Could Action Line motivate the proper organization to get at least one or two Denver channels on free television? Up until 1994, we had Colorado TV on KREZ-Durango and KREX-Grand Junction. We got Bronco games, better weather forecasts and Colorado news. La Plata County needs to subsidize KUSA-Denver if necessary in taking over KOB-Albuquerque’s free TV broadcasting translator/transmitter. With the right agreement KWGN-Denver could probably use the same transmitter. The same agreement could work if satellite brings in a station. Help La Plata get free Colorado TV! – Watching and Waiting
Beseeching Action Line to advocate for television is like asking the San Juan Citizens Alliance to support a new coal-fired power plant.
Or imploring the Southwest Republican Women to host an afternoon tea for Hillary Clinton.
Besides, there are many dedicated, intelligent and interested leaders who for years have been dealing with the scourge that is Bronco-less local TV. They include U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner, Congressman Scott Tipton and dozens of regional, local and county officials.
These folks have immense influence. Together, they almost match the power that Action Line wields over Very Important Public Issues.
So we’re good.
Sort of.
The problem is that television has become far too complicated.
Back when Action Line was a wee lad, televisions had four channels: the big three commercial networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) plus PBS.
The sole reason for PBS’s existence was to provide an alibi for anyone caught in the lie, “We don’t watch television in our home.”
“Then why is there a TV in the middle of your living room?”
“Oh, we just watch those educational shows on PBS.”
Anyway, if you wanted to change channels back then, you would actually have to get up off the couch and physically turn a knob, a challenge so daunting that many didn’t bother.
Often, the knob would break, resulting in vice-grip pliers being clamped on the spindle, offering a kludgy accessory to one’s home entertainment system.
The good ol’days, eh?
Today, we have exactly eight gazillion channels offering an astonishing range of programming, including an online channel devoted to goats. Seriously. It’s Goatslive.com.
Also consider that television shows are no longer called “television shows.” They are “content.”
And “content” is not “broadcast,” it is “delivered” to a “device,” be it a tablet, computer, streaming player, satellite dish, cable system or over-the-air, old-school antenna connected to a Philco Predicta.
Action Line has to be the bearer of bad news. Over-the-air broadcasting is over-the-hill.
Back in 2014, Bennet and other Congress-types made a giant advance for Denver TV in Southwest Colorado The legislation was called the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization.
But read that name again. It only concerns satellite TV.
Moreover, two big broadcasters are challenging the FCC’s ruling in favor of La Plata and Montezuma counties “market modification.”
All of which doesn’t help in the quest for free (meaning over-the-air) Denver TV.
It’s not on anyone’s radar screen. Or television screen.
Moreover, cash-strapped La Plata County would never, ever, ever even remotely consider subsidizing a Denver TV station. Not when the county is actively considering defunding rural libraries to save money.
And how can there be “free” TV if it requires a subsidy?
So that leaves us with the internet, where you can get weather forecasts and Colorado news aplenty.
And goats.
But no Broncos.
That’ll cost you, which gets your goat.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if your TV set that gets “free TV” cost you several hundred dollars to buy.
