Fargo to add public access channel

[cablewithaview]

Fargo will plunge further into public access television next week when the new Channel 99 becomes available to CableOne subscribers.

The city already operates public access Channel 12, which airs City Commission and other city board meetings, along with a variety of church services, cooking shows and other programs.

Starting the week of June 4, Channel 99 will become the channel for city government meetings, with more rebroadcasts than Channel 12 now carries, said Heather Mitzel, the city’s communications manager.

Channel 99 will also feature other shows related to city departments, such as literary programs, health and fitness programs and informational shows for small businesses, she said.

The Fargo school and park districts and Cass County have been invited to air their meetings, and programs from state and federal agencies will also be shown.

The city will use Channel 12 for community programs submitted by Fargo residents and a variety of other shows on topics such as cooking, dancing, golf, movies and painting.

Community programs will air in prime time and more often because they won’t have to compete with government programs, Mitzel said.

“One kind of challenge has been balancing the time allotted for our (city) programs with community programs,” Mitzel said.

One critic said the city shouldn’t expand to a second public access channel. South Fargo resident Larry Gauper said airing City Commission meetings and the community billboard items on Channel 12 is acceptable.

“But when we start putting John Wayne movies and other entertainment programming on there, and having anybody at City Hall spending a dime on time figuring this out, is a waste of taxpayers’ money to me,” Gauper said.

The city’s 2007 budget includes $15,000 for access channel production and equipment and $8,000 for part-time employees, mostly to staff the recording equipment at city meetings, City Administrator Pat Zavoral said.

“It all has to do with transparency in government, from our perspective,” he said.

Federal communications law allows local franchising authorities to require cable operators to set aside channels for public, educational or governmental (PEG) use.

Channel 99 is the city’s attempt to separate governmental programs from public programs, Zavoral said.

CableOne began testing Channel 99 last week, General Manager Scott Geston said.

“We hope the customers will see a benefit from those separate channels,” he said.

Under a 15-year cable franchise extension agreement the city finalized with CableOne in November 2005, the company agreed to supply the city with up to three PEG channels. CableOne had operated Channel 12 since 1979.

The city took over Channel 12 in April 2006 and expanded the variety of programming, including showing meetings of more city bodies such as the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment.

As part of the franchise extension, CableOne granted the city $50,000 to purchase a new automation system, including DVD capability.

The new equipment went online May 5. City meetings are now recorded directly to a digital video server, and program schedules are updated automatically on screen.

Mitzel said she receives mostly positive comments about the Channel 12 programming.

“Polka is by far the most popular,” she said.

Because Channel 12 is reserved as the public access channel in Fargo, West Fargo and Moorhead, CableOne subscribers can see only their city’s programs. Likewise, Channel 99 will be available only to CableOne subscribers in Fargo.

For more information about Fargo’s access channels, visit Access Television - City of Fargo.


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