Orphan County TV Survey Results Released

Results are in from a survey of residents in Stephens, Franklin, Hart, and Elbert counties regarding how they feel about switching to Atlanta local TV stations instead of South Carolina stations.

Stephens County Administrator Phyllis Ayers released the results of that survey at Tuesday’s Stephens County Commission meeting.

Stephens and surrounding counties are continuing to work to try to get access for local residents to Atlanta local TV stations on satellite TV, rather than stations from South Carolina under a change in federal law approved back in 2014.

According to the survey, 94.50 percent of the 1,577 respondents are interested in receiving Atlanta stations and 19 percent of those respondents say they would be willing to pay more for that, with nearly 39 percent saying that might be willing to pay more.

42 percent of respondents said they would not want to pay more to get Atlanta TV stations.

When asked why they want to switch, whether it is for news, sports, or politics, over 81 percent said all three are reasons.

Ayers said this survey is just another step in the effort to try to make this switch happen.

“This is just a laborious process, but we are jumping every hoop that they are asking us to jump through for the citizens that are interested in this,” said Ayers.

The STELAR Act of 2014 opened the door for local governments to request satellite market modifications for their communities and the Federal Communications Commission adopted and finalized the rules for making that request last year.

Since then, Stephens, Franklin, Hart, and Elbert counties have been working to follow each step of that required process and collect the information needed for the petition.