The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Focusing on majority of population
By Mark Reaman
It’s not looking good for continued over-the-air television being broadcast to areas outside the heavily populated Gunnison to Mt. Crested Butte valley corridor. Operated by the Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District (MetRec), at least two members of the five-member board stated clearly at the last board meeting they will likely vote against spending any more money on the so-called “remote chain system” that serves small county communities like Ohio City and Powderhorn.
During a March 26 work session and meeting discussion on the issue, the board reviewed survey results and costs of operations of the district’s free over-the-air television system. Given quickly changing technology, limited users and deteriorating equipment, the board indicated a hard but necessary decision would be discussed at the April 30 meeting.
“After looking at this for months, unless I hear a different argument and change my mind, I foresee myself making a motion to shut down the remote system at the next meeting,” said board member Earl Marshall. “That to me seems the only way the main chain system between Gunnison and Mt. Crested Butte stands a chance to stay alive. It needs to happen this summer.”
Marshall said he was trying to transparently “telegraph” his position to the public and while open to listening to arguments against such a move, he said to him the path was clear. “We need to focus our efforts on the lease issues with Sunlight Ridge in Mt. Crested Butte and the site in CB South. I hope to continue this public discussion in April but at the end of the day we have to be honest. The Monarch translator facility alone would cost more than a half-million dollars minimum to upgrade.”
MetRec board chair Cassia Cadenhead was adamant that the price tag of upgrading the TV system for the entire district was prohibitive, especially in a time when technology was changing so quickly. She laid out several thoughts about her hesitance to continue funding TV in the district and said several times that in a situation with changing circumstances, some taxpayer money is simply lost and that made her uncomfortable.
“We have enhanced the TV system in recent years and tried to plan smarter for the future. But we are still very challenged to operate the system,” she said. “I hear the need for TV, but the capital costs needed to upgrade the system is several million dollars. And this is the age of the internet and streaming. The pace of change is extreme and feels like over-the-air television is sort of like a Blockbuster video rental store. It worked well at one time but didn’t change when competition came along.”
She explained how the district has invested heavily in what was supposed to be the next step of over-the-air technology but it was rendered obsolete. “We could make the capital expenditure, but it could change in three years,” she said. “Personally, it doesn’t feel like a responsible use of taxpayer dollars. We can’t keep paying taxpayer dollars into this system with confidence.”
She made the case that MetRec dollars would be better spent for things like parks and trails “that can be used for generations.”
History of district TV issues
During the work session, MetRec executive director Derrick Nehrenberg gave some recent history of the television dilemma. He said in the fall of 2023 the district discovered major damage to the Monarch translator site. A public hearing in August of 2024 brought out a lot of citizens who spoke passionately in favor of over-the-air television. The district has spent months analyzing the system and Nehrenberg said three options to consider included an upgrade of the entire or part of the system, discontinuing television services or handing the system over to another operator.
“A lot of the translator sites are decades old and at the end of their life,” Nehrenberg explained. “The MetRec studio in Gunnison is in really good shape. We are looking for a new CB South site and have been unable to reach lease terms with the owner of the property we lease on Sunlight Ridge in Mt. Crested Butte. Alternatives to that site are not available. Comcast also informed us they would no longer provide broadcast signals from satellites and instead would be going terrestrial and we are working through that.”
Nehrenberg said 9,500 surveys were mailed out to every residential mailing address in the district and 785 responses were returned, 523 which were from MetRec TV viewers. He said 95% of the viewers were located along the so-called “main chain” between Gunnison and Mt. Crested Butte. He said that in order to upgrade the whole system, the district would have to pay about $10 million over 10 years. Main chain improvements would cost about $6 million.
“Our budget constraints are real,” he said. “We take in about $1.2 million annually for all general operations districtwide. The 2025 budget for translator operation costs is $387,000.”
Nehrenberg said the service plan was changed in 2001 and the district is not mandated to provide TV and the district “is getting pulled more and more to be a recreation provider while also hearing the desire for TV services.”
Citizens again commented on the benefits of free over-the-air television. Some felt the survey wasn’t deep enough while others said seasonal residents who used TV were not in the area when it was mailed out.
Others expressed the importance of free TV to poorer residents or those who used it to stay in touch and connect with the outside world.
“It seems the maintenance of TV equipment wasn’t kept up,” said one citizen. “Now it’s at a crisis point.”
“In my time on the board we have spent well over a million dollars on TV,” responded Cadenhead. “It’s been focused on the main chain but given its age, a lot of problems are coalescing at the same time.”
Marshall admitted the rise in recreation funding took some money away from TV. “It’s a difficult balance,” he said. “But when I look at our system, I don’t see a way forward without new dedicated funding for TV.”
One citizen floated the possibility of those households not getting free TV petitioning to leave the district and not pay the associated property tax.
“This all a lot to chew on,” said board member Keith Bauer.
“I definitely need time to percolate on the information,” agreed board member Mary McAllister.
Board member Dave Weins was on the same page. “We need to consider all this information. TV service is important to a lot of the people in the district. But it’s a 50-year-old system,” he said.
Marshall said no matter which way the board goes, “we have a duty to protect our FCC licenses. “Once they’re gone, they never come back. I’d like staff to investigate how we ensure protections of those licenses going forward.” He said while saying it was hard to justify a continued path with the remote chain, even the main chain presented problems, especially with translator site leases.
“It’s true that people using over-the-air TV find tremendous value in the service,” Cadenhead concluded. “But it is also true that the price tag is beyond what the district can afford. It can also be true that the majority of people in the district are accessing TV in new ways given the new technology.”
The board will bring the issue up for discussion and a decision at the April 30 meeting.
