Petition started to keep KENW on air in Albuquerque

link Joshua Lucero: Staff photo

Eastern New Mexico University junior Manuel Benally gives a rundown of local weather during KENW News 3’s 5 o’clock news broadcast Thursday evening at the KENW station.

Satellite television customers in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and western New Mexico will not receive KENW-TV, a New Mexico affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service, starting next year.

KENW was notified in September that due to FCC regulations, after Dec. 31, Dish Network and DirecTV will no longer carry the channel in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area. Instead satellite customers in the Amarillo, Texas, area and eastern New Mexico will receive the channel.

Cable customers will not be affected by the change.

Currently KENW is shown via satellite in every county in New Mexico except Union, Quay, Curry, Dona Ana and Roosevelt.

Duane Ryan, the director of broadcasting of KENW, said Dish Network and DirecTV blame the change on Neilsen, which believes viewers in Union, Quay, Curry, Dona Ana and Roosevelt counties watch more Amarillo television programming than Albuquerque television programming. Since those counties are in the Amarillo Designated Marketing Area, the channel is being moved. Another factor in the proposed move is that KENW is licensed in Portales, which is located in the Amarillo DMA.

“DirecTV called us in September and said the Federal Communications Commission wouldn’t let them carry the channel in our market starting next year,” said Ryan. “We’ve been serving this area for 40 years, so we’re trying to fight to keep it that way.”

The station has started an online petition at http://www.change.org. Sheryl Borden, director of marketing for KENW, said the effort has garnered some attention.

“We have about 200 signatures right now and we expect that number to grow,” said Borden, who produces and hosts her “Creative Living” series from the KENW studios. “This network serves the people of New Mexico. We receive funding from the state Legislature and the station is also used to train college students who want to work on TV.”

The network has also sent letters to its viewers asking them to sign the petition and to write letters and make phone calls to both satellite companies.

“We are doing everything we can to see that this happens and that KENW-TV is not dropped from the local service of DirecTV and Dish,” said Ryan. “If we aren’t successful we will have to wait three years before we can try (to be added back to the satellite services), so it’s very important to us that we stay where we are.”