television has identified seven areas of Idaho where it expects to lose viewers after the digital conversion June 12: Idaho City, east side of Emmett, the Boise front, Boise's Harris Ranch area, Glenns Ferry, and the Wood River and Portneuf valleys.
Morrill has been working to obtain federal grants to pay for the installation of six translators to serve those seven areas. But there have been major setbacks, including a rejection by the state Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee of IPTV's request for $150,000 in funds to match a hoped-for federal grant.
Another federal grant that IPTV has applied for does not require state matching funds, so there's a possibility that funding will come through for three of the six translator stations.
Morrill said the public stations have a need for increased federal funding to make up for reductions from other sources, including individual contributions, corporate underwriting, foundation and state support.
He told the Congressional committee that Idaho Public Television is projecting that the state will reduce IPTV's fiscal year operating funding by nearly $300,000 from the previous year, and will eliminate a $1.1 million request for capital equipment for the last major piece of the statewide digital conversion.
"We ask for the support of members of this authorizing committee for increased federal funding so that public television may weather this economic typhoon and continue to provide innovative public media content and outreach to help all Americans do the same," Morrill told the committee.
Testimony of Peter W. Morrill, General Manager, Idaho Public Television, Before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet March 26, 2009
Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Stearns, and especially Mr. Dingell, thank you for the honor of testifying before you today on behalf of Idaho Public Television and the Association of Public Television Stations. I come to you from a state whose geography has always challenged the human spirit. In 1805, our Bitterroot Mountains nearly repelled the Lewis and Clark expedition. The Oregon Trail, that crosses our southern desert, has been called "the longest cemetery in the world" due to the toll that it took on pioneering families. Idaho Public Television, which reaches 97 percent of the state's population, has worked for a decade to ensure that the digital transition gets a friendlier reception.
Since last July alone, we have broadcast more than 52 hours of DTV consumer education announcements. Our efforts were bolstered in January by the $35,000 DTV consumer assistance grant we received from the FCC. We hired an additional engineer dedicated to responding to viewers' technical inquiries, and produced two programs and six informational spots discussing the transition, including the importance of antenna placement and VHF/UHF channel changes. Other public television recipients of the FCC grants launched their own initiatives. For example, as noted by Representative Space, WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, teamed with local agencies for the elderly to train staff and volunteers to install converter boxes in homes and senior residences. Congress has specified that $90 million of the stimulus funds may be steered toward DTV consumer outreach. We are hopeful that much of that funding will be directed to public television stations to build upon the success of the first wave of grants. Local public television stations have a unique combination of public trust, technical expertise, and unmatched local access that will enable us to provide the necessary assistance.
I urge the Committee to focus on the last few steps between the antenna and the TV set, which is where consumers are going to need the most help between now and June 12. My experience has been there is an overarching need for in-home assistance for converter box, scanning, and antenna installation, particularly for the elderly. Other top priorities should be telephone and walk-in help centers staffed with well-trained personnel ready to help with location- and station specific issues.
We also need to be realistic about the limits of consumer education. As FCC Chairman Copps noted, some viewers will not be able to receive all of the stations they did before the digital transition. In those cases, full station disclosure is vital. For example, in Idaho, some viewers within our service contour will lose coverage because the signal does not travel well through the mountains. In late December, the FCC introduced options for stations to "fill in" these "holes" using translators, but because of the short timeframe and the desperate economic situation, it will be extremely difficult to finance and deploy these systems. I respectfully request this Committee's assistance to support digital television "fill-in" service by granting stations at least two years to build out systems and by making funding available immediately, without a local match requirement.
Finally, I must emphasize the need for increased federal funding for public television station operations to offset dramatic declines in revenues from the non-federal sources of funding. Individual contributions, corporate underwriting, foundation and state support constitute 85 percent of our total operating revenue. Every day brings more news of station programming, personnel, and service cuts. Some stations are in a fight for survival. In Idaho, we are projecting that the state will reduce our fiscal year operating funding by nearly $300,000 from the previous year, and will eliminate our $1.1 million request needed for capital equipment for our last major piece of the statewide digital conversion. Think DTV "fill-in" translators.
Finally, public broadcasting provides important educational programming, especially for preschool children. We are the most trusted source of news and information at a time when media are increasingly fragmented and newspapers are failing. And we are virtually the only source remaining for cultural arts TV programming. We ask for the support of members of this authorizing committee for increased federal funding so that public television may weather this economic typhoon and continue to provide innovative public media content and outreach to help all Americans do the same.
Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions.
Originally posted at http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/718867.html
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