City to fund improvements for TV coverage

Published 3:22 pm Thursday, May 26, 2011

City staff will invest in upgrades to broadcasting equipment in an effort to improve coverage of the council meetings.

Public access management has been in a transitionary phase since the former provider, Bainbridge Island Television (BITV), was unable to come to a funding agreement with COBI and subsequently dissolved at the end of 2010.

Bremerton Kitsap Access Television (BKAT) has been providing council coverage through an arrangement with the city that allows viewers to watch the previously recorded meetings on the city’s PEG channel, and watch both live and pre-recorded meetings online.

Without the use of Comcast’s High School Road facility, formerly occupied by BITV, the city hasn’t been able to provide live coverage of the meetings, and has not yet determined a permanent source for coverage and public access channel management.

In an effort to restore live broadcasting in the interim, the council approved up to $5,000 to be used to create a direct fiber connection between City Hall and the Comcast distribution point in Bremerton.

The fiber will allow BKAT to broadcast live council coverage over the public channel.

A council ad-hoc committee was formed to investigate whether the city or another local entity could begin taking over the broadcasting function from BKAT, but the $5,000 investment will allow the city to broadcast live in the meantime, according to Morgan Smith, deputy city manager.

“We have a strong bias to preserve [PEG] funds, we are not in an expansion mode,” Smith said. “But there is potential opportunity to make some modest expenditures in the current year to have utility in broadcast and communication functions and it’s an appropriate use of PEG funds.”

Public, Education and Government (PEG) funds are a monthly $1 government cable subscriber fee that must be used to purchase equipment to support public access programming. There is approximately $65,000 currently in the PEG fund, Smith said.

Previously the city would pass the PEG funds along to BITV, which would manage the funds and provide content for the channel.

Smith said the new equipment and live broadcasting will be implemented within the next six weeks.

The council also approved spending between $6,000 and $10,000 in PEG funds to replace some of the outdated production equipment with more modern hardware. The city will purchase a Newtek Tricaster Studio to replace the large box in the back of the council chambers with one single unit and a monitor.

The new technology will allow the city to run custom graphics or banners during breaks in the council meetings, including executive sessions and recesses. The city will also be able to add on-screen titles for council members or presenters.