KMBH-TV plans to add channels

HARLINGEN - Under the conversion to digital broadcasting, RGV Educational Broadcasting Inc., owner of KMBH-TV, will have four channels to fill 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is negotiating with Gospa Records, a McAllen-based recording company, to provide
programming for KMBH DT 38.2, its new all-Catholic channel.

The other channels will be 38.1 with all-PBS programming, 38.3 will contain instructional content and 38.4 will be reserved for community affairs broadcasting.

During a meeting this past week at KMBH, the station's board of directors and officials from Gospa set a target date of Jan. 19 to have a contract ready to sign.

Ray Thomas, one of the principle partners in Gospa, said the company will form a separate 501c3 nonprofit corporation to handle its proposed agreement with the station.

Thomas said Gospa will essentially "rent" time on the station. For this KMBH will be paid $120,000 the first year and $240,000 for each of the remaining years of the five-year deal. In addition, KMBH will receive 50 percent of the money generated by commercials on the station.
Both parties agreed at a meeting Monday on certain points that should be covered in the proposed agreement, such as a five-year renewable term for the deal. KMBH will provide 5.5 hours weekly of original programming with an option to increase that to six hours per day. The 5.5 hours would cover the Catholic-themed programs already appearing on KMBH, said Monseigneur Pedro Briseño, the station's president and CEO.

Another of the partners in Gospa, Juan Jose Trujillo, said during the October board meeting that the rest of the broadcast day would be filled with locally produced shows as well as programs from this country and others such as Spain or Mexico. One possibility includes a Brazilian soap opera with Catholic themes.

Briseño also stressed that the agreement clearly state that no amount of funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or PBS resources will be used to pay for shows on the Catholic station.

"Money will not be co-mingled," Briseño said.

"That is very important," said Bishop Reymundo Peña of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. RGV Educational Broadcasting Inc. was formed under the auspices of the diocese and whoever serves as bishop holds the station's broadcast license. The bishop also chooses who serves on the board.

The separation of church and state money will come as good news to Bob Wist. A longtime supporter of PBS, Wist is a member of the KMBH's Prime Circle. "That means I gave them 500 bucks," Wist said. "I really believe in the mission of PBS."

At the same time, Wist is an atheist and maintains a Web site, http://atheistsofsouthtexas.com.

"I don't care what they put on their Catholic station, that's their right," Wist said. "I just don't want my tax dollars paying for it."

During the meeting, Briseño added that PBS also will not share in any income from the Catholic channel.

Briseño reported that two five-minute tests of the digital system were held Dec. 17. KMBH's system only had a slight glitch during the test organized by the Texas Association of Broadcasters.

"It was handled immediately by the station's engineer who was present at the time," he said.

While KMBH is right on schedule for the Feb. 17 conversion to digital, he did have some concerns. As mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, KMBH bought its digital transmitter in 2004. But the conversion has been pushed back and pushed back by Congress. Now it's going to be five years later, 2009, and digital transmitters have a general life span of five years.

Though it's fine right now, the part most likely to fail carries a $50,000 price tag. Briseño said KMBH does not have the resources to keep such an expensive spare part around nor even the space to store it.

On the plus side, the station's analog transmitter had a life expectancy of 10 years and has lasted 15.

"It should be in the Smithsonian for lasting this long," he joked.

There is also a proposal before Congress to allow stations within 50 miles of the border to continue broadcasting an analog signal for the next 17 months to give viewers in Mexico a chance to convert to digital, Briseño said.

Trujillo said it may be June before Gospa can fill all of the proposed hours of programming. In the interim, KMBH may be able to find an alternative source for shows, Briseño said.

While Monday's meeting covered the main points of the agreement, there is still a lot of work to do in a short amount of time, Peña said.

"The bottom line is that if we're able to pay our bills and still get the Gospel out, that's all that's important," said Msgr. Robert Maher, the
secretary of the board of directors.