REBROADCASTING SETUP COSTS AND EQUIPMENT

The following are low-end cost estimates to set up a community rebroadcasting scheme:

• engineering consultancy to determine the best place in your community from which to transmit signals (usually a high place with an unobstructed view of the whole community). You will also need the engineer(s) to help you purchase, install and test your equipment.

  Budget $1500-15,000. (At the low end, many communities have obtained help from local engineers for free, covering only their expenses.)

• the transmission site, from which to rebroadcast the services. This could be an existing building, an existing tower belonging to another party to which the community obtains access, or a new tower that the community or municipality builds on land that it owns, leases, or acquires.

  Budget:

  • $0 on an existing building
  • $0-200/month for space on the tower of a sympathetic local broadcaster (see BUT HOW DO WE PAY FOR IT?)
  • $200-300/month to lease space commercially on a tower belonging to another television or radio broadcaster, cell phone company, dispatch service, oil or gas company
  • from a low of about $70,000 up to a couple of hundred thousand to build your own, but this should rarely be necessary; most municipalities have access to or own towers that serve other purposes.
  • one satellite dish and receiver for each satellite company from whom you want to acquire remote signals at the transmission site.

  Budget $2-500.
  

  • a digital transmitter and antenna to rebroadcast these signals to your community.

    A digital transmitter can multiplex together and rebroadcast on a single channel (any channel between 5 and 51) up to a dozen standard definition (SD) television channels. If you want to rebroadcast in HD, you will only be able to fit one or two TV services per channel. This means if you want more than a dozen SD channels or you want to broadcast lots of channels in HD, you may need more than one transmitter.

    Digital transmitters and antennae vary in price from $25,000 to $250,000, depending mainly on how high power they are... that is, how far they can transmit. Whether a cheaper, low-power transmitter would do depends partly on your geography (a lot of trees, hills, and other obstructions) and how spread out it is. As a rough guide, in flat terrain, a low-power transmitter can reach houses up to about 12 kilometers away. If your community is more spread out, you will need a higher power. The highest power transmitters and antennae can reach up to 100 kilometers or more.

  • a receiving antenna for each TV or radio in the community, (or on each roof with a feed to each TV or radio in the building). Residents near the outer perimeter of your broadcast area may need a bigger antenna. Budget $50-80 per household for households that don't already have antennae. (The antennae you used to use to receive analog TV will still work for digital TV. It's the TV itself that has to be upgraded; see below.)

    If you're transmitting a wireless Internet service, residents will need wireless modems, which have their own built-in antennae.

  • an analog-to-digital converter box for each older (non-digital) TV. Budget $60-80 per household.

  Go back to Setup Costs.