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NEWS RELEASE

CONGRESSMAN BART STUPAK

1ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN

************************* Stupak announces $1 million for WNMU-TV to go digital

WASHINGTON – WNMU-TV, Northern Michigan University’s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate, has received a grant of $1,004,083 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to complete the television station’s transition to digital television.

Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) heralded the grant, saying it would allow WNMU-TV to improve broadcasting services for much of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

"WNMU-TV provides excellent educational, PBS programming," Stupak said. "This grant will allow the station to complete their transition to a digital format and roll out innovative new services."

Eric Smith, general manager of WNMU-TV said that the new digital television format will allow the station to experiment with innovative new educational services, through a technology called multicasting.

"Once our station is broadcasting in a purely digital format, we may be able to do things like split our signal into multiple content streams," Smith said. "For instance, through digital broadcasting, we may be able to provide our traditional PBS programming in high definition on our core channel, while simultaneously transmitting K-12 instructional programs, college courses and other educational programming on second and third multicast channels."

"Digital television is the next generation of television broadcasting and, particularly for public television stations, it allows innovative new services for television viewers," Stupak added. "WNMU's transition to digital television will bring new services, including emergency broadcasts, to WNMU's viewers, my constituents."

"Switching a television station over to the digital format is an enormously expensive undertaking and can be especially challenging for PBS stations, which do not have the same financial resources as commercial television stations," Smith said. "Congressman Stupak has always been a champion of public broadcasters and of WNMU. Without his help during these lean times, WNMU simply would not be here."

The grant will allow the station to purchase and install a new transmitter, transmission line, and other equipment, and complete tower upgrades for its transition to digital television.

By law, all television broadcasters must convert to digital television and end analog broadcasts by February of 2009.

Last year, Stupak announced a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist WNMU-TV with its conversion to a digital television.

Stupak serves on the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee and that Committee’s Subcommittee on Telecommunications, which has jurisdiction over telecommunications and broadcasting policy issues.

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