Cable company dropping Spokane PBS station

Starting April 24, the Public Broadcasting Service lineup is going to look a little different for some local viewers.

Optimum on Tuesday will stop carrying KSPS, the Spokane PBS affiliate, in Western Montana. Customers still will receive KUFM, the Missoula affiliate, as well as some new PBS channels, according to a company spokeswoman.

KUFM will be available in high definition, and new channels, including PBS World, PBS Kids and PBS Create, will be available, according to an email from Allison Watters, Optimum’s director of media relations.

But losing the Spokane station has disappointed some Flathead Valley viewers.

“I think it’s just awful,” said Lorinda Baker of Kalispell.

While Baker acknowledges that some of the programming on the two PBS stations is identical, she said there are shows specific to the Spokane station that she will miss. “Northwest Profiles,” which provides brief biographies of people and places in the Northwest, is at the top of the list.

“I’m going to miss the shows so much,” Baker said.

Whitefish resident Skeeter Johnston said she would miss having the option of watching shows at different times.

“I’ve got to be in front of the TV to watch ‘Nature’ on Wednesdays,” she said. “I can watch it at 7 o’clock on KUFM or 8 o’clock on KSPS, depending on what my schedule is.”

Johnston said she is “as low-tech as possible,” so she doesn’t own a digital video recorder or other device to record the shows. She also said she can’t stream the PBS shows she enjoys online, although many programs are available on the Internet.

“I’m not a high-tech person,” she said. “I don’t even like having cable. The only reason I do is so I can get these stations.”

For those who still have antennas, KSPS is available over the air, said Gary Stokes, executive director of the Friends of KSPS. In Kalispell, the station is available via analog on channel 32.

If Optimum won’t reconsider dropping KSPS in Western Montana, the Spokane station is committed to keeping that signal available, Stokes said.

“We’re still in the early talking stages, but we’re looking at a couple of different alternatives that may be a little costly for us but would still give us the opportunity to let people in Western Montana see KSPS on a regular basis,” he said.

Those alternatives primarily include equipment changes and upgrades that would improve the broadcast signal’s strength, he said.

Stokes said KSPS has been receiving calls and emails from disappointed Flathead Valley viewers since Optimum announced earlier this month that it would drop the station in Western Montana. Of the station’s 30,000 members, about 1,100 live in Montana, he said.

“We found out, oh, it’s been about three weeks ago,” Stokes said. “We decided that we needed to be a little bit proactive. We let the people who are part of our membership base ... know the change was coming and asked if they would be willing to contact Optimum on our behalf.”

Several people, including Baker and Johnston, have.

“It’s heartening that people believe in us enough to appreciate the programming and the service that we provide enough to take that response,” Stokes said.

Stokes said KSPS has been told that part of the reason for the decision to drop the station in Western Montana stems from an attempt to keep “local” programming in state.

“They’re not taking in any out-of-market stations,” he said.

In her email, Watters touched on the issue of out-of-market stations.

“The industry is increasingly focusing on delivering in-market stations to customers and avoiding duplicating broadcast stations,” she wrote.

But some Flathead viewers, who have been watching Spokane television channels for decades, consider the Washington stations in-market.

“Our contention was, we’re not really an out-of-market station,” Stokes said. “We’ve been broadcast in homes in Montana since the 1980s. We’re part of the community. ...

“Just because we are located in Spokane doesn’t mean that we don’t care and don’t have a presence throughout the communities we serve.”

Other Spokane television stations — KXLY and KREM — previously were dropped from the local cable lineup.

Those who want to voice an opinion about the decision to drop KSPS in western Montana may do so online at www.ksps.org/support-ksps/western-montana-viewing/, or by calling Optimum at (877) 273-7626 or (866) 638-1824.