PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield Community Television broadcasts 20,000 hours of city programming and its cable contract asks are seen as reasonable.

The Cable Advisory Committee heard PCTV’s ascertainment report on Thursday ahead of contract negotiations with Charter Spectrum.  The panel will soon review a draft request for a proposal for the cable company.

Board President Sue Doucette and Operations Manager David Cachat laid out the community television station’s requests in the next 10-year contract.

These include: continuing to receive the federal maximum level of five percent of gross annual cable revenues for Pittsfield, securing capital funding, having all programming provided in high definition, being carried on every video streaming service offered, occupying lower channels, and maintaining fiber optics connections between PCTV’s facilities and the cable headend.

Aside from its main facility on Frederico Drive, the television station also has 17 live origination points around the city.

"They don't seem unreasonable to me," Chair Sara Hathaway said.

In the last contract, PCTV was given $313,000 for the capital fund and over the last decade, has added over $650,000 of its own money to it.  It is estimated that $1,991,000 is necessary to continue to provide a level of technical quality and to replace the existing facilities over the next decade.

"The total value of the active equipment in our inventory right now based on the purchase price is $1.725 million. That's everything that is actively in use right now," Cachat reported, explaining that prices fluctuate and "therefore $1.9 million isn’t outrageous."

Some equipment costs over $50,000 alone.

The television station would also like a couple of direct technical assistance contacts that can be reached in a timely manner when there is a problem and a small blurb and PCTV on Spectrum’s other channels.

PCTV, founded in 1986, has a mission to "empower our community to create media and amplify diverse voices through the best technology and wide-reaching platforms" and a vision that "everyone in our area should have access to shared media experiences which inform, educate, engage, and entertain, that foster civic and community engagement, and promote transparency in local government."

It has three public education and government channels: "Access Pittsfield," channel 1301; "Pittsfield ETV," channel 1302; and "Citylink," channel 1303.  With channel numbers below 50, the television station feels that it will be more accessible.

The channels showcase everything from member-produced programming to sports, governmental meetings, and special events.

"The thing we were proud of is we never closed for one day during COVID and we never stopped carrying programming," Cachat explained, adding that PCTV did 184 live press conferences from the governor and weekly updates from the mayor.

An average of about 250 meetings are covered per year and PCTV as well as debates and candidate statements for elections that pertain to the city.

"To me, the thing about PCTV broadcasting meetings is they can watch it and they can hear all the words for themselves and decide for themselves what said person meant," Doucette said. "They don't have to rely on somebody else's interpretation."

Hathaway said this was heard "over and over" again during focus group sessions "and not only the people who are watching but the people who are in the meetings. They want the public to know what they're doing."

Last month, council chambers were filled to the brim during a public hearing held by the commission.  People gushed about PCTV for more than 90 minutes, highlighting the importance of Pittsfield's local television station and its overwhelmingly positive impact.

In other news, the committee will ask Mayor Peter Marchetti to submit detailed reporting for the franchise fees.  The current license states that Spectrum is required to provide quarterly reports detailing the source of the franchise funding and the city has not received a full breakdown report since 2019.
 

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