Libby Video Club seeks donations to add channels

Libby Video Club recently resolved to make one of Libby’s best-kept secrets even better.

The club has broadcasted high-definition television channels over the air since Nov. 10, 2011, providing nine channels, free of charge, to anyone with an antenna and digital converter box.

Jim Nelson, one of the club’s organizers, said that even though the costs of broadcasting are high, he was trying to add two more channels over the air: KAYU, the Fox affiliate from Spokane, and KREM, Spokane’s CBS partner.

“We want to get the word out about what we are producing right now,” Nelson said. 

He said that although this service has been provided for a long time (before 2011 it was not digital), the community’s support and knowledge of the club is minimal.

Lincoln County Commissioner Tony Berget, is a personal supporter of the Libby Video Club, said he’d like to see more people use it and donate money to it – if for no other reason than to take some of the bill off the county. 

The county chips in several thousand dollars, a major portion of the club’s annual operating budget. 

Berget was looking for a quarter-mill, more than $9,000, from the Libby School District budget to finance the club. He claimed that it was educational content and available to everybody in Libby.

“I don’t know if people realize what channels they have,” Berget said. “Just put up an antenna.”

Nelson was looking at operating costs of $13,000, about $1,000 for each channel he’d like to offer.

In  2012, Nelson received donations of more than $6,000 from private individuals.