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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Foley

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/30/08

HB 538

SHORT TITLE Television Transmission Site Conversion

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$270.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Duplication: HB 551, SB 406

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU)

Department of Information Technology (DoIT)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 538 appropriates $270.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of Eastern

New Mexico University to facilitate the compliance of television transmission sites with federal

digital-conversion requirements through electrical service rate assistance and digital software

licensing fees.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $270.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the

general fund.

House Bill 538 – Page

2

This request was not submitted by ENMU to the New Mexico Higher Education Department for

review. The Department’s FY09 funding recommendation for ENMU's education television

(KENW) is a continuance of FY08 recurring funding in the amount of $1,139,400.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

ENMU states that increases in energy bills at the numerous KENW-TV/DT transmitting sites

have severely impacted the station’s operating budget. There translators are necessary so that

citizens in these mostly rural communities will be able to receive digital TV over the air in their

own communities, in particular. Portales/Clovis, Hobbs/Lovington, Roswell, Ft. Sumner, and

Tucumcari. Additional translators that will soon be operational will be located in Ruidoso,

Artesia, and Carlsbad. All of these new translators require electric power. This dramatic increase

in electrical usage, coupled with steep increases in the cost of electricity, is seriously impacting

the KENW annual operational budget. In addition, the new digital television technology relies

heavily upon large computers and computer software. This software comes with hefty annual

licensing fees that KENW has never had to pay under the old analog television system. We

estimate the electrical usage and software will cost approximately $270,000 per year.

According to the HED, KENW is close to completing the equipment transition required for the

federally-mandated digital conversion. KENW provides public telecommunications to residents

of eastern New Mexico and a training center for college students interested in a career in

telecommunications. It also contributes to ENMU's commitment to Extended Learning and

Distance Education by maintaining technical facilities required for this effort.

The HED also notes that the switch from analog to digital broadcast television is referred to as

the digital TV (DTV) transition. In 1996, the U.S. Congress authorized the distribution of an

additional broadcast channel to each broadcast TV station so that they could start a digital

broadcast channel while simultaneously continuing their analog broadcast channel. Later,

Congress mandated that February 17, 2009 would be the last day for full-power television

stations to broadcast in analog. Broadcast stations in all U.S. markets are currently broadcasting

in both analog and digital. After February 17, 2009, full-power television stations will broadcast

in digital only.

DUPLICATION

House Bill 538 duplicates HB 551 and SB 406.

GH/jp