Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA)

PROJECT PURPOSE

The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) is the only statewide Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network and has been serving the people of Oklahoma for sixty-five years. We serve all 77 counties of the state with four free, over-the-air television signals. Our infrastructure consists of four full-power transmitters located in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Eufaula and Cheyanne and fourteen low power translators allowing us to reach the OETA is also the provider of emergency messaging as the state?s WARN (Warning Alert Response Network) provider. Amber alerts and EAS messaging are delivered via the network. Additionally, at the onset of the pandemic, OETA transitioned one of our broadcast signals to provide the Learning At Home service for Oklahoma K-12 students. OETA has been built out over the course of the organization?s life and much of the transmitting infrastructure is very old. OETA is applying for ARPA funds to harden our infrastructure across the entire state. The project is statewide and will benefit all Oklahomans and will benefit them for decades to come. The funds for the project will be obligated by December 31, 2024 and will be expended by December 31, 2026. entire state.

EVIDENCE

For 65 years, OETA has been the educational source for Oklahomans. We continue that work during the COVIS-19 pandemic by providing learning-at-home services for K-12 students, emergency alerting through the WARN capabilities and lifelong learning for all. In addition, OETA now has the capability to offer datacasting, using our broadcast infrastructure of 18 towers, transmitters and translators to send content similar to what is sent over the internet, but sending it through the broadcast airwaves. Datacasting used in the educational arena has the ability to bridge the gap for students and households without broadband access., and uses the existing infrastructure.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

All 77 counties in Oklahoma will be impacted by the OETA infrastructure upgrade. This project will harden and protect the state's broadcast infrastructure for decades to come. It will provide NextGen television services to all Oklahomans. And it can provide a service similar to broadband services to students without broadband through datacasting.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

As this project is for hardening infrastructure, measuring performance will consist of rebuilding transmitter and low-power translator sites. Project performance will consist of the physical build o

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma