Tim Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley Television Maintenance District met on Tuesday, February 5, at the Overton Community Center. A financial report was given and discussed at the meeting citing needs and wants of the district.
District Chairman Daniel Pray told the Board that on Wednesday, February 6, Board Members Roy Wilmer, John Hudrlik and the Board Attorney Gary Hayes would meet in Las Vegas with the County Assessor. They will be discussing the process and the steps still needed to put the assessment on the County tax rolls that will keep the District running in the Valley.
Last year the District sent out notices and held public hearings inviting residents to voice their views on the issue of district making this general assessment. The only difference between last year’s procedures and this year’s will be that Hayes will be certifying this year’s endeavor for the County’s satisfaction.
The MVTV District Board will send out notices of the new public hearing that is expected to take place in March, a specific date will be announced. “This will put us a year behind on our goal for the district to switch to digital,” said Pray. “The deadline is 2009 that the federal government requires television stations to be on digital frequency. We are probably going to have some wiggle room on our deadline but we would like to get this going so we can continue to bring this service to the Valley.”
By Congressional mandate, all full-powered television stations in the country must be broadcasting in digital by February 17, 2009. The benefit to switching to all-digital broadcasting is that it will free up parts of the broadcast spectrum for public safety communications, such as police, fire departments, and rescue squads. Digital broadcasting is more efficient than analog broadcasting. Consumers also benefit because digital broadcasting allows stations to offer improved picture and sound quality.