Channel 10’s future depends on digital TV

Monday, July 26, 1999 | 11:14 a.m.

Digital television, the new technology that can produce pictures many times clearer than current TVs, will test the vision of the Clark County School Board over the next few weeks.

Members of the board are under pressure to decide the future use of KLVX-TV Channel 10, the school district's public broadcasting station, in light of the technology that greatly expands the capabilities of television.

That decision will require vision, station manager Tom Axtell says.

Axtell told the board at a meeting Friday that the federal government requires public television stations to provide digital services no later than May 2003, about a year later than commercial television. The system now in use, analog transmission, will cease to be used in this country in 2006.

Commercial stations are phasing in digital equipment over the next three years, with stations in the top 10 markets required to broadcast digitally before the end of this year.

Owners of nondigital television sets will be able to purchase converters at about $150 apiece to receive the digital signals.

Axtell said if Channel 10, which will broadcast on Channel 11 after the conversion, does not meet the 2003 deadline it could lose its federal license.

The federal law requiring digital television was imposed in 1997 because of the increased demand for limited radio frequency space, television consultant Chuck McConnell said.

McConnell, with National Educational Telecommunications Association of Columbia, S.C., said cellular phones, garage door openers, microwave ovens and thousands of other recent developments have placed a strain on the availability of radio waves.

"The demand for these things grows, but there is no more spectrum," he said.

McConnell said television occupies 40 percent of the prime spectrum. That makes digital transmission the wave of the future not only for its clarity, but also to free up more space on the airwaves.

Axtell said construction of a new KLVX building or expansion and remodeling of the existing facilities must begin in early 2002 to meet the deadline, which means fund-raising must be committed by August 2001.

Axtell estimates the public station must raise between $8 million and $15 million, depending on the school board's vision of what services KLVX should perform. The vision could focus on education or on providing programs for the general public or something in between, he said.

The possibilities will be discussed at a retreat board members are tentatively scheduled to attend on Sept. 29.

McConnell spent an hour describing what digital transmission can do -- such as allowing a viewer to choose from five or six different programs on one station and broadcasting high-definition pictures.

"All stations will have the same technical ability, but the issue is how they choose to use it," McConnell said.

"The biggest obstacle is dollars," board member Shirley Barber said. "The board has a task. What we need to do is develop a five-year plan."

Art Williams said Friends of Channel 10, a support group, has spent the past several months reorganizing to help find funds for the conversion to digital television.

Williams, president of the organization, said a number of councils were formed, each with specific duties. One is called the Digital Transition Planning Council, whose purpose is to determine how to raise capital funding.

Axtell said how the money is raised will depend, in part, on how the station ultimately is used.

Among the alternatives to be explored are state bonds and private foundations.

The state Legislature allocated $1 million to the digital budget of the station, but it requires $2 million in matching funds and won't be made available until the matching funds are raised, Axtell said.

School Board President Ruth Johnson said the members would like the station to conduct a survey to help them decide what would be the best use of the station when it becomes digital.

Board member Lois Tarkanian told Axtell, "you are presenting to us eight possible philosophical directions. It is up to the board to determine the philosophy of the direction."

Tarkanian said it would be good if the station could perform all eight functions.

"But whatever we do, we need a very thorough marketing plan."