Translator Conversion ‘Big Issue’ for Public TV, Says APTS’ Lawson
Although translator stations aren’t subject to the Feb. 2009 DTV deadline, public TV stations are already looking for ways to raise money for their conversion. Public broadcasters have raised $1.2 billion so far from govt. and private sources for the conversion of their full-power transmitters. According to CPB estimates, public TV’s more than 900 translators serve about 12 million people, said APTS Pres. John Lawson: “So it’s a big issue for us.” Though translators don’t face a conversion deadline, he said, it’s unclear whether a viewer who gets a converter box would continue to receive analog signals: “There are a lot of questions up in the air about this.”
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There are about 6,000 translator stations in the country, said National Translator Assn. Pres. Byron St. Claire. Only a handful of them have been converted, mainly those that have put in companions, he said. Conversion costs could vary depending on whether the existing equipment is new and their power levels, he said. A modification designed to merely put a digital input into an analog transmitter would cost $3,000, he said. But if a translator needs to be upgraded to have a digital output, the costs could go up to $5,000 each, St. Claire said.
Public TV got Congress to create the Rural Utility Service (RUS) grants in 2001 to support translators, said Lawson. He said Congress has allocated $5 million for FY 2007 and “we are asking for a substantial increase in that line item for the 2008 budget.” Some money also has been set aside for this in the DTV transition bill that was part of the Budget Reform Act passed in early 2006, Lawson said: “So Congress certainly has not ignored this problem.”
Stations have begun to seek various sources of funding for upgrading their translators. The Ore. governor has proposed partial funding for the conversion of Ore. Public Bcstg.’s (OPB) 41 translators and Southern Ore. Public TV’s 13, said OPB Pres. Steve Bass. “But time is growing short,” he said. The Ida. Public TV network has raised money for 32 of the 37 translators, said Gen. Mgr. Peter Morrill. He believes the FCC would allow translators to operate in the analog mode until at least 2011, Morrill said, and expressed optimism that all his network’s translators would be converted by then.
S.D. Public Bcstg. hasn’t “figured out” how to fund the conversion of its 10 translator stations, said Exec. Dir. Julie Anderson: “I am hoping that the some of the money in the RUS grant program will help us out with some of our more rural sites.” She also hopes to get money from either the Public Telecom Facilities Program or the CPB to cover the rest, she added. “But right now we are waiting to see what the final end of transition guidelines are going to be.” No money has been raised for converting the 2 translators of Wash. stations KWSU Pullman and KTNW Richland, said Gen. Mgr. Dennis Haarsager: “Right now, like everybody we are on hold here. We are anxious about how we can do the conversion.”