It’s up to President Barack Obama to decide if residents in the Four Corners will be able to receive satellite TV broadcasts from Denver.
The U.S. Congress passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Reauthorization (STELAR) Act, which includes a provision to help Montezuma County residents access Colorado TV news, weather, sports, and emergency information. If the president fails to sign the bill by year’s end, satellite customers would lose access to distant network TV station signals.
Outgoing Sen. Mark Udall said he was proud to champion the provision to enable people in Durango and Cortez, for example, to access state news, weather and emergency information.
“I am gratified the U.S. Senate heeded my calls and passed this common-sense solution,” Udall said in a press release. “I urge the president to sign this bill as soon as possible and finally help deliver Colorado TV to Four Corners residents.”
Sen. Michael Bennet also applauded the bill, which would allow satellite providers and local broadcasters to petition the FCC to allow residents of so-called “orphan counties,” which receive broadcasts from stations in other states, to receive broadcasts from local, in-state TV stations. La Plata and Montezuma counties in Colorado are considered orphan counties that receive TV broadcasts from Albuquerque.
“Coloradans in La Plata and Montezuma counties have waited a long time for the opportunity to access local Colorado broadcasts,” Bennet said. “The current system doesn’t make sense for Southwest Colorado, but this bill will finally give folks a path forward to fix this problem. The president should quickly sign this bill.”
The bill would renew compulsory licenses that allow satellite operators to import distant network signals to subscribers lacking a local version. The licenses expire every five years.
According to the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), the bill would also sunset an FCC mandate that forces cable customers to lease set-top boxes. NCTA officials say that the order forces cable customers “to bear added costs and higher energy use for no additional benefit.”
Antenna service
Local fears are growing about a federal program to auction off major portions of the TV band to the highest bidder.
Wayne Johnson, director of the Southwest Colorado Television Translator Association, said the problem stems from the Broadband Spectrum Act. The bill was passed as a rider to the 2011 Jobs Bill, which extended unemployment benefits to 99 weeks. To pay for the increased benefits, Johnson said, Congress mandated that the FCC sell off 120 megahertz of spectrum to communication giants such as AT&T, Verizon and Google, which would then sell the TV access, which currently is free.
Expected to begin in 2016, the auctions could reduce access or possibly end free TV service in rural areas like Cortez. Johnson estimated that half of area residents rely on TV antennas.
“The auctions will happen, and it will be devastating,” said Johnson.
To help inform residents about the auctions, the League of Women Voters of Montezuma County will host a meeting at 9 a.m. on Dec. 13 at Beny’s Diner in Cortez. Johnson is scheduled to discuss the potential impacts of the auctions.
A TV translator station rebroadcasts the programs of a full-power TV broadcast station. Translator stations typically serve communities that cannot receive the signals of free over-the-air TV stations because they are too far away from a full-power TV station or because of geography, such as mountains.
Using a roof antennae, Cortez residents may receive dozens of TV channels, some based in Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Denver and even Chicago. Local viewers enjoy national sports (including Broncos games) network dramas and comedies along with news, C-Span, and PBS documentaries like NOVA, Frontline, and Nature.
The Southwest Colorado Television Translator Association relies on a 0.77 mill levy that generates a budget of $500,000 per year to maintain a network of 11 translators. The district serves about 4,000 homes, and there is no limit to how many homes can access the signal.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com