By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Published September 17, 2008
The Moapa Valley Television Maintenance District (MVTVD) began broadcasting a new station on Saturday, September 13. Moapa Valley residents who receive the MVTVD signals will now find the Brigham Young University television station, KBYU, being broadcast in the local community on channel 50.
“We still have some work to do on the quality of the signal,” said MVTVD Board chairman, Daniel Pray. “It is far from perfect, but it is there now. That’s a first step.”
MVTVD officials say that offering KBYU is a response to numerous requests from community members to bring KBYU programming into the district’s lineup. “The TV District has been aware of the desire of many people in the community for KBYU,” said Pray. “We have been unable to do it up until now because we didn’t have funding for the equipment we needed. But now we are able to start bringing it in.”
This will be welcome news for people like Saun Bohn, of Logandale. Several years ago, Bohn stopped using MVTVD signals and, instead, ordered a satellite TV subscription service. He said that he did this mainly because he wanted to be able to receive KBYU. “I’ve always said that when they (MVTVD) start broadcasting KBYU that I would come back to using their signal again,” Bohn said.
The addition of KBYU is just one in a series of important updates that are being planned by the TV district in upcoming months. In April, the MVTVD Board voted to charge a $24 annual assessment on each property owner in the district. The assessment is collected directly through the Clark County property tax rolls. This new stable source of funding would make it possible to make the necessary equipment upgrades to allow for receiving digital signals. A federal regulation requiring all primary TV broadcasters to switch to digital transmission by February of next year made these MVTVD digital upgrades necessary.
The district-wide assessment went into effect over the summer. Thus far the MVTVD has received $51,658 in funding for the necessary updates.
MVTVD board members have been hard at work over the summer months arranging to stretch that funding as far as possible. Board members have been testing to find out just how many digital signals can be received at their Beacon Hill tower site without the construction of any additional systems off site.
The results have been better than expected. Pray reported that MVTVD equipment was receiving digital signals for four major Las Vegas stations including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.
“It is looking favorable that we will be able to get most of the digital signals at the top of our hill without having to build any other systems,” Pray said. Earlier this year, the MVTVD had been studying the possibility constructing a microwave link from Apex to Beacon Hill in order to receive the digital stations. If this had been necessary, it would have been much more expensive and a longer-term project.
With all of this in mind, the district has purchased its first commercial grade digital receiver at a cost of $2700. This will be the first step in receiving a reliable, strong digital signal. More equipment updates will be following that will improve the MVTVD signals.
Some residents have already noticed marked improvements in the MVTVD signals. Eric Rollins of Overton said that he has seen significant improvements in recent months. “A couple of the Las Vegas stations have gotten better just in the past month,” Rollins said. “The Salt Lake City stations have gotten better, too, over the past year or so.”
Rollins dropped his satellite service a year ago and has been using only the MVTVD signals. “(The satellite service) won’t let you just buy the stations you want to watch,” Rollins said. “You have to get the whole package and I didn’t really like most of the junk that was on there.”
Barbara DeGanais of Overton has been using the MVTVD signal for years. She also has satellite service but likes to use MVTVD so she can get the Utah stations. Her only complaint is that there is no one to call to find out if the signal is down. “I wish that they had a telephone number to call with a message telling you if a station is down,” she said. “Then I’d know whether it was my equipment that needs fixing or a more general problem.”
Pray said that this was a good suggestion. “We have been working to drive that kind of communication through our new website,” Pray said. “But we can certainly consider updating a telephone message for those who might not use the internet.” The MVTVD website is www.mvtvd.com.
Pray explained that the MVTVD had recently established a digital communication link from board members down in the Moapa Valley up to the Beacon Hill facility. “This allows us to monitor the status of the signals we are receiving remotely without having to drive up to the facility,” Pray said. “It will help us to diagnose problems much faster and give us a quicker response time to get things fixed.”
Up to now, most of the work has been focused on the ability to just receive digital signals at Beacon Hill. The district is still transmitting down into the community using analog signals. But digital transmission will be coming soon, Pray said. At that point, MVTVD customers may need some equipment added to their TVs to convert the digital signal. “Residents who have a digital-ready TV set, purchased recently, won’t need to add anything at all,” Pray said. “Digital signals should come in just fine.”
But residents with older TV sets may need a digital converter box. These are available for purchase in electronics stores. The box retails for about $50, Pray said. The Overton Radio Shack has reported that they have had increased sales in these items.
Since the change-over to digital was a federal mandate, the federal government is offering vouchers to offset the cost of these converter boxes. By making an application online, residents can order a card worth $40 toward the purchase of the converter box. Applications can be made at www.dtv2009.gov .
