Conversion to DTV means Idaho City could go dark
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IDAHO CITY - Welcome to 'Small Town USA,' population 458. Throw a dart at the map and you're likely to find another place like Idaho City, dealing with the very same problem.
"It's a lot of little places like this and we're just totally getting ignored. There's nothing being done," said Don Campbell, who operates a small cable company in the small mountain town.
On Feb. 17, everyone in the country will convert to digital TV. Commercials say the solution is simple, but that's not completely true. Unlike analog, digital signals run in a straight line. They can't bend around mountains or rough terrain and that means places like Idaho City won't get local channels.
"That's going to cripple this community. It's going to take away a lot of the elderly's only communication with the outside world," said James Wetzel, an Idaho City resident.
Even now, rabbit ears don't cut it so James Wetzel and his wife get cable from Don Campbell.
Campbell runs a mom and pop cable company that supplies 150 homes. He built the business from scratch nearly 30 years ago. It's not a big money maker, it's more of a friendly service. For 21 bucks, he offers the cheapest TV in town.
"Don's not selfish. There's lots of people in this town that owe him cable bills that are not paying and they still have their cable," said Dee Wetzel, an Idaho city resident.
Campbell says he doesn't have money to upgrade his service which would prevent local stations from disappearing, but CBS 2 Eyewitness News found out there is a temporary solution. Dish Network offers a service for rural cable companies. It will provide local channels, including CBS 2, for a fee.
The price depends on the number of subscribers and channels. In Campbell's case, it would cost $400 a month to get at least 5 stations. Aside from initial fees, $400 divided by 150 subscribers, breaks down to an extra $2.66 a month.
Campbell says he doesn't consider Dish Network an option because he'd have to charge his customers more.
"There's a lot of senior citizens. There's a lot of people living on social security. They can't afford that. They just can't afford that when all their other prices are going up too," he said.
"He gets us great coverage up here, so if we don't have it it's gonna hurt," said Dee Wetzel.
She says if that happens, she'll lose her source for emergency information.
"If there's bad roads, snow's too bad the kids can't get to school, Channel 2 always carries it for us," she said.
Campbell says the federal government should have figured out how keep TV in rural areas before mandating the switch. He says the burden should lie with Congress and the FCC, not him.
CBS 2 also spoke with Peter Morrill, General Manager of Idaho Public Television, to get more perspective.
"Their voices are being heard through this news report and I think that's very important for policy makers to hear their concerns," Morrill said.
He says the federal government is behind the ball on this conversion. He says they need to take some actions so people living in rural areas aren't left in the dark.
Morrill says he's urging the FCC to help with a long-term solution by assigning local TV stations translator channels. He says stations, including CBS 2, can't operate translators without an FCC license. CBS 2's General Manager Larry Roberts says if stations were given a license they would have to pay for translators which are very expensive.
"It's a lot of little places like this and we're just totally getting ignored. There's nothing being done," said Don Campbell, who operates a small cable company in the small mountain town.
On Feb. 17, everyone in the country will convert to digital TV. Commercials say the solution is simple, but that's not completely true. Unlike analog, digital signals run in a straight line. They can't bend around mountains or rough terrain and that means places like Idaho City won't get local channels.
"That's going to cripple this community. It's going to take away a lot of the elderly's only communication with the outside world," said James Wetzel, an Idaho City resident.
Even now, rabbit ears don't cut it so James Wetzel and his wife get cable from Don Campbell.
Campbell runs a mom and pop cable company that supplies 150 homes. He built the business from scratch nearly 30 years ago. It's not a big money maker, it's more of a friendly service. For 21 bucks, he offers the cheapest TV in town.
"Don's not selfish. There's lots of people in this town that owe him cable bills that are not paying and they still have their cable," said Dee Wetzel, an Idaho city resident.
Campbell says he doesn't have money to upgrade his service which would prevent local stations from disappearing, but CBS 2 Eyewitness News found out there is a temporary solution. Dish Network offers a service for rural cable companies. It will provide local channels, including CBS 2, for a fee.
The price depends on the number of subscribers and channels. In Campbell's case, it would cost $400 a month to get at least 5 stations. Aside from initial fees, $400 divided by 150 subscribers, breaks down to an extra $2.66 a month.
Campbell says he doesn't consider Dish Network an option because he'd have to charge his customers more.
"There's a lot of senior citizens. There's a lot of people living on social security. They can't afford that. They just can't afford that when all their other prices are going up too," he said.
"He gets us great coverage up here, so if we don't have it it's gonna hurt," said Dee Wetzel.
She says if that happens, she'll lose her source for emergency information.
"If there's bad roads, snow's too bad the kids can't get to school, Channel 2 always carries it for us," she said.
Campbell says the federal government should have figured out how keep TV in rural areas before mandating the switch. He says the burden should lie with Congress and the FCC, not him.
CBS 2 also spoke with Peter Morrill, General Manager of Idaho Public Television, to get more perspective.
"Their voices are being heard through this news report and I think that's very important for policy makers to hear their concerns," Morrill said.
He says the federal government is behind the ball on this conversion. He says they need to take some actions so people living in rural areas aren't left in the dark.
Morrill says he's urging the FCC to help with a long-term solution by assigning local TV stations translator channels. He says stations, including CBS 2, can't operate translators without an FCC license. CBS 2's General Manager Larry Roberts says if stations were given a license they would have to pay for translators which are very expensive.
