Effort to change television station selection receives boost

A group of residents spearheading an effort to bring more Montana-based television stations to Lincoln County got a boost from U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ office last week.

Ron Catlett, a staff member for Daines, told the group that his office would help in anyway possible. Catlett was on hand in Eureka on Feb. 19 for a weekly meeting of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners when the residents again made their case for switching the region’s media market designation.

“We hear the same complaint a lot,” Catlett said. “I get calls on a monthly basis from people unhappy about the media market.”

The effort is aimed at adding Lincoln County to the Missoula media market. Currently, the region falls into the Spokane market, which means most local stations broadcast from Washington State.

That struck Joel Cobb, who is leading the movement, as problematic. The county resident said that during forest fires in 2017, the Spokane-based stations gave few updates on the situations. A friend elsewhere in Montana said the local news was wall-to-wall coverage of the blaze, Cobb recalled.

“When I moved out here in 2017, one of the things we discovered real quick was the lack of media coverage for anything here in Montana,” Cobb told county commissioners. “When the fires came up, the only thing we got out of Spokane was, ‘Hey, there’s a fire out there.’”

Cobb approached the county commissioners with the idea of changing media markets in January. At the time, he said gauging the board’s level of support — or lack of interest — was his primary goal.

County commissioners Mark Peck (D-1) and Josh Letcher (D-3) both expressed interest. The third county commissioner, Jerry Bennett (D-2), who was out of town during the original presentation, added his support Feb. 19.

To make the change, Cobb plans to circulate a petition and garner public support. Once that’s done, they will submit a request to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for approval.

County commissioners have said they will hold public hearings across the county to garner input as well.

Cobb also sought commissioners’ blessing to launch a Facebook page aimed at soliciting feedback on the idea. Not everyone might be happy with losing the Spokane-based stations for Missoula, even if many are owned by the same parent companies, Cobb said.

But Peck reported hearing no opposition in the weeks since Cobb first approached the board.

“I haven’t talked to anybody who hasn’t supported it,” Peck said. “Speaking for myself, I’m very supportive of it.”

Cobb remained unsure if the change involved a financial outlay from the county. It would also involve lobbying the Nielsen Company, he said, telling commissioners that he planned to step up the campaign in mid-spring.

Peck agreed to meet with Libby constituents in the meantime. Bennett plans to discuss the change with Troy residents as well. Catlett also pledged to aid the effort.

“If you guys decide where to go, we’ll help,” he said.