Aspen Government TV Short on Funds
19 Nov 2008
by: Katie Redding
ASPEN — After five years of covering public meetings, CGTV is seeking a
raise as high as 50 percent from the governmental entities it
broadcasts, but it’s been a tough sell so far.
On
Monday night, the town of Snowmass Village, one of the station’s three
funding sources, said it couldn’t afford the proposed $11,734 increase
proposed by CGTV, a Channel 11 spin-off of Aspen-based GrassRoots
Television.
Since 2004, the Aspen and Pitkin County governments
have each paid $24,000 to run programming on the station. Snowmass
Village’s contribution has risen from $10,000 in 2004 to $13,333 in
2004-07, to $24,000 in 2008.
CGTV is seeking $35,734 from
Snowmass Village and Pitkin County for 2009. Aspen pays slightly more
because CGTV broadcasts its City Council work sessions.
“It’s
too bad that Snowmass found itself in that situation,” said Pat
Bingham, Pitkin County’s liaison to CGTV, on Tuesday, in response to
Snowmass’s denial.
So far, said Bingham, Pitkin County has
appropriated the additional requested money. But the county’s budget
has not yet been approved.
Getting more money from the city of
Aspen also has been a challenge for CGTV. The station’s executive
director, John Masters, said the City Council was confused by, and
uncomfortable with, the presentation of the funding request. GrassRoots
has since rewritten the request with Aspen finance director Don Taylor
and expects to present it again soon, he said. Taylor couldn't be
reached for comment Tuesday
afternoon.
Masters attributed
the need for more funding partly to inflation, but largely to a desire
on the part of the station to have Aspen, Pitkin County and Snowmass
pay the full cost of the operation. For nearly five years, CGTV has run
it at a loss, said Masters. Money raised by the Aspen nonprofit
GrassRoots TV has made up the difference.
Masters said that
although GrassRoots was willing to make up the difference in order to
get CGTV off the ground, it cannot continue to do so.
“We can’t lose money serving the governments,” he said.
Eventually,
he said, money spent on providing government programming affects the
nonprofit’s ability to provide community programming. Masters also
argued that those donating to GrassRoots Television don’t necessarily
expect their money to subsidize the government station.
Meanwhile,
Snowmass Town Council members pointed out that entities such as the
Aspen School Board don’t pay to run programming on CGTV. Councilman
John Wilkinson suggested that GrassRoots ought to charge every
governmental entity.
Bingham said that the decision not to
charge the school district was made by the representatives from Aspen,
Snowmass Village and Pitkin County in an attempt to bring new
programming onto the station. She acknowledged that it might be time to
ask the school board for money.
“It could be that we’re going to have to come up with some kind of fee because we’re being charged more,” Bingham said.
She
also suggested it might be useful to look to other entities that might
want to broadcast their meetings, noting that the hospital district,
fire district or public safety council might be options.
Bingham
also suggested that because of the rising cost of broadcasting on CGTV,
it might be time for Pitkin County, Aspen and Snowmass Village to look
into other options, noting that the governmental entities have a
responsibility to the taxpayers to seek the least expensive option.
“Maybe this is a great opportunity for us to start looking at other providers who might be out there,” she said.
On
Monday, the Snowmass Town Council also noted that its Granicus program,
which offers web streaming and on-demand video, is very popular with
its constituents. Granicus costs the council $13,200, according to the
Snowmass Village finance department.
Masters said GrassRoots
should soon be able to offer on-demand video of government and
community programming in addition to television programming. A recent
grant from an anonymous donor has allowed the nonprofit to upgrade
digital equipment as well as make changes to its facility. Masters
expected the equipment to be installed by the second week of December.
In
the meantime, both Masters and Bingham said they will have to figure
out what to do about the presumed budget shortfall for this year.
“We’re working on that,” Masters said.
In
2004, GrassRoots created CGTV to separate its government programming
from its community-access programming, which is still shown on
GrassRoots Television. For roughly four years, the channel has provided
Aspen, Pitkin County and Snowmass Village a place to air government
programming.
GrassRoots manages the station, and
representatives from the three towns, working together, determine the
station programming. Programming currently includes government
meetings, government talk shows, and a bulletin board of community
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