A grassroots group will push to keep PBS content available over the air in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, reports the Rio Grande Guardian.
The Catholic Diocese of Brownsville announced in January that it would sell KMBH-TV in Harlingen. The licensee is pursuing a local management agreement (LMA) with a commercial entity as a first step.
But the station advisory board is concerned about the impact the loss of the station could have on children in lower-income colonias communities. “If KMBH is sold, it would be a great loss for our Hispanic community,” said Lupe Saenz, a member of the KMBH community advisory board. “A lot of our young kids in the colonias are learning their ABCs, their numbers, shapes and forms from public broadcasting.”
Don Dunlap, president of KEDT-TV in Corpus Christi, told the Guardian that the Rio Grande Valley, near the Mexican border, has the fourth-highest over-the-air viewership in the system. KEDT has expressed interest in KMBH.