Home
|
||||||
 |
|||
|
Your Turn — KNPB Channel 5 Enters the Digital Future
KNPB Channel 5 Public Broadcasting is quietly marching toward the end of its capital campaign for the conversion to digital television (DTV). This project began in 2000 with an unfunded FCC mandate that all television stations — commercial and public — make the transition from analog to digital transmission. The question for public broadcasters was how to raise the funds needed to make this costly conversion, while at the same time maintain station operations of its analog service. Thus, KNPB embarked on a capital campaign to fund construction of a new tower and transmitter facility atop Red Peak, the construction of a digital master control facility, and the purchase of digital equipment for production in high definition format. The price tag for this campaign? $6 million. Channel 5 has distinguished itself as a local and national leader in the digital conversion effort. Of the 315 PBS stations nationwide, Channel 5 became the 23rd to broadcast a fully digital signal — quite a distinction for the station and for our community. We support public broadcasting because we believe in the importance of this community resource. Channel 5 is the area's only locally owned and operated media providing unparalleled local and national programming. And here's the important part — this programming is not constrained by the pressures of commercial broadcasting. It is tremendously rewarding to see that you, as a community of viewer/members, share our support of public broadcasting. When asked to contribute, KNPB supporters at all levels made very generous gifts to help further this conversion effort. We have been humbled to see gifts come from almost 1,900 individuals and organizations, including the Channel 5 membership, local philanthropists, foundations and corporations. We are close to achieving our goal, and we could not have done it without your generous gifts. The benefits of the conversion effort are already apparent: Viewers with high definition receivers see the crisp, clear pictures that DTV provides. And the numbers of high definition consumers continue to grow as the costs for this technology decrease. But digital broadcasting is more than pretty pictures or a federal mandate. It allows the technology to catch up with the mission of public television. New compression techniques enable KNPB to broadcast not only one channel of high definition digital programming, but multiple channels of standard definition digital television programming with stereo sound and a higher quality picture than we have today. Thus, it provides new ways to deliver more of the excellent content — public television's great strength, fine-tuned for local needs in a variety of ways. Multicasting might allow for a distinct K-12 channel for schools, targeted to the classroom, with text such as teachers' guides embedded in the signal. Adult learners might access telecourses for GED preparation and workplace readiness on another channel. And on an encore channel, KNPB might air broadcasts of favorite primetime programs at times more convenient for some viewers. Digital services such as "datacasting" will allow Channel 5 to deliver information embedded in the television signal, offering our audiences immediate access to security information in times of national, state or local crisis. We are indeed fortunate to have Channel 5 here in northern Nevada. Thank you for joining us in supporting Channel 5, helping us strengthen our public television station for our future. Phil Satre and John Sande III are Co-Chairman of Defining 5, KNPB's digital conversion capital campaign. Sande and Satre were honored with the Public Television Leadership
Award at the 2005 PBS Development Conference. More... "Defining 5" is Channel 5 Public Broadcasting's capital campaign to raise funds for the conversion to Digital Television. The conversion has been mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
|
|
||
 |
|||
|
|
|||