Daytona Beach PBS Station Offers Station Members Free Digital Converter Box

Across the country, particularly where television markets are located close together, cable systems have often carried more than one PBS station on their channel lineup.  Public television stations are often established by more than one group in larger cities.  Some stations might be administered by a non-profit corporation established to run the station, others are often run by local or nearby universities.  Each PBS station gets to choose its own programming lineup, and many develop their own priorities.  Local university-run stations often focus on educational programming.  Independent non-profit corporations often run a varied entertainment and educational lineup.  In the very largest cities, some PBS stations focus on ethnic programming and locally produced shows.

In central Florida, the Daytona Beach-Orlando-Melbourne television market has two PBS affiliates.  WMFE, located in Orlando, is the dominant PBS station in the region, operating from Orange County, within Orlando.  WDSC, located near Daytona Beach in Volusia County, is easily seen by most people in the Orlando area, but is not usually considered the primary PBS station by those residents.  WDSC is run by Daytona State College.

Major cable operators nationwide negotiated an agreement with PBS over cable carriage of public broadcasters that got them a free pass to have to carry just one PBS station on their “basic cable” service, typically analog.  Most secondary PBS stations could still get carried on cable systems, but on their “digital programming tier.”  In greater Orlando, Bright House Networks, the dominant cable system, chose WMFE Channel 24 as their primary PBS station, and placed WDSC Channel 15 on their digital tier, requiring many viewers with older televisions to rent a digital set top converter box to continue to receive it.

In mid-June, when the nation transitioned to digital television, WDSC disappeared from the basic lineup.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal picked up the story when viewers noticed:

WDSC's coverage extends throughout central Florida

Cable customers who have analog televisions, get only basic cable and don’t spring for the extra $1 a month can’t get the local public television station. Officials weren’t sure how many were affected.

“You’re completely out of luck if you take the basic tier of cable service,” said David Byron, spokesman for Volusia County. “This is a big deal for us and it comes as a bit of a surprise.”

Both counties have agreements with the Daytona State College network to transmit emergency information in the event of a disaster such as a hurricane.

Daytona State College told Volusia officials Monday they received 250 calls on Friday and so many on answering machines over the weekend that the calls couldn’t be counted.

College and Bright House officials said callers are complaining they were not notified of the change before Friday’s national transmission switch and the need for the box.

It’s not fair for customers to have to pay $1 extra for emergency information, said Charlie Craig, emergency manager for Volusia County.

“It’s just one more hit” for people, Craig said, and it’s not likely that people on limited incomes will spend the extra money.

Bruce Dunn, WDSC manager, said the two stations are complementary in that WDSC shows 75 percent local programming and 25 percent national PBS programs while WMFE shows 100 percent national PBS programs.

“Bright House could add back the Dayton Beach-based station if it wanted,” Dunn said. “We are urging our customers to call Bright House. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.”

Volusia County Chairman Frank Bruno plans to bring up the issue at the council meeting on Thursday and hopes to get a resolution encouraging the cable provider to change its mind.

“That’s a critical issue for Volusia County right now, especially in light of the hurricane season and everything,” Bruno said.

Bright House customers are lucky to be able to obtain a converter box for just $1 a month, much less than in many other areas.  But members of WDSC are even luckier.  Bright House Networks and WDSC this week announced it was giving away free digital converters to station members who have contributed at least $40 to WDSC in the past year, as long as they were also customers of Bright House Networks.

The station is also assisting viewers who have not purchased digital-ready HD televisions yet, with a special wholesale discount program offering station members extremely low pricing on digital-ready TVs.