How do you start your own local HD TV Station?

Question

How do you start your own local HD TV Station?

Answer 1

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I'm glad you prefaced this with "Serious Question." Otherwise, I'm not sure anyone would take you seriously. Let me say a couple things before I answer. First, I know nothing about shark fishing. Second, I know nothing about starting a fishing show. But I'm going to answer this question anyhow, cuz that's just how I am. I see a couple problems with your proposition. The main thing is there are SO MANY shows about sharks nowadays. Ever watch Shark Week? Discovery has a whole week for sharks -- they don't have a Panda Week or Monkey Week or even Blowing Sh!t Up Week. But they have enough programming to run shark shows for a week solid. And they have some really mind-blowing shows, with spectacular HD footage of huge pelagic sharks, deep-sea sharks, and rare sharks in their native habitats. Have you considered that viewer demand for seeing couple good 'ole boys pulling in common, small-sized sharks on a beach somewhere might not be terribly high? Another problem is that opinions about sharks have changed so much in the past 10 or 20 years. The attitude now is that sharks are good, sharks need protection. Much of the American TV-watching public thinks of sharks the same way they felt about dolphins back in the 1980s and 90s. Remember the little labels on canned tunafish reassuring us that the dolphins were going to be all right? Again, ask yourself if viewers want to see an exhausted, bloodied-up shark at the end of a huge hook. Even though you'd be releasing the sharks, it seems to me like this would be a hard sell, particularly to a big network outfit. With that in mind, I have a few ideas. That is, I know what I would do if I were you. First, I'd capture these fishing excursions with high-quality video and sound, and I'd edit them down with professional production values. Shoot them in full HD, record the sound with pro equipment, and have the vids edited professionally if you can't do that yourself. You say you have lots of amateur videos, but I'd shoot for at least semi-pro quality. Make them look good, make them as interesting as possible, and package them smartly. Maybe start out with a 1-hour or 90-minute DVD that you could market to sporting goods stores, video stores, libraries, etc. Build a website and offer videos for sale. Provide some free content, then sell the crap out of the DVD. Use YouTube. Next, I'd promote your videos relentlessly in your local area. Start with the local media markets. This whole process will be MUCH easier if you live near a really big media market (Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Miami, New York City, Seattle), but if not, then go to the largest nearby city and contact the local network affiliates and radio stations. See if they'll interview you or cover one of your fishing trips. See if your PBS affiliates or public-access channels have any interest in your programming. Write shark fishing articles for the outdoor or fishing sections of local newspapers, submit articles to fishing magazines. Anything to publicize and promote this hobby and your video/programming products. Sponsors will help, obviously -- you'll have to be your own salesman by approaching fishing shops, tackle manufacturers, anyone, to see if they want their name alongside yours on videos and T-shirts and whatnot. Tournament fishing would attract sponsors, too, as someone else here mentioned. If you feel like you can get on TV through fishing tournaments, then you'll have to exploit that angle, too. I doubt that you'll make any money doing this at first, and by "at first" I mean for the first 3 or 4 years. It will be a lot of work in addition to your day jobs and it'll probably seem pointless at times. And it might end up being pointless. But my approach would be to start small, start local, get some momentum and try to attract attention from the next "level" up. Sorry these ideas are rather vague -- as I said, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Heh heh. This is just what I would do if this idea were mine. Obviously, you've got a lot of researching and learning ahead of you, but if you want it bad enough, I bet you could make it happen.

Answer 2

Here is another problem: there is not enough frequencies for the channels we have now. You wont be able to broadcast because the spectrum is all used up.



Hear about the DTV turning off analog TV transmissions in Feb next year? The one and only reason for doing this is to free up some channels for other uses. (Digital channels can mix ... about 6 standard def channels in the same frequencies occupied by 1 analog channel.)



You are a "business owner" - how would you make money?



The answer: advertising - it pays for all of television.



This is why so many people put up websites - to sell advertising space.



It would only cost you a few thousand dollars to host a web site and get someone to create the initial pages, then you put banner ads/PODS on the site. But you need content to get your hits up.



What sort of content did you have in mind for HD? You wont get advertising money unless you have some reason for me to tune in/surf your site.

Answer 3

This answer assumes you are in the US.



Starting a TV station can be a very expensive proposition. There are two basic types in the US. Both require licenses from the FCC.



Low Power (LPTV): These are stations that have low power and therefore greatly reduced coverage. In exchange for the reduced coverage, the FCC requires less of a regulatory burden. There is a local origination requirement. My guess would be to budget about $1 to $1.5 million for start up.



Full Power TV: These are stations that cover a major metropolitan area and the surrounding areas. There are requirements for ownership, citizenship, and commitments to public service as well as technical requirements. I haven't built one since 1989 so my guess would be to budget $7 to $10 million for start up. If the project is fast tracked, you could be on the air 9 - 12 months after the construction permit is issued. Be advised, sometimes the license application turns into a competition between entities for the license grant which can turn into a drawn out legal battle just to get to the construction permit stage.



You would also need to arrange for programming for your station.



One possability in the new digital world would be a sub channel of an existing station. I don't know what the legal entanglements would be here as I have never seen it done before. All of this is very new. Technically, one would have to add encoder equipment to a broadcaster's existing encoder stack and provide connectivity. This would cost about $100K. The subchannel would be a liability under the broadcaster's license and therefore they would have most of the exposure. I'm sure they would want a negotiable lease payment for the use of their facilities, too. So, you may not get many takers on this idea. But, I thought I would throw it out anyway.



Good luck.