11/12/2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Date: November 6, 2002 To: The Honorable Board of County Commissioners Thru: James E. Chandler, County Administrator From. Thomas W. Frame, General Services Director —�d.. cJ Subject: Request by the City of Sebastian for the Broadcast of Prerecorded Sebastian City Council Meetings on South County Government Access Channel 13 BACKGROUND: Attached, please find a letter from Terrence Moore, City Manager for the City of Sebastian. Mr. Moore is requesting the approval of the Board for the rebroadcast twice monthly of City of Sebastian City Council meetings As stated by the City Manager, each meeting would last approximately two to three hours in duration. If the Board authorizes the request by Sebastian, the telecast would be placed for viewing on Channel 13. The Sebastian City Council meetings then would be broadcast over Channel 13 (South CountyNero franchise), Channel 27 (a County Channel aired over Sebastian and North County Franchise areas) and of course Sebastian would continue to broadcast their meetings over Channel 25 (a Sebastian Channel viewed over Sebastian and North County Franchise area). Currently, Vero Beach Council meetings are viewable in the north county franchise area over Channel 27, an Indian River County government access channel. This means that citizens of Sebastian or the unincorporated areas of that franchise may view the meeting. While Channel 27 is adedicated county channel, currently all programming occurring on Channel 13, a shared channel between Vero Beach and the County, is rebroadcast in its entirety on Channel 27. This is the reason the viewers i n the North County area are able t o view the Vero B each Council meetings. In reviewing this matter, it is our opinion that while there should be adequate time for this rebroadcast of Sebastian's City Council meeting without affecting other scheduled programming currently airing on Channel 13, the hours that it may be broadcast may be other than what would be considered to be `prime time " This programming time would be on an as available time scheme based on existing programming on Channel 13. It should be noted that while Indian River County staff has no objections to the telecast as requested, the City of Vero Beach has expressed its concerns and objections to the injection of this additional programming onto the shared government access channel. The Board may want to request the City of Vero Beach's approval since we both try to cooperate on joint use of the channel and programming. Additionally the Board may want to consider the removal of City of Vero Beach Broadcast matters on Channel 27 by splitting the broadcast from Channel 13. Relative to programming, if the Board desires to split the broadcast from Channel 13 so that no programming may be played on Channel 27 unless specifically desired, an up -grade to the equipment t o accomplish t hat t ask would be required. T he estimated cost for that additional equipment is estimated to be approximately $2,400. Should the Board agree to allow the re -broadcast, all efforts in providing the video tapes for the programming and delivery of such tapes should be made by the City of Sebastian.. In addition, the City of Sebastian will need to acquire and provide to the School District a VCR to provide for appropriate programming through an automated process currently being used by the School District. The cost of that equipment is estimated at approximately $600. NOVEMBER 12, 2002 124 • Or