New TVfreedom.org coalition member, Gus West, board chair and president of The Hispanic institute writes in The Huffington Post on the importance of local broadcast TV and Hispanic-focused programming in various TV markets throughout the United States:
Hispanics are among the most enthusiastic consumers of information, news and entertainment in the United States today. They value reliability, accuracy and most importantly, access.
To many of these families the high cost of monthly basic cable and satellite TV packages are beyond their means. As a result, they turn to broadcast television for their favorite shows, community news and critical updates during emergencies.
In fact, 51 percent of the 59.7 million of Americans who rely on free, over-the-air broadcast TV live in homes where Spanish is the language of choice… Preserving access to this content on the public airwaves and ensuring a system that continues to invest in this type of programming well into the future is critical to the Hispanic community. But in the debate over retransmission fees between cable providers and broadcast networks, the important voice of the Latino consumer has been lost.
Read the rest of the op-ed here
