OPTV's move to SMSU benefits both

|tab|

Ozarks Public Television's move from the campus of Drury University to Southwest Missouri State University means new educational opportunities for SMSU. For the public television operation, it means survival.|ret||ret||tab|

Southwest Missouri State University president John Keiser sees the school's planned acquisition of Ozarks Public Television as a key addition to its educational and public affairs mission.|ret||ret||tab|

"It's a powerful educational tool," Keiser said of the addition of public television to the university, which also operates a public radio station. "We wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't an educational tool."|ret||ret||tab|

Sarah White, president and general manager of Ozarks Public Television for the past five years, said the new arrangement will "help us focus more on our educational mission."|ret||ret||tab|

But the change of hands, expected to take place July 1, also serves as a financial rescue mission for the 26-year-old operation that had been struggling to stay in the black for the past few years and faced a mandate of huge capital costs in the near future.|ret||ret||tab|

The mandate is an estimated $4.6 million to get equipped for digital broadcasting, a sum far in excess of Ozarks Public Television's previous capital fundraising campaigns, the largest being $1 million.|ret||ret||tab|

Organized as a nonprofit, the public television company got its license and began broadcasting as KOZK in a Quonset building on the Drury College (now Drury University) campus in 1975. In 1986, it obtained station KOZJ in Joplin, and three years later it moved into the new Shewmaker Communication Center on the Drury campus, where KOZK and corporate operations are housed.|ret||ret||tab|

The firm, with an annual budget of more than $2 million, has suffered financial strain recently, with revenue barely keeping up with rising costs. In the past five years, according to Internal Revenue Service reports filed by Ozarks Public Television, revenues exceeded expenses by a cumulative total of $41,000, and it lost money in two of the years, including $98,637 in 1999.|ret||ret||tab|

This has been due to a variety of circumstances, some of them out of local public television's control, White said.|ret||ret||tab|

Those circumstances include expansion of cable TV to include programs similar to public TV; the inability to significantly increase contributions from local market viewers and underwriters; fundraising competition from the expansion of nonprofits; and relatively static public funding.|ret||ret||tab|

But it was the congressional mandate that all television, commercial and public, convert to digital broadcasting that really jolted the financial outlook for Ozarks Public Television and the other 176 public TV licensees with nearly 350 stations throughout the country.|ret||ret||tab|

Commercial stations can pass along the costs to their advertisers. But public TV, which depends on private giving and some public funding, can't. And Congress, in creating the mandate, did not include a financial subsidy for public stations.|ret||ret||tab|

It will cost public TV an estimated $1.7 billion nationwide to make the conversion from analog to digital broadcasting by mid-2003, said Nancy Neubauer, director of communications for America's Public Television Stations. APTS is trying to persuade Congress to come up with some funding.|ret||ret||tab|

However, "Congress doesn't seem to be taking (the mandate and associated costs) seriously," said Steve Behrens, editor of Current, a journal that covers the public broadcasting industry.|ret||ret||tab|

Some stations look for money in the private sector, he said, while others look for state help.|ret||ret||tab|

In New Mexico and North Carolina, for instance, voters approved referendums to supply state money for the stations, Behrens said, noting that is more likely in states that hold the public TV licenses.|ret||ret||tab|

Of the 177 licenses, 88 are held by nonprofit community groups similar to Ozarks Public Television, 60 are in the hands of universities, 21 are held by state government, and eight belong to local government.|ret||ret||tab|

In Missouri, there are only three other public TV operations. Community nonprofits have the licenses in Kansas City and St. Louis, and Central Missouri State University has the one in Warrensburg.|ret||ret||tab|

Behrens said the situation in Springfield is the first he's aware of where a relatively small-market station changed owners in order to get access to ample funding.|ret||ret||tab|

In looking at the future, Ozarks Public Television officials were told by a consultant that under existing circumstances in the industry and locally, it was very unlikely the company could raise the money for digital without big outside help, White said. A top alternative was institutional affiliation.|ret||ret||tab|

Early last year, the idea of Drury University taking over the license was presented to the school's leaders, White said. Drury decided that, in light of the public TV's recent history, such a financial commitment needed further study by the Drury board, said university President John Moore.|ret||ret||tab|

Meanwhile, public television officials also presented their proposal to SMSU, White said. It was decided that Ozarks Public Television was a good fit with the university and was financially possible, Keiser said.|ret||ret||tab|

It made sense to add public TV, complementing public radio as part of an educational programming package, he said. In addition, he noted, with digital broadcasting, four channels will be available to use instead of only one with analog broadcasting.|ret||ret||tab|

"If we don't do it, an outsider may pick it up," Keiser said of the possibility that the community could lose the license, and therefore the opportunity to continue beaming educational programming to 454,000 households in the market area.|ret||ret||tab|

SMSU will pay about $540,000 to move equipment and offices from Drury to the Public Affairs Building at SMSU, where the school's in-house TV operation is located.|ret||ret||tab|

SMSU will pay any outstanding balance on Ozarks Public Television's line of credit come July 1, said Vice President for Finance Tom Allen. At this point, White figures that won't exceed $100,000. Moving and debt costs would come out of SMSU operating money, Allen said.|ret||ret||tab|

The big cost is digital equipment, including building or leasing transmission tower facilities. Keiser said the university is trying to secure grants and donations for the bulk of the costs. But as backup, the SMSU board of governors has authorized the use of revenue bond financing, Allen said. Such financing would cost an estimated $375,000 a year for 20 years.|ret||ret||tab|

As for the expense of operating the public TV enterprise, Keiser is confident that viewers and underwriters will continue to supply the revenue, in combination with some expense economy the univer sity can provide.|ret||ret||tab|

Although the requirement for digital TV at first seemed to threaten the survival of Ozarks Public Television, with the affiliation with SMSU, it turned out "to be a blessing in disguise," White said.[[In-content Ad]]